Post by Somebody on Mar 17, 2013 21:21:10 GMT -6
Well I had a few issues with my front 44 for some time now... When I first got it I noticed someone tried to weld the long side tube to the housing... I say tried cause they failed miserably. It has also had a leak on the long side due to a bad axle shaft... So of course when I get crazy with it like jumping 15 ft in the air and come down hard on it, it finally threw it's hands up and quit on me.. Namely the long side tube spun from the housing and popped out a bit..
So I spontaneously upgraded by popping it back in with a frame machine and a jack and welding it back together and adding a truss...
Since I knew the seals were bad anyway I didn;t take anything apart when I welded it back together and cooked the seals and the Lube Locker..
So here we go with a seal change on a HP 3/4 ton 8 lug Ford Dana 44. Some of this is prevalent to the Ford, but some is knowledge that a lot of people ask about on their diffs.. I'm hoping some of you will get at least something good from it.. Enjoy.
First off... The FW 44 and the Dana 30 are a lot different.. I have said before I can change a Dana 30 axle in 15 mins flat... Not so with this one. Dana 30 has a carrier bearing hub while the 44 has lockouts and spindles.. stronger in design but a lot more complex too.. First take off wheel and brakes. Then if you have lockouts those will have to come off.. I have drive flanges instead for strength.. 6 grade 8 bolts and it slides off.. I use grade 8 cause this is where all the force that turns the axles is transferred.. Don;t wanna skimp here!
When you go full width tons and you have spindles you will need a kit like this.. It's for the nuts that hold the hub to the spindle.. they are keyed. The front has 4 keys and my 14 bolt has 6 keys. This kit will also work on Toyota axles.
Once those are off then you can remove the hub that has the brake rotor attached.. behind it is the spindle. The good thing about this is when you break an axle or a lockout your still able to get it off the trail.
5 more nuts that hold the spindle to the knuckle and brake caliper and the spindle slides off.. From there you can now take out the axle shaft... Now you see why it takes more time and effort to replace!
Outer axle shaft..
Inner axle shaft... These are chromalloys.
Now time to take out the carrier and ring gear.. Remove the carrier bolts. This is where you have to pay attention... Some people say that you have to keep the carrier supports in the same direction and make sure they go back the same way... and if you forget then your screwed... Half true. They do need to go back in the same way but there is a way to find out if you do forget or get them mixed up.. On the housing lip you will find a stamp.. left side will have a letter in a certain direction.. and the right side will be 90 degrees out.. Mine came with a different set cause the letters aren't the same but the concept still remains.. Match the sides up and your good to go. In my case the L is vertical on one side and horizontal on the other side.. Altho my carrier supports have an B they still go in the same way.
This would also be a perfect time to check your ring and pinion for cracks or damage.. also check your tooth pattern.. if you have a bad pinion or carrier bearing your tooth pattern will be off.. BTW.. this is a mini spool.. it takes the place of the spider gears and is always locked up.
My pattern still looks good... but I did notice something they call ring deflection.. it's when your diff "bends" from so much force being applied to it that the ring and pinion deflect away from each other.. this is what causes breakage.... Mine deflected so much that the rear gear actually dug into the back of the housing.. Wonder when that happened??
The seals themselves did not look bad... but I know they were from oil leaking out of the tube... To get them out they make a seal puller.. looks like a small hammer with hooks on the end that you pull on the seal from the back side with... These suck! They usually just rip the metal housing on the seal dn you left trying to dig it out anyway.. The best way is to get a 1 5/8" OD pipe and cut it 40" long.. Put it in the axle tube from the outside in and smack on it with a hammer.. this will pop the seal right out with less effort and no scarred up tubes... This can be done on any axle seals not just the 44..
OK... so now that we have everything apart and checked out... we can start to reassemble. But first we need to clean.. clean everything!! Inside the housing, where the new seal will seat, old oil in the diff, bolt holes, anything you can clean do it!! You have no idea how frustrating it is to go through a whole replacement like this only to find out your seal didn't work cause you had dirt in it, or strip out a bolt cause there was dirt or sealnt left in the hole.. Blow it all out!! You will also wanna make sure you get all of the oil out of the diff cover before sealing it back up... otherwise the oil will drain out onto the gasket maker stuff and not seal correctly..
Some people swear by the black stuff.. but I've used this and it hasn't failed me yet..
The new seals will need to go in from the inside of the diff... It's easier to do with a socket that will fit just inside of the seals lip and a small hammer.. the trick is to make sure it goes in straight.. I didn;t get pics for some reason.. sorry.
So now that we have the new seals in let's bolt back up! First the carrier.. like I showed before.. line up the stamps with each other in the right direction and tighten.. If you have a memory like mine then you will want to find a Dana 44 spec sheet like this... it shows all of the torque ratings, bolt strength and a lot of other useful info just for times like this.. Some people think it's ok to just use an impact and go on.. I say if you have money in your axles why not do it right! Get a torque wrench, it only takes a few extra minutes.. Mine says the carrier bolts are 70 to 90 Ft lbs.. I do in between and go 80
Once the carrier is in slide the axle shafts in place being careful not to just shove them in otherwise your gonna be replacing seals again... lift up on the inner axle shaft while sliding it in. The reassemble the hubs.. I use red loctite on the spindle nuts and the flange bolts.. I have had the flange bolts actually loosen up and fall out before. Even with lock washers on em.
Here is a trick to gasket maker... use plenty of it and let it set for a couple minutes to tack up before assembly.. You will know it was enough when you tighten the part down and it's seeping out evenly...
