Another Scrambler Purchase/Road Trip - UPDATE- BODY ON FRAME AGAIN

[spankrjs]

Removed the other axle shaft u-joint this afternoon, all four caps were dried out.







So, I reckon it was a good idea to take a look at all of this stuff. Much easier to address this in the garage as opposed to the trail. Still can't fathom why both of these u-joints were dried out? Both axle shafts yokes had grease on them, I presume from seaping out of the u-joint caps. So the seals went. Maybe I damaged the seals when I installed this set of u-joints. The shafts are old Warn chrome moly deals that take Dana 44 sized u-joints, 5-760's. I have never installed u-joints in an actual Dana 44 shaft, but have done plenty of Dana 30's. The 30's aren't terrible. These shafts are a PIA due to the fact that they are small enough to slip through the knuckle hole yet take a much bigger u-joint, so the tolerances are tight tight tight.

Went ahead and cleaned up the rest of the parts.



Will piddle around with reassembly at night after work this week, taking extra special care in regards to the u-joints!!!

That's it for now.

 

[spankrjs]

A little bit of work tonight.

Packed the wheel bearings and spindle bearings, zip lock bags to keep dirt out.





Installed the new rotors on to the wheel hubs.



And the big accomplishment, well, at least for me



New Spicer u-joints installed, no problems. I think I always dread installing new front axle shaft u-joints because removing the old ones is usually such a b@#ch.

That's it for now.

 

[Bad Karma]

You really should learn to maintain your Jeep. You have clearly neglected it. There is a really good thread on here by @spankrjs, he maintains his stuff, you could learn from that guy.

 

[Belizeit]

That’s right !

 

[spankrjs]

Remembered to grease the ball joints. Only way to grease the upper ball joint is with the axle shaft removed.



I keep these plugs in the zerk holes when the Jeep is being driven. The OD of the front axle shaft/u-joint assembly is too large to keep the upper zerk fitting in place.



I only leaves the grease fittings in place while I'm servicing the ball joints.





I can't remember if the factory ball joints are greaseable? These are some type of NAPA replacement ball joints I installed over 104k miles ago. They are still good to go, and this is only the second time since the original installation that I have greased them. The grease that came out from 40k miles ago still looked fine.

The FSM recommends inspecting/repacking the front wheel bearings at 25k mile intervals. Judging by my front axle u-joints, 40k is too long. Maybe I'll pull this stuff back apart after 30k more miles? Besides u-joints and time this has only cost me grease and two hub seals, cheap insurance. Inspection and maintenance would need to be performed more frequently with more frequent deep water or mud usage.