Front axle U-joint replacement saga
 

Ended up getting a lot of sand / dirt / grit on the differential side of the axle seal trying to clean it out during reassembly after installing a new wheel bearing assembly... ugh... At this point, I'm very short on time and plan on leaving this as is until I can get to it, knowing I can't really use the 4x4. Either way, I'm going out to assemble it now. When the time comes, should I pull the cover to clean it, or can I just flush it?

Been utilizing the very helpful information in this forum to work on my front end. I had a ticking sound coming from the front end during slow turns and figured it was a u-joint but didn't know which one. With my work schedule, I ended up parking the truck for almost six months... Finally got it out for a drive and it wasn't making the sound. As I am about to drive the truck across two states, I decided to put it up on jack stands yesterday and check.

Both driver and passenger side u-joints and ball joints felt very tight but the driver side bearing was not sounding good - very "raspy". Pulled the driver side apart yesterday using a combo of Mr. Gadget's and Infidel's posts on the subject, and installed a new wheel hub assembly and cleaned up the u-joint (greasable). Re-greased the u-joint during assembly (had grease coming out of only three of four ends - assuming one was plugged), put everything back together (as much as possible on a jack stand) and spun the wheel. Lo and behold, got a VERY noticeable ticking from the u-joint... I'm assuming the lube broke up whatever had seized up... (Major face-palm moment...)

As I had cleaned and anti-seized EVERYTHING during reassembly, I had it apart in about 15 minutes (vs the 2 hours earlier that day). Took the axle to Dan's Driveline (Las Vegas, NV) to have a new sealed u-joint (SPL55-3X) installed (kudos to the shop - did a great job!)

This is where I feel like screaming... Had read about ways to clean out the axle tube to prevent shoving dirt/sand back into the pumpkin during axle installation. I didn't do this initially yesterday, but felt I got the axle in very cleanly... Shoulda done that again... Today, I ended up using a thin pipe to loosen the dirt/sand and shop vac. I ensured I did NOT shove sand past the seal w/ the pipe scraping, and hit it with the shop vac, gradually pushing the hose in. Pulled the hose out, looked in, and there was a thick coating of sand on the differential side of the axle seal... I'm guessing the vacuum created some sort of cavitation inside the tube sending sand everywhere. I'm going to go out w/ a rifle bore cleaning rod and cotton patch to wipe down the seal before I put the axle in...

I reckon at the end of all this, I'm wondering about the sand in the differential. Do I need to go through the pain of cleaning it now if I don't intend to use 4x4?

BTW, I also should replace two of the 14mm hub assembly bolts... Found one to have threads in poor shape, and another that was only a little better off... Where can I get these? Does anyone have a part number?

Thanks!

Only thing I can say is that I am pretty sure (someone else help me out if I'm wrong) that front diff will be spinning when you turn corners etc, even with the t-case not engaged. We don't have hubs you can lock/unlock. So even if you don't plan on using 4WD, your diff will be moving around in that gritty oil. If it were me I'd take the time to clean it right, not risk killing the life of the diff.

In case anyone is looking, I found the (QK4749) Hub-to-Knuckle Bolt Set at http://www.quad4x4.com/DodgeDana60front1994-1997.html (scroll down to "small parts" section). Priced a bit higher than I was expecting...