I have noticed that where the stub shafts come out of the front diff housing that the axles have a lot of play, up, down and sideways. No oil leaks. Does anybody know if this is a problem? Not removed the diff cover yet to check for water or dirt ingress, but will do so in the next couple of weeks when I change the oil. Almost reluctant to change the oil as the diff has hardly turned since changing the oil about 3 years ago, but am now worried about water getting in as I have driven thru some fairly deep puddles at speed, but nothing deep enough to cover the axles.

What sort of outer bearing supports the stub shaft and is it a problem to change without removing the front axle? What about the seal?

 

Don't think its a problem, the seal/bearing is a ways back in the tube...
If its not leaking oil, you should be fine...

The Seal/Bearing is a PITA to change, disassemble the Diff and then installed.

 

Just for reference, the stub shaft is the outer axle shaft, not the inner. As you know, the stub shaft is supported by the unit bearing.

The inner shaft is supported by the carrier on the inside and the u-joint/stub shaft on the outside. It has no other support and requires no other support to function properly. The only inner axle oil seals are just out board of the carrier bearings so there is a very minimal amount of side to side shaft movement at the seals. If the seals were at all worn, they will leak oil out the axle tubes and it will be obvious.

There are no front axle shaft bearings.

I see you have Dyna trac free spin hubs. In your case, the spindle bearing (small bearing on the inside of the spindle) supports the stub shaft where the stub passes through the ID of the spindle.

What you have described is both normal and acceptable.

 

Thanks guys for the answers. Feel better now. Will still remove the diff cover and change the unused oil in a couple of weeks to be safe. If any water did get in, don't want water sitting in there. I do engage 4wd every month or so for a few miles and let the oil circulate.

 

Caution on those Dynatrac spindle bearings, My son-in-law just had one go bad and it took out the spindle and the shaft, his installer years back never told him it was there and that it needs grease every now and then which is a PIA in it self. Cost him some serious cash to fix, he did axle seals while in there, I can get pics of damage if needed.

 

Thanks. Over the next few weeks am going to be changing all the oil in the entire drive train, removing, cleaning and re-greasing the bearings in the hubs etc. Hopefully if there is anything wrong I will catch it then.

 

Exploded spindle view if anybody needs it.

 

The seal is way inside. What stops the water and other crud entering the outside ends of the housing? The place where I detected my slop.

 

From what I read... nothing. Instruction say to clean the inside of your axle tubes during axle reassembly. If you don't have the instructions I can send them to you, send me a e-mail addy if you need them, it is a word doc.

 

Nascarcamper, thanks. Don't need that document at the moment, but if I do, will let you know. Hope I never need it......... I do have the Dodge service manual.

 

That's good but it won't cover the DynaTrac stuff. Let me know if you need it.

 

True. I already have what I think is all the Dynatrac and Dynaloc .pdf documents. Will let you know if I need any further help.

 

Get a needle adapter for your grease gun - the longest you can find - lube minimum every 50k miles. The long needle adapter will allow you to it without tearing town the entire spindle to get to the bearing. Just pop off the Warn hub and put needle adapter between out shaft and spindle itself...

 

I made a scraper from a piece of threaded rod and use it to scrape out the gunk from the axle tube after I remove an axle shaft. That way I won't be pushing the gunk into the seal when I re-install the shaft.

 

This is the inside - you can see what is left of the needle bearings in there.

IMO there should be NO slop in the shaft where it enters the spindle - this is an indicator of trouble coming - speaking from experience - the next sign is that you will hearing and feel like you are driving on rumble strips...it happened to me - yes ,partially self-induced so don't beat me up about it, I paid the price. Just heed the advice if you'd like to.