I must have done it right cause now it doesn't leak anywhere! I hope maybe this shed a little light on some things that people might have had questions about when dealing with their own diff issues..
Thanks
So I spontaneously upgraded by popping it back in with a frame machine and a jack and welding it back together and adding a truss...
Since I knew the seals were bad anyway I didn;t take anything apart when I welded it back together and cooked the seals and the Lube Locker..
So here we go with a seal change on a HP 3/4 ton 8 lug Ford Dana 44. Some of this is prevalent to the Ford, but some is knowledge that a lot of people ask about on their diffs.. I'm hoping some of you will get at least something good from it.. Enjoy.
First off... The FW 44 and the Dana 30 are a lot different.. I have said before I can change a Dana 30 axle in 15 mins flat... Not so with this one. Dana 30 has a carrier bearing hub while the 44 has lockouts and spindles.. stronger in design but a lot more complex too.. First take off wheel and brakes. Then if you have lockouts those will have to come off.. I have drive flanges instead for strength.. 6 grade 8 bolts and it slides off.. I use grade 8 cause this is where all the force that turns the axles is transferred.. Don;t wanna skimp here!
When you go full width tons and you have spindles you will need a kit like this.. It's for the nuts that hold the hub to the spindle.. they are keyed. The front has 4 keys and my 14 bolt has 6 keys. This kit will also work on Toyota axles.
Once those are off then you can remove the hub that has the brake rotor attached.. behind it is the spindle. The good thing about this is when you break an axle or a lockout your still able to get it off the trail.
5 more nuts that hold the spindle to the knuckle and brake caliper and the spindle slides off.. From there you can now take out the axle shaft... Now you see why it takes more time and effort to replace!
Outer axle shaft..
Inner axle shaft... These are chromalloys.
Now time to take out the carrier and ring gear.. Remove the carrier bolts. This is where you have to pay attention... Some people say that you have to keep the carrier supports in the same direction and make sure they go back the same way... and if you forget then your screwed... Half true. They do need to go back in the same way but there is a way to find out if you do forget or get them mixed up.. On the housing lip you will find a stamp.. left side will have a letter in a certain direction.. and the right side will be 90 degrees out.. Mine came with a different set cause the letters aren't the same but the concept still remains.. Match the sides up and your good to go. In my case the L is vertical on one side and horizontal on the other side.. Altho my carrier supports have an B they still go in the same way.
This would also be a perfect time to check your ring and pinion for cracks or damage.. also check your tooth pattern.. if you have a bad pinion or carrier bearing your tooth pattern will be off.. BTW.. this is a mini spool.. it takes the place of the spider gears and is always locked up.
My pattern still looks good... but I did notice something they call ring deflection.. it's when your diff "bends" from so much force being applied to it that the ring and pinion deflect away from each other.. this is what causes breakage.... Mine deflected so much that the rear gear actually dug into the back of the housing.. Wonder when that happened??
The seals themselves did not look bad... but I know they were from oil leaking out of the tube... To get them out they make a seal puller.. looks like a small hammer with hooks on the end that you pull on the seal from the back side with... These suck! They usually just rip the metal housing on the seal dn you left trying to dig it out anyway.. The best way is to get a 1 5/8" OD pipe and cut it 40" long.. Put it in the axle tube from the outside in and smack on it with a hammer.. this will pop the seal right out with less effort and no scarred up tubes... This can be done on any axle seals not just the 44..
OK... so now that we have everything apart and checked out... we can start to reassemble. But first we need to clean.. clean everything!! Inside the housing, where the new seal will seat, old oil in the diff, bolt holes, anything you can clean do it!! You have no idea how frustrating it is to go through a whole replacement like this only to find out your seal didn't work cause you had dirt in it, or strip out a bolt cause there was dirt or sealnt left in the hole.. Blow it all out!! You will also wanna make sure you get all of the oil out of the diff cover before sealing it back up... otherwise the oil will drain out onto the gasket maker stuff and not seal correctly..
Some people swear by the black stuff.. but I've used this and it hasn't failed me yet..
The new seals will need to go in from the inside of the diff... It's easier to do with a socket that will fit just inside of the seals lip and a small hammer.. the trick is to make sure it goes in straight.. I didn;t get pics for some reason.. sorry.
So now that we have the new seals in let's bolt back up! First the carrier.. like I showed before.. line up the stamps with each other in the right direction and tighten.. If you have a memory like mine then you will want to find a Dana 44 spec sheet like this... it shows all of the torque ratings, bolt strength and a lot of other useful info just for times like this..
Some people think it's ok to just use an impact and go on.. I say if you have money in your axles why not do it right! Get a torque wrench, it only takes a few extra minutes.. Mine says the carrier bolts are 70 to 90 Ft lbs.. I do in between and go 80Once the carrier is in slide the axle shafts in place being careful not to just shove them in otherwise your gonna be replacing seals again... lift up on the inner axle shaft while sliding it in. The reassemble the hubs.. I use red loctite on the spindle nuts and the flange bolts.. I have had the flange bolts actually loosen up and fall out before. Even with lock washers on em.
Here is a trick to gasket maker... use plenty of it and let it set for a couple minutes to tack up before assembly.. You will know it was enough when you tighten the part down and it's seeping out evenly...
I must have done it right cause now it doesn't leak anywhere! I hope maybe this shed a little light on some things that people might have had questions about when dealing with their own diff issues..
Thanks
Just remember...we give them back in 10 months 
It's alive!! 
