D60 front: knuckle questions

[patooyee]

I am rebuilding a front d60 for my Jeep, ya'll. It's a 1979 duallie axle. It has the covors with the grease zerts over where a ball joint would normally go on a smaller axle. As I've heard, this means it has king pins and not ball joints. But when I go to the parts store they say that there are ball joints in there and also a tapered bearing. This is my first time working on this particular axle. When I try to take the "covers" off, I can get them to separate from the knuckle a ways, but not all the way off. Am I doing something wrong? I was thinking to consult ya'll before I go trying to force it off. Thanks in advance.

J. J.

[66CJdean]

Chevy, Ford, Dodge dealer will be able to order you most of the parts. Napa Auto I think can get you kingpin rebuild kits but you will have to talk to someone who is willing to look them up.

[Shaker]

both 'covers" come off. Loosen up the 4 nuts on each 1 and they lift off. under them you will find a spring (loads the kingpin) a washer (spacer) and a teflon sleeve "upside down cone" (king pin bushing). Get these pieces out and the knuckle should have plenty of play to take off. You can get the serial # off of the "long side" front to look up what exactly the axle came out off (they are stamped into the housing). It will help you with your rebuild/locating your parts. <IMG SRC="smilies/beer.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/smokin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[patooyee]

I know what exactly it came out of and even have Dana source catalogs. According to the catalogs and the bill of materials number, it is out of exactly what I thought it was and it says it has kingpins. But my friend at the parts store says that if he looks it up in his books it shows that the axle has ball joints. Also, the covers aren't coming off. I guess I just need to pry harder?

J. J.

[Tony Sobrito]

The caps should come off pretty easy, especially the thinner non steering cap on the passenger side. After removing the spring, spacer and inverted cone under the top cap, You should be able to tilt the knuckle top away from the axle center and let it drop down.

[WOLF359]

Spicer Dana 60 Knuckle Rebuild Ki: Spicer#706395-x

Contains Lower Knuckle Bearing and race, Lower Seal, Lower Cap, and upper Kingpin Seal

Upper kingpin teflon sleeve is sold seperate (sorry don't have the partnumber handy)

Tim.

[MoBlagg]

The bottom plates can sometimes be a real bitch if they haven't ever been off or haven't been removed for along time! I've had good luck tapping ( softly ) a putty knife in between the plate and the knuckle (all along the outside ) making sure to separate the two evenly all around. When you have an even gap all the way around find something thicker and do it again ie ..... plastic scraper, aluminum wedge preferably something other than steel. Just do it slowly and evenly, It isn't to good if you hack (gouge) the plate or pin or knuckle up!!!!
Surface rust (gunk) forms between the pin and bore in the knuckle and wont allow it to "just come off" and with no way to really grab the plate/pin assy and it being on the bootom it sometimes makes it difficult to remove even though their not really stuck, stuck!

[patooyee]

So does my axle use king pins or ball joints? Wouldn't the caps indicate king pins? My buddy at the parts store wants to sell me the bearing and race for the lower knuckle, but what goes through it? (I'm not at home with my axle to find out for myself right now.)

J. J.

[californiak5]

If you truely have a D60 it has King Pins NOT Ball Joints.

See Ya,
Keith

[Jettech]

Originally posted by californiak5:
<STRONG>If you truely have a D60 it has King Pins NOT Ball Joints.

See Ya,
Keith</STRONG>

I truely have a D60 and it truely has ball Joints <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

No Caps on mine

Rob

[patooyee]

They came in both forms, to my knowledge the newer ones had ball joints.

J. J.

[Leader]

The bottom cap has a stem that goes thru the bearing..It's made onto the cap, and yes, those suckers a bitch to get off.I tapped on mine till it spun around sideways, then you can tap on the ends (downward) to get them the rest of the way off... Then you'll see the bearing/race that he's trying to sell you...Or at least be able to take it up there and show him what your talking about..

[patooyee]

Finally someone who knows what I'm talking about! Just goes to show ya that not all newbies are bad. <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

I'm replacing everything in the knuckles. I guess I don't need to replace that cap that has the stem built into it. But what else shoudl I replace? (Upper joint especially.)

Thanks.

J. J.

[ 08-28-2001: Message edited by: patooyee ]

[Leader]

If the bearings look good, leave em there just repack them...Other wise thats all I would replace..There is a plastic/rubber seal between the knuckle and the axle knuckle that I should have replaced, but hey, it has a zerk on it so as long as it's full of grease it'll be ok..Check the teflon upper king pin things and make sure they arent wollered out.. Mine came out of a military dodge of some sorts.. it was old looking, but everthing was fine on the insides!!

