Lifeguard's sas.

[lifeguard379]

well i ordered my gears today. 4.86 for the rear and 4.88 for the frunt. i came to the conclusion the 37's on a dd is allot of rolling mass. lol so im going with 35's. got the 9" cleaned and kinda painted and will tear it apart tomorrow and i will get some pics up of the progress. also still wondering if my stock rear rubber line will bolt up to the 9" any one know?

 

[Mud Bug 94]

sure. youll prob need an extended one tho.

 

[lifeguard379]

well i was reading another thread and they sead they used a stock 78 f-150 line so i went and got one today. my wheels came in today as well

 

['97 V8]

^^^ leaning tower of pizza.

 

[lifeguard379]

ordered my springs and shocks today so hopefully they will be hear by the weekend.
i am going with the cage 5.5 springs and there 14" travle shocks

 

[lifeguard379]

made some progress today. tore apart the 9" to get it ready for the gears and i looks like water got in the vent tube, kinda ugly. think some degreaser and a pressure washer will be enough to clean it out?

and my new gears

 

[IZwack]

yeah degreaser and pressure washer should do it. but if you have time, a hot tank bath (from a machine shop or hot rod shop) is cheap and a lot more effective -- I think it cost me like $20-$25 to hot tank the dana 44 housing -- comes out bare metal and very pretty afterwards

 

[lifeguard379]

springs and shocks came today

i also started to take the 44 apart but having a hard time with the hubs. the Chilton's says to remove the axle sleeve but doesn't say how, and i cant get it out. any one know a trick to do it?
it this part hear.

 

[IZwack]

Your lockouts havent came out yet, you need to get the snapring in front of it and remove the outer lockout thing. Its hard to tell from your pic, but after that you nee to get ye ol spindle bearing nut removal tool (which is a glorified large socket) and remove the spindle nut (which is comprised of three pieces actually). Then you can pull the entire rotor/hub assembly from the axle.

 

[RockRanger]

the spidle nut tool is the same one from the dana 35.

 

[lifeguard379]

is there more then one snap ring? and the socket your talking about, is it the same one for the manual hubs on the d35?
thanks for the help IZ.

 

[RockRanger]

There are two snap rings. One on the axle shaft that loks like is gone. Then on the outside edge there is another one. I have alwas used what looks like a dentist pick to pop it out.

Same as the manual hub 35. You can reuse the spindle nuts if you want to as well.

 

[IZwack]

Yeah theres a larger snap ring at the edge where the lockout cap would mate to. I use two small (sharp) screwdrivers -- takes a few minutes at first but you'll get the ring out.

 

[lifeguard379]

thanks rock ranger i guess i posted at the same time lol.
i was looking in there for another ring but didn't see one, but i will try again tomorrow.

 

[IZwack]

The snapring is what prevents the lockout from flying out of the hub -- so it sits in a groove thats been cut on the inside of the hub's cylindrical tube body.

 

[lifeguard379]

thanks agen now i know where to look. that helps alot

 

[RockRanger]

When I took my 44 apart the first time I had the sae thing. It was covered in so much grease that I couldnt see it. Once I cleaned it up I found it there. Also there is a spring behind it so somethimes it likes to launch out at you when you get the snap ring off.

 

[lifeguard379]

well it was right where it was supposed to be. and once i got it out, the other side was out in a couple seconds. thanks for the help guys
and this is as fare that i got today. the knuckles don't wanna come off, so i guess i need a bigger hammer or something. lol

 

[IZwack]

If you have a ball joint press, I believe thats the easiest way to remove the knuckles -- in other words, remove one of the ball joints first. The problem with removing the knuckle with a large hammer is that you're fighting two ball joints -- but thats the way I got mine out and I didnt really care for the knuckles since they were going to be replaced, so I just grabbed the biggest sledge I could find and went to town with it

 

[james t]

Big hammer + blue bottle propane torch. Heat around the balljoints. Put both of the nuts back on and tighten them down so they are almost flush with the top of the threads.