Super Duty Axles

I've been acused of being a bad influence before...nothing new :D
 
Croatan_Kid said:
@ponykilr Yeah, as long as they're hub centric, you'll be fine.

@iwaxmyjimmy You're welcome to use my drill fixture if you need to. I was looking at the specs on the Dodge rotors too, will they fit with no other modifications to the brakes? I ordered some Powerstop rotors and pads for mine, figured I'd go with stock application stuff so it fit better.
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They need .250 turned out if the center bore from what I was reading. I do have access to a lathe at school so that part isn't a big deal to me. Also have access to a Bridgeport as well, so I'm not too worried about doing the pattern change over. But thanks I still may take you up on it.

I've been debating on redrilling the factory unit bearings to practice on, but also buying some new ones and getting those 1550 shafts to run. So if I do pop a shaft I'll just swap the unit bearing and shafts. Shaft swaps in less than 10 mins feeling like NASCAR lol. I honestly don't get why people hate on unit bearings so much, if it was a KP 60 you'd be down there repacking bearings, trying to get the spindle off, fumbling with the lock nuts on the spindle. Maybe that's just me and how my hands don't move that well.
 
The bearings that were on this axle still felt nice and tight, so I drilled them. I'll probably pick up another set of new ones to redrill and keep on hand if one of these goes bad. I definitely like the ease of changing a unit bearing and how much cleaner it is...that and I don't have to worry if I got the preload right on them. They're also freaking huge bearings!

I'll be glad to get it put back together though, I'd hate to have to swap shafts or do ball joints again. Those big ass seals in the hub are neither fun to install or cheap!
 
unit bearings for the win, especially in a frozen creek in Kentucky, in November... right @Paul?

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Croatan_Kid said:
The bearings that were on this axle still felt nice and tight, so I drilled them. I'll probably pick up another set of new ones to redrill and keep on hand if one of these goes bad. I definitely like the ease of changing a unit bearing and how much cleaner it is...that and I don't have to worry if I got the preload right on them. They're also freaking huge bearings!

I'll be glad to get it put back together though, I'd hate to have to swap shafts or do ball joints again. Those big ass seals in the hub are neither fun to install or cheap!
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I'm gonna have to do ball joints on mine, I'm gonna send the passenger knuckle off for it to get machined for a high steer arm, I'm still debating on doing the driverside, mainly with my build I want to have a good amount of uptravel still. I would like to find a 3/8" thick low profile cover so I can run some 3/4" offset heims for the tie rod.

Edit: not because the ball joints are bad, but I'll have to take them out to get the knuckle(s) machined.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
The bearings that were on this axle still felt nice and tight, so I drilled them. I'll probably pick up another set of new ones to redrill and keep on hand if one of these goes bad. I definitely like the ease of changing a unit bearing and how much cleaner it is...that and I don't have to worry if I got the preload right on them. They're also freaking huge bearings!

I'll be glad to get it put back together though, I'd hate to have to swap shafts or do ball joints again. Those big ass seals in the hub are neither fun to install or cheap!
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I dont know that there is much hate on the SD bearings, mainly the other unit bearings. The 05+ definately dwarf the 99-04 bearings. Ive actually been thinking of swapping them onto an KP60. I believe that you can even adjust the preload on them if they start to wear out.
 
Lol I seen that. I even went through and bench built it to see how much he had in it.


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I feel like that's kind of a dick move for his sale.


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mcutler said:
unit bearings for the win, especially in a frozen creek in Kentucky, in November... right @Paul?

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That was most definitely not my most stellar moment. At least it warmed up to 12 degrees by the time i replaced the broken knuckle.
 
Paul said:
That was most definitely not my most stellar moment. At least it warmed up to 12 degrees by the time i replaced the broken knuckle.
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Oh share details lol what happened?
 
iwaxmyjimmy said:
Oh share details lol what happened?
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My 39th birthday November ride. Arrived Thursday night and it was about 10°. Freezing rain all night, about 5 next morning. Fired up the buggy and the regulator for air tank was frozen, used a blow dryer to thaw so the front ARB would engage. The ice on the trees on the back side of the mountain was "hanging" sideways... anywho...

We start toward middle rock garden on grapevine and turn right on valve stem with water running down it. IiRC Paul's knuckle broke at the steer arm, fell off, and trash the lower king pin bearing. I must say @Paul was a trooper, cuz it's a bitch repack frozen mud caked bearings with frozen digits...

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@paradisePWoffrd I know the 99-04s looked like they have an adjuster, but I don't see any way to do that on an 05+. The back of the bearings appear to be pretty much sealed up.

