CK5
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Pardon my ignorance, but...
- Thread starter TheBeast_88K5
- Start date
Closed knuckle, drum brake Dana 44.
Harder to get parts for, weaker parts, drum brakes, generally worth pretty much nothing.
Harder to get parts for, weaker parts, drum brakes, generally worth pretty much nothing.
TheBeast_88K5
Banned
I figured...
When I saw it, I immediately thought: "Failure in engineering, much?";
But, hey, figured I'd ask.
Hey now, don't knock that axle too much.
Its pretty much the same axle on my old Jeep. I put over 200K on it, and built roads through swamps with it.
Mostly by backing off and ramming trees until I either drove over them, or hooked up my winch and dragged my Jeep over them.
In all that time, the only repair I had to do, other than brakes and some hub work, was replace the top weird looking Timken bearing.
Once I figured out why it went bad, I never had to do it again.
That axle was designed in WWII, and had no disconnects, since you did not want to get out and lock hubs with people shooting at you.
As a result, the top bearing was splash lubed by the Rzeppa joint running in 90 weight inside the knuckle..
After Warn invented the locking hub, the axle did not turn as often, and the top bearing did not get lubed.
So, when I realized that, I made a point of dropping it into 4wd with the hubs unlocked a few times a week at red lights.
Drive about a block, and kick it back out.
The first and only time I ever wrote to a national magazine was because of that knuckle.
I always kept the rubber and felt seals in good shape on mine, and it never leaked. I changed the oil after every hunting season to get the water out, and it was always full of oil.
Somebody wrote in to one of the big magazines, OffRoad, 4wd, one of those, asking how to stop the 90W from leaking out of his front knuckles.
Their so-called expert assured them that every Jeep manual since 1944 was wrong. That you were supposed to run heavy axle grease in those knuckles instead of oil. That there was no way oil could stay in there.
I wrote him a scathing letter, assuring him that my knuckles were full of oil, had been for the past 15 years, and did not leak.
Not only that, but I could point to dozens of Jeeps and trucks around town that had oil in their knuckles with not problems.
Plus, of course, with grease, you would not get any oiling of the top bearing.
Never heard back from them, of course.......
So, have a little respect for that old design. It may seem outdated and weak these days, but thousands of GIs owe their lives to it.
Its pretty much the same axle on my old Jeep. I put over 200K on it, and built roads through swamps with it.
Mostly by backing off and ramming trees until I either drove over them, or hooked up my winch and dragged my Jeep over them.
In all that time, the only repair I had to do, other than brakes and some hub work, was replace the top weird looking Timken bearing.
Once I figured out why it went bad, I never had to do it again.
That axle was designed in WWII, and had no disconnects, since you did not want to get out and lock hubs with people shooting at you.
As a result, the top bearing was splash lubed by the Rzeppa joint running in 90 weight inside the knuckle..
After Warn invented the locking hub, the axle did not turn as often, and the top bearing did not get lubed.
So, when I realized that, I made a point of dropping it into 4wd with the hubs unlocked a few times a week at red lights.
Drive about a block, and kick it back out.
The first and only time I ever wrote to a national magazine was because of that knuckle.
I always kept the rubber and felt seals in good shape on mine, and it never leaked. I changed the oil after every hunting season to get the water out, and it was always full of oil.
Somebody wrote in to one of the big magazines, OffRoad, 4wd, one of those, asking how to stop the 90W from leaking out of his front knuckles.
Their so-called expert assured them that every Jeep manual since 1944 was wrong. That you were supposed to run heavy axle grease in those knuckles instead of oil. That there was no way oil could stay in there.
I wrote him a scathing letter, assuring him that my knuckles were full of oil, had been for the past 15 years, and did not leak.
Not only that, but I could point to dozens of Jeeps and trucks around town that had oil in their knuckles with not problems.
Plus, of course, with grease, you would not get any oiling of the top bearing.
Never heard back from them, of course.......
So, have a little respect for that old design. It may seem outdated and weak these days, but thousands of GIs owe their lives to it.
black dawg
1/2 ton status
pre 75 ford d44 closed knuckle. The major down fall was small u-joints. I broke soo many of those u-joints and axles that I lost track. Went to a 75 disk brake 44 (with regular knuckles and axle joints) and never broke it.
YZEATER
1/2 ton status
scrap
I had a dana 44 closed knuckle axle in my "trar" 72 Chevelle wagon,that was on a '69 Suburban K10 frame...it never gave any grief other than leaking some from the felt seal around the "ball",I just pumped a tube of grease into each one along with the gear oil,and it never leaked much afterwards...I kind of liked the fact it didn't have exposed u-joints to rust up and go south in it,never had to take it apart once...I never used it for off roading or plowing either though,so I dont doubt they show their weaknesses under those conditions..
Brandon H.
Registered Member
Do they make drum to disk conversions. Have one of these laying around.
.
The outer knuckle has a different spindle bolt pattern than the disc spindle. Even if it was the same you can buy the entire front open disc axle for what the outers off of one would cost.
