Let us know how it goes.

 

Well, after a 45 minute to Costco and 45 minutes back, window down, closely listening, I can now hear the whining noise at freeway speeds. I've come to the conclusion it may still be my bearings at the hub drying out, or, and I'm leaning more on this since they are still the original, 23 year old pieces, the front axle U Joints. Wifey noticed a slight ticking noise as I was backing out of the garage, coming from the wheel. I heard it, too. The whining noise has tapered down some at the push of the brake pedal, with me checking on the calipers and pads( described earlier)but the noise now is more consistent, and a chatter is evident at the wheel area, and varies in pitch with the up and down in speeds. I will still do a lookee see at the flex plate. Sure hope that's not it.
So, with so many vendors out there, who has the best price in kit form for hub bearings, king pin stuff, greaseless U-joints, and all associated seals, etc. for front end rebuilds? Want to stick with spicer and timken if at all possible. I know, bottom line, all this stuff is still pricey.
Before I pull the plug and spend money aimlessly, I'd like to hear more on U Joint diagnosis if that's OK.
PartMike is basically my neighbor; I don't mind going to him if he has our parts. Put money back into my community

 

Maybe a hub lockout?

 

I will open up and check the bearings on that side when I get home. Also I forgot to mention I now have popping noises that arose when doing figure 8's

 

I tell ya watch where you park Murphy will crawl into your tail pipe.

 

At this point, I'm almost positive it's either the hub bearings gone dry, or failed cause maybe I over tightened them back in 2013. I followed the torque procedure, but for some reason had a feeling it was too tight. Looking back, I can't remember if I torqued those spindle nuts with the calipers and pads on or off. On would have been a major bonehead move.
My other thoughts are the axle U joints. They are the stockers for sure, so my plans of doing this during the summer just got bumped up. Might as well do it all.
Right now, I am pricing parts in kit form. 4wdfactory offers the king pin parts, axle bearings, U Joints and all seals for $570. I've done comparison checks with others, and they seem to be reasonable, as others don't offer the entire parts package in a kit form. So pricing each and every part, 4wdF has them beat. All parts, are Dana/Spicer and timken bearings.

After I save up, I have to find me a burly kid in his twenties to do that 600 ft lbs torque for me, LOL.
Which parts stores rent torque wrenches? I do not own a 3/4" drive. Autozone, O'rileys, NAPA, or Carquest?

I say $570 sounds reasonable, but man that is still some coin!! I'm trying to tell myself, it's still better than a first genner I recently spoke with, who took his rig to a local shop to have his front end rebuilt... $2 grand it cost him!! He told me new U Joints for sure, and I am assuming the king pins were done, also

 

Hey Augie, didn't someone just post up on a recent thread that a ten foot snipe on a 3/4 drive and "a good hard pull" would get you close to 600ft lbs!

Cheers! and good luck with the front end rebuild! That job up here, done at a shop would easily top $3,000.00.

Mike

 

Ha! Can't recall that one, Mike. I for one, never followed the good n tight crowd. Gotta follow the torque values. There's reasons for even having those.
Even the Chilton manual has that value in there for those KP

 

You can do it with simple math. For instance, If I want to get 400 lbs torque on a lug nut, and I weigh 165 lbs, 400/165 = 2.42 feet from center. So if I stand on a pipe over the wrench at 29" from the socket, I'll get as close to 400 lbs torque as you can get with a torque wrench.

 

Look up torque multiplier
Or come to NJ and I'll let you borrow my 4ft long torque wrench you need....

 

Well, started up on the front end today. Only got one side done, the drivers side. New King Pin, seals, bottom KP cap. Also, new wheel bearings, Timkens and National seals. Replaced the pinion bearing at the spindle, and all new seals and dust shield. Only seals not replaced was the axle shaft at the differential. FFF that one. What I did today, just the one side, kicked my butt. And that was with my son doing the heavy torquing and cleaning all the parts with mineral spirits.
My axle U Joints, were bone dry. Like so dry, I got thirsty just looking at them.
My bearings were full of grease from when I put them in back in 2012. Grease looked brand new still. I have a feeling the inner bearing, was wearing on the spindle flange, as the spindle was scuffed up. This may be the source of the noise

 

The bone dry U Joints

 

Scuffing on spindle. Once I clean out the old inner bearing I'll check it really good to see why it caused the scuff.

 

Do I smell a noise?

 

As soon as I read "popping while doing figure-8's" that's where my mind went. Especially, if they're the original joints.