Gotta Fix The Brick

[HOTLNC]

Well, the wife refuses to drive her car until I fix the "noise" in the front end.

I put the car on the lift last night and pulled the front wheels. There is a lot of play in the trans-axel before the opposite tire turns. And when you move the right wheel back and forth, working inside the play, you can hear metal rattling on the inner right side. Grabbing the axle, I can move it in and out about 1/16 of inch and that ain't right. The left side doesn't do that, nor make noise.

So, I'm figuring the right side inner constant velocity joint has lost its lubrication and started to wear. I'll pull the right side as soon as my tools get here (I ordered a front wheel drive tool kit from www.AutoPart.com. The kit sells for about 85 bucks and has a 17-1/2”long slide hammer extension, CV Joint puller, front hub installer, front hub puller and rear axle pulling plate.) You need all of this plus a 1 inch diameter, 24cm long wood dowel that you make yourself.

I bet you it's going to involve many, many magic words, before I’m done.

<sigh>

 

[WackyWRZ]

All of that toolkit for what?? You are talking about the CV halfshafts correct? I had the woman's dad help me do my pass side one, and it was a breeze 1.25 hours max. Disconnect lower ball joint. Use big friggen pole to separate, then take center nut loose. Hit axle shaft with a leather packed hammer, and remove from hub. Then reverse to reinstall. Maybe he just made it look easier than it was. Now I gotta figure out how in the HELL I am going to do the inner tie-rod on the passenger side. Grabing the wheel at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions, there is a good deal of play in the wheel. Maybe I can do it when the tranny is out.

 

[sleeper]

I did CV shafts on a toyota for someone here at work. The manual says to just pull them out. I tried that for a day, then i backed my truck up next to the car, and hooked up a tow strap. I put as much pressure as i dared on it with the truck (car was on jack stands, didn't want it to fall), then, with the tension still on the tow strap, after making sure it was still secure on the jack stands, i got underneath it with a hammer and got it out. So just because it's supposed to pull right out, doesn't mean it will.

 

[HOTLNC]

I bought this: http://www.autopart.com/tools/TOOLSMAIN/tool/T_A480.htm from www.autopart.com. It has all the tools that Ford shows in the service manual.

I just received the 100 buck rebuilt half axel from Torrie, so this weekend will show me how hard it is to replace one of these things.

 

[sleeper]

That's a handy tool set to have in the garage for a variety of projects.

 

[driller]

You used to see those kits of different varieties all the time. The other weekend, I went to several parts stores looking for a hub puller(that kit would've been fine). No one had anything in stock, and I didn't have time to shop online, so I had to improvise. Good find Jerry.

 

[HOTLNC]

I started the half shaft replacement today.

The anit-lock wheel sensor is being a pain to get off. I sprayed it with Liquid Wrench with the hope of easy removal tomorrow.

 

[driller]

Hmmph, dang ABS sensors anyways. When I swapped center sections out for the 4.10s, we spent an inordinate amount of time removing the ABS sensors. We literally drove a 12mm six point socket onto the hex bolt that retained each sensor to the aluminum case. No room... and corrosion of the steel hex bolt didn't help. It was quire a challenge getting them back in also.

 

[HOTLNC]

Well, the half axle is out. The hub removal was no sweat. It’s great having the proper tools. It slid right off the end of the half axle. The hub’s bearing looks still servicable. I worry about the wisdom of NOT replacing the wheel bearing.

The 19 inch wooden dowel held the hub out of the way while I went after the axle.

The hammer driven axle removal tool also worked good, once I fingered out how to apply it. There was no way I could install the assembled hammer tool into position. I had to move the adapter plate into position first. Then while holding it in an eight o’clock position, I snaked the extension in parallel to the axle and finally threaded it into the adapter. It was very hard to align, but I lubricated it with magic words and it finally came together. Then I was able to thread the hammer into the extension. The manual says you should grab the axle from the front, at about a five o’clock position on the right. No way will the tool fit there.

I never did get the anti-lock sensor off the hub. I just left it there, since it didn’t want to part company. Once the cable clamp is loosened, there is enough slack in the cable to work around the sensor.

 

[HOTLNC]

While screwing around the wheel, I also found a bad stabilizer bar link. I found a pair of warranted forever MOOG units at O’Reilly. They had grease fitting holes and “thread cutting” grease fittings. I was about to pre-grease them at the bench when I found out the grease fittings they supplied were too small for the hole in the casting. I called O’Reilly and was told they do not carry “thread cutting” grease fittings. So I called the parent company of MOOG and found out that the next size larger standard grease fitting will fit, but do not seat them all the way, as they could interfere with the ball. <sigh>

The brick is now fixed and Quite!