@iwaxmyjimmy The balljoints in mine were shot. Mainly just the uppers, but the factory ones donthave grease fittings, so they had to go anyway. The only parts I don't want to be greaseable are my u joints! I decided to use Mevotech brand joints over Moog because of recent concerns of quality after a bunch of buyouts Moog was involved in, but also because Mevotech makes the balljoints that The Dmax Store sells as their "Kyrptonite" line and they offer a serious, no questions asked warranty. After receiving them and looking them over, I'm pleased.

If you guys need part numbers or anything, let me know. I still have them for the ball joints, knuckle seals, diff seals, pinion seal, knuckle seals, stuff for the brakes, and the ball joint that's used on the axle side of the panhard bar.

Also, I think a guy I work with has one of those knuckle seal installers and from what I've read, they're a must have tool.


Last thing. Whoever designed the snap ring that goes on the stub shaft of these axles needs to be severely beaten. I cussed that thing like a redheaded step child for several days and through 4 different sets of snap ring pliers. It was harder than Chinese arithmetic!
 
Croatan_Kid said:
@paradisePWoffrd I know the 99-04s looked like they have an adjuster, but I don't see any way to do that on an 05+. The back of the bearings appear to be pretty much sealed up.

@iwaxmyjimmy The balljoints in mine were shot. Mainly just the uppers, but the factory ones donthave grease fittings, so they had to go anyway. The only parts I don't want to be greaseable are my u joints! I decided to use Mevotech brand joints over Moog because of recent concerns of quality after a bunch of buyouts Moog was involved in, but also because Mevotech makes the balljoints that The Dmax Store sells as their "Kyrptonite" line and they offer a serious, no questions asked warranty. After receiving them and looking them over, I'm pleased.

If you guys need part numbers or anything, let me know. I still have them for the ball joints, knuckle seals, diff seals, pinion seal, knuckle seals, stuff for the brakes, and the ball joint that's used on the axle side of the panhard bar.

Also, I think a guy I work with has one of those knuckle seal installers and from what I've read, they're a must have tool.


Last thing. Whoever designed the snap ring that goes on the stub shaft of these axles needs to be severely beaten. I cussed that thing like a redheaded step child for several days and through 4 different sets of snap ring pliers. It was harder than Chinese arithmetic!
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Sure post up the part numbers of everything just for reference if you don't mind. And in the pirate thread there was a number for some pliers that supposedly work really well for those snap rings. I haven't tore mine down yet since I'm still working bugs out of my k5. Although I was staring at it heavily today.
 
As promised, here's the part numbers I used.

TXK8607T lower ball joints
TXK80026 upper ball joints
DS300008 axle side drag link end
ES80754 left tie rod end
ES80755 right tie rod end
45D2395 axle side panhard bar ball joint
100712V pinion seal
710685 knuckle/stub shaft seals
710492 inner differential/carrier seals
AR85107XPR Power Stop drilled/slotted rotors
171069 Power Stop Z16 ceramic pads (factory are semi metallic, which I refuse to use)

The axle shaft u joints are your standard Dana 60 application, so no surprises there.
 
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Figured this could be of use to someone looking to purchase these axles
 
Lots of cutting involved but I'm happy with my 07 axles
 
No cutting involved (on the axle, anyway) and I'm pretty tickled with the SD axle under my Duramax powered 2500HD. Well, except the leaky diff seal. Not sure how I screwed that up...
 
Croatan_Kid said:
The axle shaft u joints are your standard Dana 60 application, so no surprises there.
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Just know some of the newer and 450/550 D60's use 1550 joints not 1480.

iwaxmyjimmy said:
DIY Dana 60 Unit Bearing Drill Guide | Hired Gun Offroad

Found this the other day hopefully trying it out soon. It’s not a nice as @Croatan_Kid, but I’ve wasted 60 bucks on worse stuff.
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I'm thinking about ordering one to try on the UB's I have at the house. Let me know how it goes.
 
The 450 and 550 axles are also 10 lug or the huge 8 lug pattern, so there's not much of a chance of mixing them up. If I'm not mistaken, you can swap the 1550 stuff in to the other axles, but I don't remember if the stubs are the same.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
The 450 and 550 axles are also 10 lug or the huge 8 lug pattern, so there's not much of a chance of mixing them up. If I'm not mistaken, you can swap the 1550 stuff in to the other axles, but I don't remember if the stubs are the same.
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From what I've read in the Pirate thread you can direct swap the factory ford 1550 shaft assembly into any 05+ axle.
 
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