Front Wheel Bearing colapse

[MRWmotorsports]

Luckily I didn't get in an accident... yikes. Had to get a tow home on a flatbed, head bowed in shame :-(

2000 SD, SRW, 4WD, Crew (pass side (right) front wheel hub/bearing)

I started taking it apart last night, and this is my first time so likely have some noob questions. I read a bunch of stuff here first, thanks everyone for all the great advise and contributions, I always come here first when I have a problem!

I pulled the wheel/cliper, hub lock, circlip, shims (3). Then pulled the uni-hub/bearing - what a f-ing mess! The bearings had completely come apart, rollers, and chewed up seals etc. all came out in pieces. Surprisingly the needle bearings looked fine! Outer stub axle looks fine, surface where needles runs looks OK, slight mark of needles (like a shadow) but can't feel anything with my finger... seems like a light touch with emery tape will be good to go again.

Question: All the debris chewed up the inside of the upright quite a bit. Does this matter? If I clean up nicely with a die-grinder will this go again?

Question: The inner axles shaft is moving up and down in the Axle tube, and there's a chewed up seal behind. Obviously I need to replace the seal, is there some kind of bearing in there too?

Question: To pull inner axle, it seems I need to pull the hub completeley (and I presume to do the seals for the outer stub axle this is require dtoo?), does the inner axle just pull out of the diff? Any advce here, things to watch out for?

I'll be replacing ball joints and U-joint while I have this apart, any advice on where to buy parts? I plan to buy enought to do both sides but will only do the one for now and the drivers side in the spring.

I can't believe how quickly this went from fine to complete failure... Truck seldom gets used and I did complete brakes in early November, checked bearings and ball joints then... Just over 1000km since!

Thansk for any help.

-Martin

[RT]

Get the MOOG balljoints and Timken bearings. More expensive, but you'll be doing it again too soon otherwise.

Here are some write-ups that should help you through.

Ford Super Duty Ball Joint Replacement Procedure | Superdutypsd.com

Welcome to guzzle's 4x4 Needle Bearing Maintenance Web Page

Welcome to guzzle's 4x4 Autolock Hub Lubrication Maintenance Web Page

[klhansen]

The axle will move a bit inside the axle housing with the hub assembly removed.

The axles come out using a prybar. You just need to be sure the metal seal cover doesn't catch on the bore of the knuckle. Otherwise, should just pull out. The seal inboard of the u-joints is just a dust seal to keep the big chunks out of the axle housing. Doesn't really do much. The u-joints are REAL tight in the axle yokes, so be prepared for that. Locking clips are inboard of the yokes.

The general consensus her is the Moog ball joints are what you should get. Also Spicer u-joints are OEM and good quality.

Here's a writeup on doing ball joints, along with some part # info.
TheDieselStop.Com - www.thedieselstop.com

[MRWmotorsports]

Thanks RT... I'd read Guzzlers article about changing the hub, that's how I knew how to ge things apart and what to expect.

The link to changing the ball joints is great, that shows how the inner axle comes out which I wasn't sure of. Mine currently doesn't have much in the way of seals etc... as they were all "munged" so it looks very different from those pictures... at least i know what it's supposed to look like now!

Thanks Klhansen.. it didn't occur to me that the whole axle would come through the upright. I don't need to worry about the seal cover catching anything, it's all f'ed up already. Any comments on the gouges inside the upright? If I clean them up will this be OK to re-use?

It seems that if I don't have to totally remove the upright then I can put off doing the ball joints... they don't "need" doing yet (again), I just thought if I had the upright removed I'd do them now anyway (last done 6 years 100,00 kms ago). I need to do the U-joint though as it's very tight.

I'm starting to feel more comfortable about doing this now... thanks!

-Martin.

[klhansen]

If by "upright" you mean the steering knuckle that the wheel bearing/hub bolts to, the thing you need to worry about is that the bearing/hub assembly fits in and doesn't slop around in the bore. The large seal also seats in the bore and needs to seal at the interface. I can't see it of course, but I'd imagine that all you'd need to do is dress it up with some emery cloth or similar. If the gouges are real deep you'll have problems with the seal holding vacuum, assuming that you have the auto hubs. A little RTV around the outside of the seal would probably cure that.