Big Blue's Transformation

[Steve83]

Well, I'm soooooo close to having this thing apart! But the passenger's side rear spring eye bolt is rusted to the bushing and refuses to come out and play. Any suggestions?

Here's what I've done: Turned it with a breakover, but can hear the bushing slipping in the rubber; soaked it in PB Blaster; hammered on the end, with a nut on it of course, with the 4# sledge. Nada.

I'm not going to use the F350 springs, but don't really want to send that one to the scrap heap when the frame goes. I guess I could cut the hanger off the frame, but I'd still have to cut the bolt or torch the thing and burn the rubber out. Still, the bushing would be bound to the bolt, so that doesn't get it out.

Without seeing pics of what you're talking about, this is all I got:

https://supermotors.net/getfile/890934/thumbnail/14bolt.jpg

[Gary Lewis]

Without seeing pics of what you're talking about, this is all I got:

https://supermotors.net/getfile/890934/thumbnail/14bolt.jpg

Why didn't I think of that? Good idea! I do have a ball joint press.

As for what the problem is, I've circled the spring eye bolt on the right side of the first pic, below. But I think your suggestion will do the trick.

Here's what I got done today:

• Passenger's side spindle off & driveshaft out

• Tie rods off

• Both knuckles off

• U-bolts off the springs & shock plates as well as the driver's side wrap-around bracket off

• Driver's side spring off

• Passenger's side sway bar mount off - by drilling the rivets out. Lotsa work.

• Drained the lube out of the axle

The axle is now sitting on jack stands, not connected to the frame. I have a bit more to do to the frame, like get the driver's side sway bar bracket off as well as the spring off, and then I can put it out back. That will then let me use the shop crane and put the axle in Blue, and I'm set up to take it to Boom's Garage next week. He's going to put the new 3.54 gears in as well as the OX locker, and replace all the bearings and seals.

And here's the the passenger's side sway bar mount. Boy, am I glad that the plan is to cut a patch out of the cross member to repair Big Blue's as just removing those three rivets was a lot of work.

[FoxFord33]

Why didn't I think of that? Good idea! I do have a ball joint press.

As for what the problem is, I've circled the spring eye bolt on the right side of the first pic, below. But I think your suggestion will do the trick.

Here's what I got done today:

• Passenger's side spindle off & driveshaft out

• Tie rods off

• Both knuckles off

• U-bolts off the springs & shock plates as well as the driver's side wrap-around bracket off

• Driver's side spring off

• Passenger's side sway bar mount off - by drilling the rivets out. Lotsa work.

• Drained the lube out of the axle

The axle is now sitting on jack stands, not connected to the frame. I have a bit more to do to the frame, like get the driver's side sway bar bracket off as well as the spring off, and then I can put it out back. That will then let me use the shop crane and put the axle in Blue, and I'm set up to take it to Boom's Garage next week. He's going to put the new 3.54 gears in as well as the OX locker, and replace all the bearings and seals.

And here's the the passenger's side sway bar mount. Boy, am I glad that the plan is to cut a patch out of the cross member to repair Big Blue's as just removing those three rivets was a lot of work.

I have found that knocking off the rivet heads with a pneumatic chisel-tip goes easier/faster than a cutoff wheel/grinder. And it ends up cleaner. It looks like you used a grinder/cutoff wheel...? Maybe? Just checking.

[Gary Lewis]

I have found that knocking off the rivet heads with a pneumatic chisel-tip goes easier/faster than a cutoff wheel/grinder. And it ends up cleaner. It looks like you used a grinder/cutoff wheel...? Maybe? Just checking.

Steve - I don't have a chisel for my pneumatic hammer. Guess I'd better get one.

However, I think the only knicks from the cutoff wheel are as circled below. The marks to the right of the bottom holes are from the cold chisel I used w/the sledge. It took the paint, but didn't really mark the metal.

