Did I screw the pooch?

[45acpJr]

Got some motivation to start working on the dana 60 again today. I threw all of the small parts in the sandblast cabinet to speed the process up a little bit. I was very careful with things that had mating surfaces. But I did completely blast the lower king pin, I noticed how shiny and pretty they are in a catalog. Am I going to have any issues with them now that they are matte and slightly rough?

 

[K85 Octane]

I think you'll be fine. You might however want to polish up the stud that goes through the bearing. The rest gets a very thin layer of rtv when assembled, so it will fill in any imperfections.

 

[rebelgregory]

The smaller diameter is basically the inner race of the bearing. The finish rough finish should still be ok (like K85 said) since it sees relatively small movements - steering.

However, the larger diameter, closest to the flange, is a sealing surface and if you blasted it, it's gonna tear up your seal. Since there's grease in there and not oil, you might choose to live with it, but I would definitely expect to get a little more leakage when it gets hot and runny. Also be wary of water/mud and be sure to purge it with new grease if you wheel in the wet stuff.

Last thing. Hook your grease gun up to the zerx while it's all apart and purge the grease channels in all parts with said grease fittings. The sand will stick to the grease in there and as soon as you put it al together, the first time you go to lube everything up, you'll be pushing sand right into the works.

 

[tRustyK5]

I'd swap em out, as joyously fun as that is.

 

[45acpJr]

At almost 50 bucks each I was trying to avoid that

 

[tRustyK5]

Yeah, there is that...but firstly if they were meant to be "matte and slightly rough" they'd be that way from the get go. Second, they're a critical part of your steering. D60's have enough death wobble issues already without re-assembling it with known compromised parts.

Frankly the $50 each isn't the bad part...the bad part would be having it all together, going for the first drive and finding out firsthand how much of a big deal it is, then having to tear it all down again and replace them.

 

[45acpJr]

I hear what you are saying rene and I already ordered them I was just hoping for better news.

 

[rebelgregory]

You never know what someone's budget is. It might be OK, but for me - swapping in tons (which is kind of a big deal) $50 is worth the peace of mind.

Lesson learned, right? Happens to all of us.


.

 

[tRustyK5]

I hear what you are saying rene and I already ordered them I was just hoping for better news.

Well sure, I totally get that. God knows I've done similar more times than I can count. I call it the price of my (self) education.