BIG PROBLEM Front Dana 60 hub bearings disintegrating

[SierraHawk]

Drove 1/2 mile today. Heard an unusual crackling sound coming from the front Dana 60.

Jacked up the driver's side of the front diff. About an inch of free play at the rim of the tire in all directions.

Wheel is held on by the disk and calipers.

In a half mile the wheel and hub became too hot to touch.

We are at South Lake Tahoe. I need a reliable repair shop in the Tahoe/Carson City area.

Not sure what is happening at SMB West but I need a new spindle and Rt & Lt bearing sets for the front Dana 60. I may also need a disk or two.

Is anyone still at the SMB shop in Clovis/Fresno?

[boywonder]

Sierrahawk.....did we meet in FL a few years ago?


Not sure you need SMB.... do you know what year the axle is?


If so you could order unit bearings (or whatever bearings it requires) and spindles first thing in the morning from NAPA or some other parts place......then find a repair shop.


You may want to order seals as well...and you may need some other stuff but bearings and seals should get you up and running in 2WD at least.

[REF]

Sounds like you probably have unit bearings, replacements found at most parts stores. I ended up going with Dynatrac’s free spin hub kit, expensive, but gets rid of a known failure point, as you found. What’s your setup? Quigley? If so, they should have rotors for you drilled out to 8X6.5, or you can have a machine shop drill out F350 rotors, I went with frozen rotors and had them drilled locally. Good luck, sucks being down, I just had to deal with being down for close to a month with several major issues happen all at once.

[carringb]

Is this the same Dynatrac setup you had to rebuild 18 months ago?

[Jeffrey]

I believe a lot of the seals/bearings and perhaps other parts are Ford F350 exchangeable.

[REF]

.....response wasn’t relative, deleted

[clicker44]

If you're in a jam these guys have worked on my van before and are in town:
https://www.tahoe4x4.com/

If you can drive or tow your van you may get more bang for your buck in Carson or Reno. Is your van a diesel or gas?

[SierraHawk]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses. Van is a 2004 E350 RB50 5.4. The front end is a Dana 60/Dynatrac. The van has not been problem free but most of the fixes were done wherever we were.

Carringb: When we were in Pahrump about 4 or 5 years ago the passenger side hub outer bearing cage just disintigrated. Local shop charged $2800 to do the repair. Since that time I picked up a\the spanner.

Clicker44 Thanks for the reference. Since no one is on the Rubicon Trail they should be able to get me into the shop tomorrow. We were scheduled to head to AZ tomorrow. Since I am parked in a campground and don't have a shop, doing this by myself might boost my confidence but if the guys at Tahoe4X4 can get us back on the road in three days I will probably have them do the job.

When we get settled in AZ I can rebuild the passenger side hub. Again, thanks for the help. I will print out Badger's instructions. I did not know the torque specs and don't have torque wrench that size. Guess that and a cheater bar will be my Christmas presents for this year. I really appreciate his chronicle of packing the bearings and will be using them in the future.

[SierraHawk]

Boy Wonder. I have not been to Florida but before COVID we were going to do the grand tour of the US. We have been traveling full time for the past 14 years. Only places we have not been are Hawaii and the South East US. Had wife watch Deliverance and season 2 of True Detective but she still wants to see the SE US. Several months ago she saw some TV shows about the alligators and pythons. Gave her pause but she is still committed to seeing Florida.

[clicker44]

Glad to hear you got it sorted!