What else can I do to my forn axle? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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What else can I do to my forn axle?

tweakedlogic

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City, State
memphis, tn
Year, Model & Trim Level
'92 XLT
What else can I do to my front axle?

Since no one else seems to be doing anything with their truck I'll ask a silly question.

Weather permitting, I'll finally be swapping my front ring and pinion. while i have the assembly apart I'll be doing a few other mods. Not a locker because I just can afford it now.

I will clearance the u joint to prevent binding. I will also open up the shaft window a little. I'm converting to manual hubs finally. And I will eliminate the C clip using the Echo spring.

I've considered just welding the spider gears. But I don't mud play much and snow driving will be out. Mostly trails/exploring. So that's out.

So what else can I do? I've thought about boxing in the arms. Don't know if it's necessary. Are there any mods that might gain more articulation? or added strength/reliability?

I have everything hear except the lock nuts, but they should be hear by Friday/ Saturday.
 



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The last cheap thing you can do is to convert the front ujoints from a c clip to a snap ring. Only takes a little grinding to make it fit.

~Mark
 












The last cheap thing you can do is to convert the front ujoints from a c clip to a snap ring. Only takes a little grinding to make it fit.

~Mark

What about the extra play in the ring groove due to the thinner snap ring vrs the c-clip? You think it's a problem? The bearing cup will walk around... I realize there are guys that have done this. I was considering using some lockwire to wire the snap rings closed and wrap it around the ring groove to take up the extra room. What do you think?
 






Never really noticed any play on mine... The snaprings aren't so thin that they would come out of the groove or allow anything to walk around.

I'd box up the passengerside beam if you plan to use it hard (there have been a couple reports of cracks occurring right where the welds stop where it opens up). And yeah don't weld your spiders. 9 out of 10 people regret doing it (the one that doesn't is usually a mudder or has a very specific need for it (and has hydro/hydro-assist steering).

I'll add this one to the links wood1 posted:
http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/Dec 05/offroad.htm
 







Oh that's a good one. I had forgotten that one.

Thanks wood1 for the links. Those are good links. Though I have found most of those before. I had forgotten the snap ring though. I should do that one too. I plan on running the stock u joints for the week point. I would much rather break a u joint than a shaft. The snap ring makes it easy to service.
 






..Wow..I thought I mistakenly was over at the TRS forum for a minute..:(

..There's a lot of information to be found here too..;)
 






..Wow..I thought I mistakenly was over at the TRS forum for a minute..:(

..There's a lot of information to be found here too..;)

I know, I know... pretty poor. I had a bunch of good stuff saved but my wife bought me a new laptop for Christmas, the boy got my old Toshiba and erased the damn thing before I had a chance to really go through it.

This is a good one:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66141&page=13

Might be nice to start a list of TTB mod links and sticky it...

I should take a pic of the snapring and bearing cup.

Standby...
 






I guess it's not really loose but there is definitely more room on there. Wish I had my calipers...
 

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Oh that's a good one. I had forgotten that one.

Thanks wood1 for the links. Those are good links. Though I have found most of those before. I had forgotten the snap ring though. I should do that one too. I plan on running the stock u joints for the week point. I would much rather break a u joint than a shaft. The snap ring makes it easy to service.

9 times out of 10, a busted u-joint rips the ears up on the shaft at the same time (very often turning into a big huge production the simple task of pulling the shaft through the hole in the knuckle afterward). IMO, I think it's better to just run the better u-joints and lessen the risk of it breaking in the first place. ;)
 






..x2 on better u-joints..I much prefer replacing stock hubs as the weak point..;)

Might be nice to start a list of TTB mod links and sticky it...

..I have a number of ttb and ifs thread links in the "HowTo" in my signature...I still have a few more to add and definitely need to sort it out a little better..:hammer:
 






x2 on hubs being a "designed" weak point. ;)

...

wood1 posted a pic showing a thin snapring on the U-joint cup. Will two rings fit?
 






wood1 posted a pic showing a thin snapring on the U-joint cup. Will two rings fit?[/QUOTE]

Negative. That's why I am going with lockwire.
 






Thicker rings are available... you just gotta hunt for them.
 






9 times out of 10, a busted u-joint rips the ears up on the shaft at the same time

A valid point. Since I still haven't started on it, I can work that in if the joints get here before reassembly. At this rate, I'll have my locker and Duff arm before i tear the thing apart.

now I've started to build my carport into a garage. No telling what else I find to get in the way of me weel'in ever again.


Oh yeah, Can anyone tell me how to change forn to front in the title? I don't know why spell check doesn't work in the title line???
 






Yeah no doubt they are out there. The shops I went to just looked at me like there was something wrong with me.

Not that there isn't, you know what I mean.
 






Did stuff today

Today I was delayed @ start, but I got a lot done.

It was a tight fit...
CIMG0439.jpg


But Four (non consecutive) hours later, I had this.

CIMG0443.jpg



I had some trouble with the right side doo hicky on the spindle. You know the thing that keeps you from pulling out the axle shaft??? and I thought I was going to strip on of the bolts on the drive shaft u joint, but I took my time and avoided it.I also forgot that I need a press and bearing plate to reuse the shim and inner bearing on the pinon. So I bought a new bearing. I do have a question about the pinion shim though. I don't have one that size in my ring and pinion rebuild set. Did I get the one for the rear drive D35? I will be annoyed if so. I have everything cleaned and ready to back together. I dropped the ball on the new u joints. I can't find any of the upgraded ones locally and I want to have this done by Monday morning cause the guy is coming to trim the unruly giant tree in the front yard on Tuesday. And I have lots of things to do and move before he can cut one branch.
Here's a pic of the rebuild kit.
CIMG0446.jpg
 






I've looked everywhere

Coming along. Had a small issue when I slid the u-joint coupler in and noticed the outer bearing shim had fallen out before I installed the pinion seal. Took out the seal, marred the surface, fixed that and went to buy another seal. The 24 hour autozone had a line out the door so I bought a new seal from Advanced. Didn't fit!!! removed everything and started over with a good seal. I keep getting delayed now with the things life throws at you. I pushed the tree man off until next week. but I hope to have everythying together tonight. Hope.

Should I try for a better pattern? Or do you guys think (like me) it's good enough?
CIMG0448.jpg
 






The email notification I got for this thread showed you were looking for the torque spec for the bearing caps.

I'm almost positive it was 80Ft lbs.

~Mark
 



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The email notification I got for this thread showed you were looking for the torque spec for the bearing caps.

I'm almost positive it was 80Ft lbs.

~Mark

That was my original post. Then I called a buddy who gave me login and password for Alldata and I found it. so I edited the post. BTW it's 47-67 ft pds.

Here's the other side. I don't have a way to measure backlash. Any suggestions for a way I can guess more accurately?
CIMG0451.jpg
 






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