rkaylor

Hey guys, long time lurker and first time poster. I have had great luck finding what I needed that I've never had the need to post until now.

Let me start at the beginning. It all started when I replaced the bearings for the first time. I was in a bit of a rush and not having access to a press, I neglected to change out the race. This, I believe, somehow caused the race to come loose and begin spinning inside the hub. Also, excuse my terminology, as I don't claim to be an expert mechanic or even to speak the language. But just a guy who was taught to be a do-it-yourselfer. So, anyway, the spindle nut eventually worked itself loose and the bearings followed. I was able to catch this before too much damage was done, due to the humming sounds coming from the drivers side. I managed to resolve most of this by replacing both rotors/hubs, which came with the races pressed, thank god, and new bearings. I went ahead and did my pads at this time as well to take advantage of the opportunity.

A month or so went by and everything seemed to be working fine. But after a while I started to get the humming sound which then quickly turned into a grinding sound. This time from the front passenger side. I decided to have an expert opinion. So without taking a further look at it myself due again in large part to time constraints, I had it towed over to a local "brake shop". The mechanic told me I had damaged the brand new rotor and would need to turn it and that the bearings had come loose and I would need to replace those..again! He then told me I should not be doing this kind of work myself and next time to consult an expert! Needless to say I was pissed off at this point. He told me what he charged for such a job and I laughed in his face. I asked him to bring it down from the lift and that I would not be needing him to do anything beyond that. So not living to far, I decided to drive the truck home and do the work myself. BAD IDEA!

When I got home and looked at the damage, it was worse than I could have imagined! Not only had the outer bearings become ripped apart, part of it had managed to seize itself to the spindle and the other part to the hub! I was dumbstruck! How could have done something so ridiculous!?!

I've done some looking around for solutions but none that seem feasible. I found a replacement spindle at a junkyard but I can't figure out how to get the spindle off without removing the rotor! And I can't get the rotor off without somehow removing the bearing! I have taken a few pictures to help describe what I am talking about. Hopefully someone has been through this or knows of some way to remedy this. Is it possible to replace the whole assembly?

Thanks for any help or advice in advance!

Robert Kaylor

Kattumaram

I can't imagine how all that damage has occurred unless the bearings were made in China, were a complete mis-match, the bearings had excess preload or the lube was wrong; however, since the bearings are toast and maybe the disc/hub as well, use a hammer and go to work on the disc/hub to loosen everything up so it can be removed.

If the spindle surfaces are really damaged, then new spindles are in your future.

In addition, I don't see how the spindle nut backed off and loosened up....it should have been locked by a castellated retainer and cotter pin.

If the disc/hub bearing bores are really messed up, then some new replacements need to be purchased. Those items usually have the outside races for both bearings installed, so replacement bearings would consist of only the inside races and rollers. New seals are adviseable as well.

The proper lube for those bearings is moly-lithium NLG1 grease, Valvoline is a good one in full synthetic.

Adjustment of the bearings calls for installing the new assemblies and torquing the wheel nut to about 15lb/ft, rotate the hub to seat the bearings, back off the nut until it's just loose, then turn it up hard finger tight and install the locking retainer and cotter pin. The hub should have no discernable slack.

rkaylor

Thanks for the quick response and advise. I have tried banging it off to no avail. My next thought is to remove the whole wheel assembly and replacing the whole thing. Any special precautions in doing this?

Good old Bill

Welcome to the forum, sorry it had to be on such circumstance. Am looking at the PIC, am seeing the outer washer turned into the thread, try to move it back to the flat area of the spindle. Hopefully its "threaded itself" into the spindle.

I feel you were correct in pulling the truck away from the so called expert. This is nuts and bolts, your understanding shown can handle this, hang in there, keep us posted.

Kattumaram

Yeah, Bill, you might be right about that....if it has run up the threads, how the heck did it do it? The washer bore has a flat that keeps it from turning on the spindle. Unless, of course, a plain washer was installed, then all bets are off.

Kattumaram

Be careful when removing the springs....there's a lot of energy stored there. An internal spring compressor is the best bet; the shock must be removed to get the compressor installed.

Use lots of liquid wrench on the tie rod end and ball joint studs and nuts and be careful to avoid bunging up the threads on those studs if you intend to re-use the existing components.

Since you will have the whole front suspension disassembled, seriously consider replacing the ball joints and tie rod ends. It won't be cheap, but will serve you well in the long haul.

rkaylor

Thanks for the advice Kattumaram. I have successfully removed the part I believe to be the wheel assembly without having to remove the springs. I simply jacked up the piece holding the the spring (not sure what this is called) and removed a few nuts and banged it a few times with hammer and that sucker came right off. Now I guess my choices are to take it to a machine shop and have them cut the rotor off which would result in me having to replace the spindle, bearings and probably the rotor, or I could go down the the junkyard and pick up the whole dang thing! I'm voting for the latter but will have to wait till tomorrow to check their price on this and compare both options.

So thanks for the help in getting me this far, I will keep you all abreast of the situation.

Kattumaram

I think, from your comments, that you have jacked up the truck from under the bottom A-arm leaving the spring compressed. Do me and you a favor and double-up on the lift by placing some jack stands under the frame in case your jack comes unglued.

If the jack you're using is a hydraulic floor jack, then stick a piece of hard pine 2x4 between the fixed-wheel axle shaft and the axle shaft under the lifting pad and release the hydraulic pressure to let the pad down against the 2x4, then close the lifting valve again. That'll keep the load up if the hydraulic system should fail. The last thing you need is a couple of tons of F150 on your chest.

rkaylor

Thanks! Great advice! I had it supported under the frame with jackstands from the get go..thanks to years of the old man drilling me over that. I

I hit the junkyard this afternoon and picked up a spindle assembly and rotor, then dropped by the parts store and picked up bearings and new brake pads. When I went to reconnect the spindle to the ball joints I noticed the ball joint bushings were worn badly to the point of falling apart. I also noticed that now the ball joint (bolts) spun freely, and that there was no way to turn the nut without them spinning.

Does this mean my ball joints are shot? If so, how and the heck do I remove/replace them? The top joint appears to be all one piece. Do I replace the whole arm?

I guess I should just break down and buy a repair manual already.

Thanks again...

rkaylor

Hey guys...I have pressed out the lower ball joints but can't seem to get them pressed back in. I understand that I need to reverse the process but I can't fit the press under the joint due to the amount of clearance between the ground and truck. Any suggestions?


Ok...I figured out how the press works now and i'm in the process of pressing them back in. The left is sort of going in crooked so i'm going to press it back out and try realigning it and have another go at it. For now, the rain is falling in Austin, tx, so ball joints will have to wait till it stops.

Also, I just read on another forum that I needed to mark the alignment of the upper ball joint arm before removing it in order to reinstall it in the same place... however, I failed to do so. Will this be a detriment to the installation? If so, how does one get this realigned without knowing where it was before?

Thanks again for the help!