exploder exploaded bearings (or why to check bearings often) not 56k friendly

[hoss_hanna]

Here is the carnage from a bearing blowout, a friend borrowed my truck for a bit and when she brought it back she said the brakes were locking up.... wonder why?


a few shots of the carnage after removing wheel

This shows how the entire assembly was riding on the ring

notice something missing here?

the inner brake pad was gone, totally MIA.... wonder why the brakes were sticking?

had to cut the spline ring off

shavings that were once the seal and a fine glittering of metal dust that was part of the bearings, spindle and other semi-important parts

Spindle Damage

spline damage

All of this happened due to the spindle nuts backing off, a common problem with the first gen 4x4 explorers. the tiny pin on the inner nut shears off and looks as if it was never there allowing the outer nut to back off and causes everything to move out. One heck of a mess! be sure to check these every time u have the wheel off for any reason.

 

[Paul Gagnon]

All of this happened due to the spindle nuts backing off, a common problem with the first gen 4x4 explorers. the tiny pin on the inner nut shears off and looks as if it was never there allowing the outer nut to back off and causes everything to move out. One heck of a mess! be sure to check these every time u have the wheel off for any reason.

I have had this happen more than once. It is NOT caused by the little locating pin shearing off. The reason that it happens is because the lock ring key is too small and doesn't engage the keyway correctly. It digs into the threads of the spindle, allowing the spindle nut assembly to rock back and forth. Once this happens the outer spindle nut starts to work itself loose and if not caught in time eventually leads to the catastrophic failure you had.

As a side note, your spindle is installed 20 degrees out. The keyway should be at the top.

 

[hoss_hanna]

maby it should have been at the top, it is now but ford put it where it was at the 20 deg out, i just put it up for ease of looking at things... and even if the lock ring key filled the full width of the keyway (which it does not, thanks ford) it still couldn't keep the nut from loosing without the stop pin, simple mechanics.... but either way as long as this post gets ppl to keep an eye on them im happy. u say tomato i say watermelon