Help!!! removing front axle shafts, Long...

[sholzee]

1992 Explorer 4x4,4dr, 4.0L automatic, my wife was driving the truck and it started pulling hard to the left and she said it sounded like something was dragging on the road. She stopped and looked around but could not see anything wrong, drove it home and said it would make noises when turning. I drove it and heard some strang sounds the most disturbing sounded like it was in the front differential and gears grinding. We have not used 4x4 in a few months I tried it and seemed to engage and not make much difference in the sounds. The bigger problem is I live in Buffalo N.Y. and the road salt makes the underneath look worse than the Titanic.

I have it on jack stands, front wheels off, automatic locking hubs off,and front driveshaft from transfer case to diff removed. The front ujoints on the axles look original and I did not see much play in them, they are probably more seized up than falling apart.
When I turn the yoke in the differential it moves ok for about 1 turn then starts to bind up and I can force around and you feel something binding. I noticed the splined shaft on the drivers front axle seems not to run true in the spindle housing and maybe rubbing in side of it. I removed the 5 nuts from the spindle flange but could not get it off. Is there a bearing in there supporting the end of the axle. How do you remove the front axles. I can barely see the threads on the nut inside the coil spring, or the threads on the radius arms because of rust. Do you have to remove the coil springs and raduis arms and all that to get the axles out. Help this is turning into a mess!!!

 

[JDraper]

To get the spindle flanges off, you have to tap them with a mallet. It takes a while, but they will come off. DON'T use a metal hammer!!! You'll ding them up long before they come loose. I just did that to my '92, and I probably had to tap on them for about 5-10 minutes before they came off. Once they are off, remove the cv boots, and the axle shafts just pull out.

 

[sholzee]

That would be great if the axles pull out after I get the spindle flange off, it did not look like there was a big enough openning for it to fit through. The chilton book (I am not very fond of) says to remove the radius arm brackets, springs, and all kinds of other stuff which appears to be permenatly rusted together. I have universal joints and not CV joints if that makes a difference. Is there any problem with pulling both axles out of the front differential at the same time, like can anything move in there (spider gears) that would make it difficult to insert the axles. I really would like to inpect the ring , pinion, and spiders but I do not think I want to mess with the steel bolts in aluminum housing. I wish it had the simple cover like the rear end. Thanks for your help!!

 

[RON COX]

Be very carefull when you pull the shafts out. There is a axle shaft seal at the diff. that is easily damaged. You might want to replace the seals anyways since your there. The seals take a little time to replace since their hard to get to. On the pass. side the boot on the shaft needs to be pushed back on the inner shaft. This is a two piece axle, the boot covers the splined connection. The only way to inspect the R & P is to totally disasemble the TTB. Not too much fun. You might have a better chance to look at the ring by looking into the fill plug with a light.

 

[sholzee]

When I rotate the driver side axle shaft it seems to wobble or not run true inside of the spindle. The ring which is near the ujoint and seems to serve as a splash shield seems to hit the heads of the 5 studs that hold the spindle housing on. Is there a bearing under that spindle cover ?

 

[Qxa47e]

Yes, there is a small bearing and seal inside the spindle. Your local auto parts store should have them, or be able to get them for you. It is located on the inside/back side of the spindle.

It supports the stub shaft and if it is bad it will cause the axle to 'wobble' around.

Qxa47e

 

[sholzee]

Ok after many hours and cans of penetrating oil and the blue tip wrench I have the spindles off and axle shafts out of the front end. Both outer u joints were seized. The joint on the passenger side stub axle is also bad, but I cannot get it out fo the housing. Is it retained somehow inside the housing? also the lower pass ball joint is shot any tricks to changing that? Thanks

 

[RON COX]

I would imagine the stub shaft has a c-clip on it, just like the rear axle. Why do you need to get that out, I think you can use a ball joint puller/press to remove the u-joint. Your going to need to rent it anyways, its worth a try. I would replace the upper ball joint too while your there. LOL

 

[sholzee]

I have the ball joint/ujoint press, but its a tight fit trying to get it on that ujoint. I do not know if any of you work on a northeast vehichle thats seen 9 years of road salt, the outer ujoints were very hard to get out with the press. I guess I can give it a go on my back under there, because trying to seperate that aluminum housing from the metal I beam deal is probably worse.

 

[JDraper]

It does have a c-clip inside the differential, and it's a SOB to get the differential off of the housing. You have to remove the left radius arm to get to a hidden bolt that holds the left side of the carrier on. I ended up completely removing my left front suspension to get my carrier out. If there is any way possible to get the press on the ujoint, do it! My '92 was also a northeast truck (central PA), so I know the mess you're dealing with. Good Luck!!

 

[sholzee]

I will try to remove the joint on the stub shaft while it is still in the diff. Do I have to be careful moving the shaft, if I push it in to the diff can the C clip fall off? Should I have the drive axle back in before I work on the stub axle? It will be tight trying to get the press on the shaft and I need to know in I accidently move it in or out can anything get misplaced in the Front differential? Also what do most people replace ujoints with greaseable or non greaseable. Half the time I have trouble getting the gun on the fitting unless its a end cap fitting. The ones that were on it wer non grease spicer U17 F1 20.

 

[JDraper]

The clip won't fall off, and you don't have to put the drive axle back in. As for greasable vs. ungreasable, I'd go with the greasable if you can get to them.

 

[sharonis3]

Originally posted by JDraper
The clip won't fall off, and you don't have to put the drive axle back in. As for greasable vs. ungreasable, I'd go with the greasable if you can get to them.

I have a 10 year old salt driven XLT and still have not changed the center universal on the passenger side. It does look very tightfor working, but looks better than taking off the carrier. Does everbody do it with a press??????????????????????????????

 

[sholzee]

I did it with press

My vehicle is also a salty rust bucket. I used a C-clamp type universal joint/ball joint press. It was a harbor freight tools model 42236-0VGA for $50 ok quality for home mechanic use. What really helped was removing the bolt that the differential bracket pivots on the passenger side of the vehicle. This let the differential and its bracket drop down some to give better access to the joint and allow the clamp some room to get on it.

First try did not budge and I was spraying it with penetrating oil for a couple of days prior. My joints looked like original none greasable ones. I had to use a torch to heat the yoke to expand it some and help the joint come out. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH A TORCH. While heating, one of the caps shot out of the yoke like a bullet. There must have been some air that expanded with the heat and since I had the c-clip retainers off it shot out. After I thanked whoever was looking out for me that day it came apart easy with one cap off. So LEAVE C-CLIP RETAINERS ON IF HEATING THE JOINT AND HAVE NO BODY PARTS IN LINE OF THE CAP IF HEATING IT. Also remove the caps from the yoke that is in the differential first the you can do the other on the shaft on a bench.

Be patient and support the vehicle properly when under there, I felt much better knowing all three were replaced. I used all my body weight to try to move my joints they were very stiff and since they were non greasable its not like I didnt maintain them. Good luck and reply if you have more questions.