pulling front axle shafts

[no1gearhead]

so my front end is making noise so i pull the front axle shafts out of it to try and eleminate the front diff. my wife goes to the store and on the way back the right front tire comes off like the bearings failed there was no play in the hub when i had it in the air. im a chevy tech at a dealership and dont know that much about fords do the axle shafts need to be intalled and axle nut tourqued down for the hubs to operate properly would this be why my hub failed. thanks jake

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Yes, you have to have the axle shaft or at least the ends in place. The diff will leak gear oil, the hub will fall apart, the splined shaft actually holds the bearing together. I drove mine like this a few thousand miles:

 

[Port]

ouch!

yeah it all has to b bolted together. hope no one got hurt. did that once on a customers car. forgot to put the nut back on. WHAT A MESS! tire flew off and went passed me in a field next to the road. i skidded on the lower ball joint about 100ft and turned into the dealership parking lot. yeah got a lot of slack for that one. tire busted up the fender on take off and the whole truck got repainted. oh well that's what insurance is for.

 

[Turdle]

Yup
insurance is for that very thing

 

[no1gearhead]

hey port what all did you have to replace on that customers vehicle i havent had a chance to get a good look at whats all broke yet and yeah it does a number on the fender

 

[gijoecam]

Indeed, as you discovered, the outer half of the CV joint holds the hub/bearing assembly together. Without that shaft, the flange that the wheel bolts to (which doubles as the inner race of the outer bearing) is able to walk out of the inner bearing.

Here's an exploded picture of one I disassembled to see what makes it tick:

You can see that without the CV shaft bolted through it, it can slip apart.

-Joe

 

[96eb96]

so my front end is making noise so i pull the front axle shafts out of it to try and eleminate the front diff. my wife goes to the store and on the way back the right front tire comes off like the bearings failed there was no play in the hub when i had it in the air. im a chevy tech at a dealership and dont know that much about fords do the axle shafts need to be intalled and axle nut tourqued down for the hubs to operate properly would this be why my hub failed. thanks jake

Sorry about that.
Wouldn't the same thing happen with a FWD car if you took out a halfshaft? well assuming it would move
Also, the I believe 96 has a disconnect system that disengages the front halfshaft so the differential won't spin. This happens in 2wd mode.

 

[Port]

I know the obvious stuff like the axleshaft bearing caliper bracket pads and i think the rotor also. lower ball joint was completely destroyed. i think the spindle was ok. been a few years. i got lucky cause it happened at the dealer and a buddy of mine helped me out cause he was out of work and i was busy. but the lower control arm and upper was ok. also lucked out cause the dearler's ins. covered it all. i don't remember about the tie rods. also needed a brake line. the caliper is all that's holding it on during that time and all that pressure ripped it right out. snapped the caliper bracket right in two!

 

[gijoecam]

Sorry about that.
Wouldn't the same thing happen with a FWD car if you took out a halfshaft? well assuming it would move
Also, the I believe 96 has a disconnect system that disengages the front halfshaft so the differential won't spin. This happens in 2wd mode.

Yeah, it would... Except you can't actually drive a FWD car without the halfshaft.