M4wd&Fabrications

Projects place => Projects Section => Topic started by: mr.mindless on March 10, 2012, 05:54:09 PM

Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 10, 2012, 05:54:09 PM
I had a brake issue today so the trigger is pulled on this. D60 is in the bed, brake parts ball joints and ujoints requested from our preferred provider.

I need to have the hub lip turned down from 4.88 to 4.77. Should be a cake job; is that m4wd government project possible or do I need to run down to OEM again?

Hmm, If I was smart I'd get bearrings and seals ahead of time too wouldn't I?
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: rejeep on March 10, 2012, 07:30:29 PM
You have till Monday to compile a list...
I'll do first thing Monday morning when I get in.... Assuming flights are on time..
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: Ryan on March 10, 2012, 07:39:33 PM
(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/422839_324165274292990_255914607784724_920437_63282586_n.jpg)
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: etk300ex on March 10, 2012, 08:46:33 PM
Somehow it just fits this thread haha
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 12:48:10 AM
Sent you two emails. Didn't think of anything else... quite yet :)
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 12:51:11 AM
I'll need to reread a couple things to know if I'll need any steering parts. I really don't remember on that.

Eric at EMS showed me that '09+ steering is a nice bolt on upgrade to our trucks though. Its as much of an upgrade as v8 zj stuff is on a tj, and it's better geometry too. Inverted T instead of inverted Y, and the link goes in the top so it doesn't give the dead spot roll. Clever...
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: Nick on March 11, 2012, 10:16:54 AM
I'll need to reread a couple things to know if I'll need any steering parts. I really don't remember on that.

Eric at EMS showed me that '09+ steering is a nice bolt on upgrade to our trucks though. Its as much of an upgrade as v8 zj stuff is on a tj, and it's better geometry too. Inverted T instead of inverted Y, and the link goes in the top so it doesn't give the dead spot roll. Clever...

You are thinking zj or tj to wj upgrade weirdo!
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 02:48:05 PM
I thought it was v8 zj??
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: M4wdFab on March 11, 2012, 07:55:56 PM
"our trucks" are different!
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 08:04:49 PM
That's right, the AAM front end swapped steering too didn't it?
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 08:09:24 PM
I should remember this from pasts pile raiding.
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: M4wdFab on March 11, 2012, 08:09:52 PM
something was different!

must be the higher load capacity of the AAM!
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 08:20:26 PM
Speaking of axles remind me to share his opinion on the 14b. Pretty interesting.
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: Ryan on March 11, 2012, 08:27:51 PM
(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/422839_324165274292990_255914607784724_920437_63282586_n.jpg)
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 08:34:48 PM
Fucking cat!

Think you can do hubs, mike?
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: M4wdFab on March 11, 2012, 08:37:43 PM
no time and my lathe in my lab only goes to 4" on the 4 jaw chuck
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: M4wdFab on March 11, 2012, 08:38:21 PM
M4 can do it Nick style though....
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: Nick on March 11, 2012, 09:28:40 PM
Nick style is all about getting it done!
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 09:53:22 PM
I was thinking of nick styling it, not so sure on that though!

Bridgeport rotator table?

Wish Vic was closer. 45 minute drive kills me almost as much as just plain being busy as fuck.

Flying out weds night again, want to be ready for assembly Sunday when I get back. Lotsa miles to burn. Want to keep the truck rollable until it's ready for reassembly...

I can push the PA night trip back if I need to, drop dead is Friday in that case. I'm not gonna miss a weekend.



I swear I used to have a tool to deal with problems like this one:


[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 09:57:28 PM
That forklift sitting in NJ really belongs at M4WD, by the way

Thought of that on the way home...
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 10:01:59 PM
Oh - the reason for the sudden priority....

Both rotors were shitty 12-15k ago when I slapped pads on them. All 4 surfaces were roughly even though and I lubed the pins nice... All was well.

I guess this rotor was angry on one side and just shucked all the friction material off the inner pad and went metal to metal pretty soon after....