[MoBlagg]

Originally posted by patooyee:
<STRONG>Finally someone who knows what I'm talking about!

[ 08-28-2001: Message edited by: patooyee ]</STRONG>

WTF? My answer wasn't good enough for you?
I though it was clear........ balljoints don't have plates that you have to remove just nuts!!!! Do you have NUTS? NO! So it ain't the later model D60s with balljoints!
Come awn!

[patooyee]

Calm down, calm down! Jeez! You helped! Did I ever say that you didn't? Thank you! Now tell me what all I should replace in there.

J. J.

[LC Hamma]

Someone correct me if this statement is wrong: Chevrolet/GMC D60 fronts are all
kingpin style because they went to IFS
in '88 & the ball joints didn't show up
till '93 on Dodges & Fords, AFAIK. And
both Dodge & Ford D60's have a driver
side pumpkin location '93 on. <IMG SRC="smilies/confused.gif" border="0">

[patooyee]

Sounds logical to me.

J. J.

[1BDYJ]

on the upper just replace the teflon bushing.
Patooyee... thats the same axle I'm using..did you use the dually mounting surface or did you machine off and use the single wheel mounting surface??

[ 08-30-2001: Message edited by: 1BDYJ ]

[patooyee]

I haven't machined it yet, but I am going to. I think that the 79" that it would be from mounting surface to mounting surface is a bit much. Plus, my 14-bolt for the rear is not a dually axle, so to make it the same width, I would need 14-bolt dually adapters, which I don't care to hunt up/build. And then, beyond all that, putting the wheel out that far would just over-stress the knuckle and housing. I've seen rigs that used the dually-style hub mounting surfaces, and they look so wide that it would be impossible to fit them in between trees. (As if going full-width Chevy didn't already make that hard enough.)

The joints of the knuckles were leaking grease everywhere. Is this due to wear of the teflon sleeve?

J. J.

[ 08-30-2001: Message edited by: patooyee ]

[ 08-30-2001: Message edited by: patooyee ]

[Leader]

I bet they were just too full of grease, the only thing holding the grease in it is that little seal I talked about in the last post.I would think that if the teflon bushing was worn that the knuckle would wobble around.

[FullWidth]

I just rebuilt one of these. Napa couldnt get me the parts I needed so I got them form the chevy dealer. They said that they only made them like for a few years.

[1BDYJ]

Originally posted by patooyee:
<STRONG>I haven't machined it yet, but I am going to. I think that the 79" that it would be from mounting surface to mounting surface is a bit much. Plus, my 14-bolt for the rear is not a dually axle, so to make it the same width, I would need 14-bolt dually adapters, which I don't care to hunt up/build. And then, beyond all that, putting the wheel out that far would just over-stress the knuckle and housing. I've seen rigs that used the dually-style hub mounting surfaces, and they look so wide that it would be impossible to fit them in between trees. (As if going full-width Chevy didn't already make that hard enough.)

The joints of the knuckles were leaking grease everywhere. Is this due to wear of the teflon sleeve?

J. J.

[ 08-30-2001: Message edited by: patooyee ]

[ 08-30-2001: Message edited by: patooyee ]</STRONG>

Be carefull when you drill the bolt holes to install studs..they should be done on a press to get them in straight or you'll never get the wheel to fit over crooked studs without drilling the wheel. I used 5/8" studs so I had to drill wheel anyway. I machined hub on a brake lathe and it didn't take too long. Good luck
Buy the way the rear end is only 2" narrower so it is a little wider in front.

[ 09-01-2001: Message edited by: 1BDYJ ]

[patooyee]

Originally posted by 1BDYJ:
[ 08-30-2001: Message edited by: patooyee ][/qb]

Be carefull when you drill the bolt holes to install studs..they should be done on a press to get them in straight or you'll never get the wheel to fit over crooked studs without drilling the wheel. I used 5/8" studs so I had to drill wheel anyway. I machined hub on a brake lathe and it didn't take too long. Good luck
Buy the way the rear end is only 2" narrower so it is a little wider in front.

[ 09-01-2001: Message edited by: 1BDYJ ][/QB][/QUOTE]


What size should I drill the holes out to be? I actually just got a drill press and have a friend at a parts store to do the brake lathe for me.

J. J.

[1BDYJ]

That depends on what size studs you are gonna use. I would get some studs and check the size of the knurl and use a drill bit smaller than the knurl. Don't go too small or you'll never seat the stud! Don't go too big or it will spin when tightened with an impact!