The issue with those holes is that the top of the rivets for that bracket are a huge irregular mess. So I used the cutoff wheel to take them down to where I could figure out where the actual stem of the rivet was, and then drilled the stem. But you cannot drill straight down since the upper lip of the frame is in the way. So I had to drill at an angle and, not wanting to enlarge the holes in the bracket, couldn't drill the rivet completely out. Given that, I used a chisel to take the remaining top of the rivet off.

[Nothing Special]

Why didn't I think of that? Good idea! I do have a ball joint press.

As for what the problem is, I've circled the spring eye bolt on the right side of the first pic, below. But I think your suggestion will do the trick.

Here's what I got done today:

• Passenger's side spindle off & driveshaft out

• Tie rods off

• Both knuckles off

• U-bolts off the springs & shock plates as well as the driver's side wrap-around bracket off

• Driver's side spring off

• Passenger's side sway bar mount off - by drilling the rivets out. Lotsa work.

• Drained the lube out of the axle

The axle is now sitting on jack stands, not connected to the frame. I have a bit more to do to the frame, like get the driver's side sway bar bracket off as well as the spring off, and then I can put it out back. That will then let me use the shop crane and put the axle in Blue, and I'm set up to take it to Boom's Garage next week. He's going to put the new 3.54 gears in as well as the OX locker, and replace all the bearings and seals.

And here's the the passenger's side sway bar mount. Boy, am I glad that the plan is to cut a patch out of the cross member to repair Big Blue's as just removing those three rivets was a lot of work.

Gary,

Have you decided on how you want to operate the OX? I know you were first talking about the electric actuator, but not sure if you are locked in on that. Not that it matters much yet. The diff itself is the same no matter what actuation method you use. There's a different diff cover if you are going to use the integrated air actuator (that's what I have). But I'm pretty sure the cable, electric, and add-on air actuators all work with the standard diff cover. So until you buy a diff cover your options are wide open, and with the standard cover your options are still pretty open until you buy the actuator.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary,

Have you decided on how you want to operate the OX? I know you were first talking about the electric actuator, but not sure if you are locked in on that. Not that it matters much yet. The diff itself is the same no matter what actuation method you use. There's a different diff cover if you are going to use the integrated air actuator (that's what I have). But I'm pretty sure the cable, electric, and add-on air actuators all work with the standard diff cover. So until you buy a diff cover your options are wide open, and with the standard cover your options are still pretty open until you buy the actuator.

Bob - I want to go electric, and that's what is priced into the quote. (See Post #1 for where I am with this. ) What I don't know is how long of a cable I want as the cable goes from the cover to the electric motorized unit.

I found one Youtube where a guy wrapped the shift cable in a big circle and put the shift motor on the other side of the axle. But I want the motor up higher, and won't know where that is until I get lots farther into this. So I guess Monday, after the root canal, if I can talk I'll call and see what they recommend. Maybe they know a good spot on an F350, or at least how long of a cable to get. Or maybe they'll agree to swap cables if the first one I get is too long or two short.

I need to find one of the F600ish radio bezels. My plan/hope is that the OX switch will go into one of the slots on that, and another switch will bring on the air compressor, and yet another will parallel the batteries. Maybe another for lights? And then the slots above the switches will be used for readouts for the Arduino.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Ohhh, so much to share! First, success! Plan B(ob) works.

But, I only got the driver's side off as the passenger's side is the one I'd been working on this morning, and I see now that I have it cocked. So I switched to the driver's side and off it came. I used a 4lb plumber's sledge and took several hits on each bolt then tightened the spindle nut. Hits/tighten, hits/tighten. And I didn't really have to tighten the spindle nut all that much each time.

But, this design of D60 doesn't have a washer between the nut and the bearing, and I don't have anything that size, so I just lubed it.

Here's the puller, which is made of 3" channel 8 1/2" long. It is just something I've had for 49+ years, and it happened to be the right length. It had a 5/8" hole 3/4" from one end, so I put another one on the other end to match and used a hole saw to put a 2" hole in the middle. It slipped right over the spindle, but I only had one 5 1/2" long 5/8" bolt, so I pulled the piece of hardened all-thread off the shop crane. The combo worked nicely.

