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DANA 44 AXLE SWAP |
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DANA 44 AXLE SWAP |
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Project 8
Axle Swap on a Dana 44
Installed by Will Morgan
Ever have one of those days on the trail when things just happen? Well us too, here is one of the problems you occasionally have or run into……. a broken axle shaft. This happened while out playing in the NE area of Arizona. After spending a couple hours winching this up the shelf that it happened on and waiting for one of the group to get back with a truck and trailer we were able to get it on the trailer and home so the job could be done in an environment with better access to replacement parts and tools. Follow along and we will show you how we did the repairs in case you ever have to do a fix on your own rig should this ever happen to you.
First off we made sure the vehicle was stable on the trailer and not going anywhere while we were doing the repairs. Safety is always first and foremost! We began by draining the oil from the rear differential; we simply undid the bolts on the differential cover after putting a drain pan under the diff and let the fluid drain.
Once the oil was drained we removed the bearing keeper and the drum backing plate so we could access the broken axle and remove it.
The axle simply slid out and we were ready to take the seal, bearing and keeper in to have them all pressed on. Since we didn’t have a press ourselves we took it to one of the shops in town that was able to get the old bearing off (since this axle came out of a salvage yard).