[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: M4wdFab on March 11, 2012, 10:05:05 PM
that is a sick rotor!


I dont need a fork truck i have a shovel with a sweet PTO boom!
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 10:09:55 PM
Not enough travel in the piston to close that gap I quickly found - but didn't break it.

I shoved the piston back in, pulled the caliper, found a bush mechanic rated spacer, used some sweet Frontier zip ties and carried on. I debated finding a rotor and pads for a bit, decided I'd try this and see how bad it was. Trailer brakes and exhaust brake were both behaving and the drums had fresh shoes, it was tolerable.

Brakes on that thing have been so shitty that aside from the pull it wasn't as big an impact as it should have been. Drove carefully, stuck to interstates and avoided traffic wherever I could.... I think I used up my good luck for a while. Probably had enough due to being 1/4 Irish and close to St. Patty's? Luck of the Irish!


[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 10:11:38 PM
Oh - no symptoms at all until I got a little ratcheting feeling as I came to a stop, about a dozen stops before crunching noises. Never made noise. Damn thing.

Just as good as the steering. Which is fully better now. I probably didn't post about that... Drag link adjuster snapped as I was about to back into the parking lot in Syracuse.
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: M4wdFab on March 11, 2012, 10:18:39 PM
lol


pile!
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 11, 2012, 11:30:52 PM
Less of a pile with every new part!

Garage didn't collapse. I'll be over sometime to press studs out. They're the right thread so I don't wanna wreck them, and they laugh at my air hammer... 2#er is occupied ;D

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: Ryan on March 11, 2012, 11:33:54 PM
My cat pic is the best part of this thread.
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 12, 2012, 12:53:43 AM
Need a 12pt 9/16 to get the rotors off the hub

Need an un-modified d60 spindle socket to get one side broken free.

Need to look at the writeup on this to remind myself of steering joint stuff. I think I just need to hog out the tapers in the ford knuckles and the dodge stuff bolts up.
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 12, 2012, 10:28:05 PM
A D60 exploded all over my garage. Scaly rust piles everywhere!

100% torn down though. Knuckles are ready for ball joint removal and wire wheeling, hubs are ready for magical metal removal.

If I can figure out how to fixture a grinder, I can bolt a spindle to the bench and do it plenty accurately. Not sure how to do that though... I need more whacky shit laying around to build things off of.
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: etk300ex on March 13, 2012, 08:21:51 AM
So you can do it plenty accurately but you don't know how? Haha
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: Nick on March 13, 2012, 09:18:13 AM
He lacks the nick technology needed to do it erock
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 13, 2012, 11:57:42 AM
do you know how to fixture an angle grinder, sparky?
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 13, 2012, 03:04:19 PM
see if I had this setup sitting around I'd be all set

(http://members.citynet.net/pickens/ramcharger3/20120116ramchargerprogressh1sand43s/ramchargerh1sand43s1.jpg)
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: Nick on March 13, 2012, 06:47:14 PM
That looks like what I used for my rims
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 13, 2012, 10:04:35 PM
Precision! Thought they'd be too tall but it worked great.



[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: jacel86 on March 13, 2012, 11:11:19 PM
Huzzah!
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 13, 2012, 11:30:48 PM
Probably would've gotten as far as Ball joints and painting the knuckles, but I ended up selling the ring and pinion and I needed to strip the housing of those...

I did at least get the axles separated
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 13, 2012, 11:51:45 PM
Amazingly, I found that my garage DID have room for even more mess :-/

I'll need a scrap run soon!
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 20, 2012, 12:23:03 AM
Bent the ball joint press and ran out of grease. Should be done tomorrow night after a parts run.

So much crusty rust :-x
Spent more time hammering and chiseling scale and wire wheeling than anything else.

All except new calipers are painted. Need ball joints installed, inner bearings greased, inner hub seals installed, spindle bearings and seals installed. Aside from that I'm up against old truck tear down for axle ujoint assembly, brake bleeding, and general assembly. I hope the cutoff wheel fits to just hack the ball joints. I don't feel like dealing with full correct teardown of unit bearings. might be easier in the long run than disassembly later though.