Here it is doing its job:

And here is the spindle and driveshaft. Boy is the D60 much more simple than the D44!

Bill - I plan to use the 4wd, and that will make this well worth it.

Tomorrow I'll put the nuts back on the high side of the passenger's side spindle straighten it up and then pull it. Should come off easily.

Glad to hear the endodontist can get you in right away.

Hope you're back to 100% in a couple of days.

You have me thinking of a puller that is hybrid between your and Bob's with the advantage of not needing a nut and having a more conventional implementation.

Do you know the thread and what's the OD of the flange on the bottom of the spindle?

[Gary Lewis]

Glad to hear the endodontist can get you in right away.

Hope you're back to 100% in a couple of days.

You have me thinking of a puller that is hybrid between your and Bob's with the advantage of not needing a nut and having a more conventional implementation.

Do you know the thread and what's the OD of the flange on the bottom of the spindle?

I'm not going to make it out to the shop today as we have things going on at church all day. And with the root canal at 8 in the morning, I'm not sure I'll make it tomorrow. But, hope to on Tuesday and will check the dimensions you asked about.

But the flange OD is roughly 6 1/2" and the thread is just less than 2", although I don't know the pitch. Will check it out for you.

However, if you found a nut, that could be welded to one of the cheap sockets like I have, you'd have the adapter for the slide hammer. Plus if it didn't work, and I'm not sure it would have in this case, you could still use it as the nut for Bob's puller.

And, if the standoffs were actually hardened bolts or all-thread with inside & outside nuts welded to the channel, they could be used as a conventional puller as well as striking point.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I'm not going to make it out to the shop today as we have things going on at church all day. And with the root canal at 8 in the morning, I'm not sure I'll make it tomorrow. But, hope to on Tuesday and will check the dimensions you asked about.

But the flange OD is roughly 6 1/2" and the thread is just less than 2", although I don't know the pitch. Will check it out for you.

However, if you found a nut, that could be welded to one of the cheap sockets like I have, you'd have the adapter for the slide hammer. Plus if it didn't work, and I'm not sure it would have in this case, you could still use it as the nut for Bob's puller.

And, if the standoffs were actually hardened bolts or all-thread with inside & outside nuts welded to the channel, they could be used as a conventional puller as well as striking point.

A plate of 5/8 or 3/4" (square or triangular) with all holes threaded could be spun onto the spindle, and like you said, then fully threaded hardened bolts (or even something like a clamp screw with a pad on the end and fine acme thread) could pull the spindle off.

Just need the inside edge of the pusher holes to clear the flange.

With a CNC and 3D modeling you could start with even thicker plate for more thread engagement if needed and relieve a lot of the weight while still being stiff enough.

[Gary Lewis]

A plate of 5/8 or 3/4" (square or triangular) with all holes threaded could be spun onto the spindle, and like you said, then fully threaded hardened bolts (or even something like a clamp screw with a pad on the end and fine acme thread) could pull the spindle off.

Just need the inside edge of the pusher holes to clear the flange.

With a CNC and 3D modeling you could start with even thicker plate for more thread engagement if needed and relieve a lot of the weight while still being stiff enough.

I was impressed with how well the 3" channel did. I didn't notice any bending. And while it only gives you two stand-offs, that was enough. Three would be better, although I don't think you could get four bolts in contact with the knuckle as the back edge of the knuckle stops 3/8" ahead of the spindle.

But, given the way the knuckle falls away from the edge of the spindle's flange, the bolts/stand-offs have a habit of angling out. That's why I suggested nuts welded to both the front and back of the plate, as that would give over an inch of support to the bolt.

And fine-threaded Acme bolts would be ideal.

I hope to not have to do this again. I'm going to clean the spindles and knuckles up very well and then paint them with anti-seize before re-installing them.