Safety + Tips - DANA 44

[hivewax]

I haven't checked the knuckles in the front DANA 44 axle, but read here of water getting inside and rusting the lower half. It's not leaking, but there is still some crud I need to scrap off the yoke and retainers. I also don't know if the axle is original to the truck or was swapped.

Some questions...
1. What do I look for to see if it's a open or closed knuckle? I can take a picture of the tag that's attached to the differential cover bolts, if that helps...
2. When taking off the retainers, can I leave the weight on the ground or do I jack the axle up until the front tires are off the ground?
3. Can I use Permatex aviation form-a-gasket or something else to seal the retainers to the steering knuckle or should I buy the correct seals?

The tires don't move when I push it up and down and also took off the locking hubs and repacked the wheel bearing space with grease. I didn't have the special key socket to remove the ring nut (?)... just removed the old gunk and filled it up with new grease pushing it in by putty knife.

[1971ford]

You have closed knuckle unless someone swapped in a newer axle. Open knuckle you can see u-joints on the axle shafts. Closed knuckle you have a big "ball" that the knuckle pivots on. This ball has wiper seals on it that keep stuff from getting inside the ball where your trunion bearings are. These seals suck and if they're the original seals i can tell you right now they're wasted. They do a fantastic job of letting water in and somehow holding it in. It would be a good idea to pull the wiper seals, clean out the mess inside and apply new grease to the trunions. Then new wiper seals.
I pulled my wipers, cleaned it out, put new grease in, and put the old wipers back on figuring I do not want to spend a dime on this TERRIBLE front axle that Ford blessed us with... (although, i have yet to break mine under Cummins power and weight with 37's).

[1971ford]

Closed knuckle.
Those bolts are holding the wiper seals on.



open knuckle

[hivewax]

Big difference in looks... I feel real stupid.

Pretty simple then, I'll take the retainers off while the front tires are loaded, remove all the old grease/oil/water out, inspect the surrounding condition and wiper seals, clean the outside yoke of crud, then pack the knuckles with grease. And, I cannot use any type of sealant to replace the "wiper seal" because it wipes the yoke keeping the grease/oil from escaping.

Seems the closed knuckle is more durable than a open knuckle, but requires more maintenance...

[eggman918]

Bronco Graverard has the seals
http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-217 ... mall-.html #3,000 axle
http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-217 ... arge-.html #3,500 axle

[hivewax]

Thanks! Real cool stuff you did to your Crew Cab. I want your grill guard and front bumper.

[eggman918]

Thank's that is the only one in existence the only drawback is it weighs about #400

[hivewax]

There was no rust or water and there was just grease/oil around the top and bottom bearings. I used the old wiper seals, but removed the felts... don't want to put money down the drain if I'm thinking about Rockwell axles in the future.

Scraped like 3-5lbs. of crud off the front axle and blinged up the retainers with epoxy paint, so that gained me maybe an extra 1hp.


Before