All existing wheel bearings were good. One bad axle seal and spindle bearing. Getting new hub and axle seals and both spindle bearings replaced. Never worth reusing spindle bearings, at least one is almost always bad at teardown.
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 21, 2012, 02:52:49 AM
Should be all set as soon as I suck the rest of the lug studs in with the impact.

Have an odd unsolved issue on the passenger side, the hub is out about 3/8" further. I may tear it back down at some future point and swap inner bearing and race in case they're wrong parts. It seems to be sitting where it had been on the old axle judging from seal marks on the spindle. The inner bearing doesn't have the typical 1/4" of slop between itself and the hub seal, it's nearly tight. Noticed that as soon as I put the seal in. Pulled it, felt around, things feel seated. Put it back together and no change. It was getting late so I found a couple washers to shim the brake bracket as needed and I'll take a test drive tomorrow and make sure it doesn't do anything funny and worry about it sooner or later as appropriate.

I hate bleeding new calipers, that took FOREVER.
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 21, 2012, 09:21:17 AM
Highly successful 0.3 mile test drive!!

Had to tighten screws on my impact, it was a weak, leaking machine. Now it's back to 600 foot pound status.
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 21, 2012, 09:21:54 AM
Sweet replaced parts



[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: etk300ex on March 21, 2012, 09:27:03 AM
wow thats hosed
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: M4wdFab on March 21, 2012, 09:28:07 AM
bus full of nuns territory
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: dubt on March 21, 2012, 10:29:52 AM
Id run them
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: etk300ex on March 21, 2012, 10:43:14 AM
lol
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 21, 2012, 11:31:21 AM
I tried. and did. urp
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 21, 2012, 03:09:53 PM
It stops like hitting a wall now ;D
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: Wingman on March 21, 2012, 04:03:53 PM
Stupid question...

Why did you do this swap?  HD parts?  Lock-outs?

forgive my ignorance :-[
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 21, 2012, 04:15:11 PM
better brakes - twin piston calipers on a larger rotor.

lockouts and real bearings were side benefits. some report 10% milage increase with the lockouts but that much would surprise me.
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: M4wdFab on March 26, 2012, 07:42:06 AM
dodge factor dual spacers available?  do you have a 19.5 dual spare wheel i could see if it fits over my rear discs?  a 16" doesnt fit
Title: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 26, 2012, 07:55:06 AM
Yes and yes
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: M4wdFab on March 26, 2012, 11:01:41 AM
can you bring tuesday? 


4.87 is the hub bore you machined out right?  Rickson says 03' up is same also.


is your outer dual hub or lug centric? 


a dual fits tight to my rear axle bore, but the lip isnt wide enough to catch both centers so i think the outter would have to be lug centric 
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 26, 2012, 11:08:08 AM
you question makes no sense to me but this should answer it anyway

chevy bore is 4.56
dodge bore is 4.77
ford bore is 4.87

I'm going to make you take them apart but I'll throw them in the truck sure.

my steel duals are both hub centric. I seem to recall you took a closer look at my rear hub when we did shoes on it at your shop and saw the lip was taller than yours. I don't know if you'll find a steel lug centric outer dual but I've never needed to look or care...
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: M4wdFab on March 26, 2012, 11:20:14 AM
4.78, yes sorry.   


trying to come up with a plan that maching new dual 19.5 could bolt the my truck now, but then bolt to same gen dually or 03' up dually if needed...



ya i think i remember looking at yours now.  mine would need hub centric inner, and lug centric outter....  could just have vic put cones in the lugs on the wheels that wouldn't matter on a dual with the correct lugs (that i dont have anyway on SRW)
Title: Re: F350 knuckle swap
Post by: mr.mindless on March 26, 2012, 11:35:06 AM
yup, sure could do that.

sadly the Ford axle I got didn't have lug nuts on it, so I have only the couple spares I have that I'm keeping.