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Rebuilding D44 and 12 bolt

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sdonahue862002

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Hows it going guys. Im new to the site and have been searching for a how to on rebuilding axles. I just bought a Dana 44 front and a 12 bolt rear. they have 4.56 gears and a locker in the rear. also have alloy axles in them. They were built for mud racing and before i put them under my truck i want to know with out a shadow of a doubt they are 100%.
I have looked at the gears and they all look great, but the rear pinion has way to much movement in it so i know that i will be at the least need to be changing the pinion bering and seals there.
I have a friend that knows how to set up the gears for the correct back lash and has all the tools to do it right. I just am the type of person that likes to do as much as i can on my own. that being said i would like to rebuil them so everything is new except the shafts, gears, and other major parts that i dont need to and just freshin up everything else before giving them to my buddy to set up the gears.

thanks in advance for everyones input.
 
idk if my intentions were clear in my post but im looking for some help finding a how to / walk thru on what to check, how to check, and how to replace the stuff on both theses axles. thanks again.
 
spend a little time with the Search button. Lots of good info on this site :thumb:
 
Thanks. ive been searching for about a week every night, here and on some other sites. there is a tone of great info thats why im a paid member. just having trouble finding the info i need. if you have any suggestions or links to writeups that would be great. im not a noob to forums and know what a search function is. im not just being lazy, im just having trouble finding the info. thanks.
 
if you are rebuilding it id redo everything as far as seals and bearings.if the pinion is loose it may be just the pinion nut backed off,but you may have already tried to do that.look for scored or rust pitted surfaces where the bearing sits.move the axle shafts up and down on the rear and see what kind of runout the shafts have.if it moves more than a 1/16 of an inch,the axle bearings may be bad.chevy haines manual really comes in handy for the 20 bucks it costs to buy it.pretty much if you tear it all apart and you have a friend thats done it before he will know what to look for.lay everything out in order of you pulling it off so you know how it goes back on.if it was a mud truck i would definitely pull the axle shafts out and clean out the axletubes.replace every seal and bearing.any amount of mud or silt that made its way in there will make short work of the internal parts.
 
sdonahue862002 said:
how are the axles held in? is there something in the carrier that holds them?
Click to expand...

On the rear You have to take out the crosshaft in between the spider gears.then push in on the axleshafts and pull out the c clip that is on the end of the anleshaft.at this point the shafts can pull out and spider gears as well.
 
"Alloy" is an extremely broad term that doesn't specify any actual makeup of the metal your shafts are made or, let alone the heat treat which is even more important.

When you say the rear pinoin has too much movement, is it in/out and side/side movement or will it rotate ~1/4 turn either way? You didn't mention what locker it has but if it's a mechanical locker (Detroit, Lock-right, etc) it will have a bunch of rotational play built into it which is nothing to be concerned about. As far as the pinion is concerned, rotational play is no big deal (if it was the gear set would be very noisy) but any in/out or side/side play means bad pinion bearings.
 
You will not need to set up the pinion depth if you are only changing the bearings.
Just be sure to keep the spacer between the pinionhead and the bearing.

If you change the carrier bearings i would check the backlash.It shouldn,t to change,but just in case.

Wich is going to be a must is to put a new chrush collar and nut on the pinion shaft.You will need a torsion wrench to set up the correct pnion bearing preload,wich is very important.
When you are torquening the nut,there is a moment that yo will notice that there is not any pinion play.Then is when you need to start to be very careful,and meassure the preload every 20 degrees you tight the nut.
If you exceed the correct bearing preload,you will need to place a new chrush collar and start again.
 
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Thank you for all the great info so far! I got them out of the trailer and started cleaning them all up cause they still had a thick coat of mud on them. after pressure washing them i took off the drums and and the diff cover. My buddy looked at it and felt the pinion and said that it deff will need new pinion bearings. i figured as much.

on the front after getting all the mud off the u joints and inspecting there we noticed that the cap was gone from one and it had wallowed out the hole in the yoke that goes out to the left side of the axle.

That will deff need to be replaced. question is i have a 10 bolt that is junked at a buddies house will on off it work on my Dana 44?

Also are there any "master rebuild kit" for the axles? all new bearings/ seals/ ball joints/ u joints? or do i need to buy them piece bu piece?
 
10 bolt and Dana 44 shafts are not interchangeable, even the 30 spline 10 bolt shafts are cut differently than the Dana 44 30 spline shafts.

If there is rotational play, that is probably the locker. Any in/out or side/side play is bearings.
 
Axleshaft

The stub shaft is the only interchange on those 2 shafts.spicer replacement shaft should run you 150.i just replaced mine and that is the new cost.used I coulda got one for 75.
 
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