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Broken front axle, please help

C

chev4life

1/2 ton status
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Jun 21, 2001
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San Jose, CA
Well, went wheeling and broke something in my 3/4 ton (8lug) D44. Not really sure what is broken though. I have a Detroit TrueTrac in it, running 35" SSR's and 4.10 gears. I jacked up the truck and started it the front driveshaft was spinning, but niether front tire was. The manul hubs are fine. I pulled the diff cover and didnt see any chunks...some particulate of metal was in there, but small enough not to feel with your fingers. When I spin the driveshaft the carrier spins and the gears look fine. If I spin the driver (long axle) side of the truck I can see the internal gears of the truetrac spin, driver side in the direction I am spinning and the pass in the opposite direction. When I spin the pass side axle I get no spinning at all. When I rotate the driveshaft and the carrier spins I can see the pass side helical spin w/out movemment on the driver side. Sorry its kinda choppy, but this is all I have...can anyone give any idea, hints, etc??? Anyone have a howto on removing the axle shafts? I have never done it, but cant imagine it wouldnt be that bad...please put me in the right direction. Is my pass shaft busted? Is my truetrac busted?
Oh...I cant hear any grinding or anything other than gears w/out oil on them...so relatively quiet. PLEASE HELP! /forums/images/graemlins/bow.gif /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif
 
You snapped your passenger side inner axleshaft. It probably broke just past the splines where it engages in the diff.

Time to replace the short side inner axle.

Harley
 
That is what I was thinking, but I have never done it before...any hints on getting this done? I really would like to try it myself to get the experience, but could use a little pointers. Will I need special tools? Is it worth getting a 4340 steel w/ the other side stock? Thanks guys.
OH..if it is staped at the splins...how do I get the end out?
 
You get the other end out with a entendable pen magnet once you get everything taken apart.

You need 1 special tool. You need a hub nut socket which can be rented or bought at most auto parts stores. It is a 4 prong socket that you need to remove the hub nuts.

Other tools that you need to make the job easy are snap ring plyers, dental picks, 3/8" allen wrench, and an allen wrench or torx bit to fit your locking hub bolts. Your hubs should have one or the other.

Have you ever repacked wheel bearings? If so then you can do the job easy. It is not a tough job to do. If it is your first time it might take you awhile but you need to know how to do it anyway.

This page has some info on doing the disassembly. Ignore the conversion part of it and focus on the actual install stuff. http://coloradok5.com/8lugconversion.shtml

Harley
 
If you can repack the wheel bearings you can replace the axleshaft. The only other thing you have to do is remove the spindle and caliper bracket.

If the end of the shaft is broke off in the carrier it can be slightly tricky to remove. On an open diff you can usually remove the center pin on the diff and push it out.....can't remember if you can see the end of the shaft with a Tru-trac or not. In the past, I've had to remove the opposite side wheel/hub/shaft and use a long rod inserted from the opposite end to push out the broken piece.
 
So there are no clips I have to worry about at the diff end for the axle right? I have never really done anything like this before. Done my share of wrenching but usually keep the gears/bearings type stuff to the pros...but that is ending now, so I really know nothing. So I need to pull the hud..which is just a few torx or allens (cant remember) and a a couple c-clips and it should slide right off. Pull the caliper...easy. I take it the disk slides off after this? Then there is a big hub nut?..that I need the tool for? Then slide out axle? Did I get this right? Sorry for the lack of knowledge...still learning, want to be prepared so I dont have to have my truck up in my apartment parking lot for too long.
 
oh...since I am in there and replacing the inner with 4340, should just do the outer at the same time out of 4340 or is it even worth the money? Whats a good axle to go with, brand wise I mean?
 
If you are going to use 4340 inners you need to use 4340 outers and you need to use a GOOD ujoint. CTM, OX, or the very least a Spicer 760x.

If you use 4340 shafts and a cheap ujoint you will break the ujoint and void any warranty you had on the chromo axles. Superior is about the best aftermarket chromo axle maker. After them I would go with Warn or Moser.

Harley
 
Yeah that is what I figured. I was looking at the sets of Superiors at ORD. They offer the CMT or the Spicer 297. If I get the shafts, the CMT is gonna be real hard on the budget. Whats the diff betweeen the 760x and 297 spicer?
 
The 297x is the obsolete Spicer joint. The 760x is the cold forged ujoint that replaced the 297x, and is a little stronger then the old 297x. If you are going to pay for the Superiors then go ahead and pay for the CTM's. You probably won't snap the Superiors but you will eventually probably snap a 760x, and when it goes it will probably egg out the ears of the Superiors and then you are SOL all the way around.

Harley
 
[ QUOTE ]
So there are no clips I have to worry about at the diff end for the axle right?

[/ QUOTE ]
No. Our front axles are full floating so the shafts just slide in and slide out. Just like your 14ff. This job is very easy to do. As long as you know how the manual hub goes together, its a pretty quick job. Nothing should give you any real trouble. Just spray some pb blaster on the bolts that hold the old brake backing plate on because these bolts sometimes dont want to come of very easy. And be sure to pack your bearings correctly, and 110 percent full of grease. You dont want to do all of this, just to be tearing back into the axle in a month because your wheel bearings went bad. They arent very hard to replace, its just not fun to replace them when you just had the hubs and bearing out not too long ago.
-Harrison
 
Just ordered my 4340 shafts...now I just have to wait for them to get in, Superior has a slight back log on the pass inners. Cant wait to tear into it. I have read up on the bearing packing so I am not too worried. Thanks for all the help. Oh...one last...what kind of grease are you guys using to back the bearings and hub assy? I have heard Redline makes some good stuff. I was also thinking of running a redline non-synthetic 80-90 in both my front and rear diffs...any reason I shouldnt or is it worth the extra few bucks to go redline? Thanks again...I will keep you posted on the install.
Really amazing...breaking something makes me want to back out worse than I did before /forums/images/graemlins/woot.gif /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
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