Dana 30 Front Axle Rebuild

Here is the rebuild of the original Dana 30 front axle for my Jeep.
Keep in mind that I jumped around a little during this rebuild due to the fact that I started this rebuild at beginning of winter.  I was unable to do any painting until it got warm.  I spent most of winter just cleaning parts and saving up money for new parts.  It took me until July, 2012 to finally finish it.
If you do not want to see all the details of this axle rebuild, then scroll to the bottom of this post for some before and after pictures.

 This axle ran fine with no problems before I parked the jeep.  My plan was to just get it cleaned up and replace anything that might be a little worn.

I started with removing the disk breaks.

 

First I took a screw driver and pushed the caliper piston back into its bore

Next I removed the hex head mounting pins located on the back of the caliper.

After removing the pins, the caliper pulled right off.

The break pads also came right off.

Next I removed these Anti-rattle clips from the top and bottom of the anchor plate.

I then removed the bolts from the hub assembly...

...and the hub assembly came right off.

Removed the snap ring.

Removed the rest of the hub assembly.

Before I removed the outer locknut I noticed where a mechanic had made a grove in the lock nut when he had removed this in the past.  He had done this to help him get this lock nut of.

Used a flat head screw driver and a hammer to remove the outer locknut with help from those groves.

Removed the washer

Removed the inner locknut

and the last washer.

Then removed the bearings

Once everything was removed, the hub and rotor came right off.

Here are all the parts

 Here is the diagram I used for help.

Next I removed the break dust guard by removing the six bolts holding it on.  Those bolts were really rusted and needed some PB Blaster and effort to get them off

Once I got the bolts off, the guard came right off.

The spindle was the next thing to remove.  This was a bitch to get off.  The driver side came off pretty easy, but the passenger side took me almost two hours to get off.

I used a jaw puller attached to the two already beat up lock nuts to help me get it off.  This destroyed the lock nuts even more, but it did help out a lot.

I then used a lot of PB Blaster and a hammer to try and knock it loose.

I then used a screwdriver (which I broke) as a chisel and banged away at it over and over while also cranking down on the jaw puller.





After much effort, it finally pulled off!!



After the spindle was removed, the axle shaft pulled right out.  This is the driver side.

Here is the passenger side

The next pain in the ass thing to do was remove the steering knuckle.  I debated if I even wanted to mess with this part, but due to how bad it was rusted and how how bad the boots needed replaced, I decided to disassemble and clean up.

I first removed the upper ball stud nut with a massive breaker bar and a 1-5/16 socket.

I then removed the lower ball stud nut

A few things I read online stated to use a ball stud press remover (as you see in the picture) to press the ball stud out of the yoke.  This did not work at all.  No matter how much pressure I put on the press, the ball stud would not budge.

I ended up putting the nut back on the ball stud for support and wacked the crap out of the ball stud with a big hammer.  This knocked the steering knuckle completely loose from the axle.

The next chore was cleaning everything up.  I started with the axle housing and removed all the surface rust I could with a wire wheel on my angle grinder.

It took almost a whole day to get all the rust off, but I finally finished.

Now that I had the housing cleaned up I started working on the two steering knuckles.
First I had to remove the two beat up ball joints which I will replace.  To remove, I just had to put the steering knuckle in my vise and knock the ball joints out with a hammer.  Keep in mind that I had been spraying these down with some PB Blaster a few days prior.

Here are the old ball joints and the steering knuckle after I had removed them.

 

I then removed the six bolts on the steering knuckles by lightly taping them out with a hammer.  They popped right out.

I then took the wire wheels and cleaned all the rust I could off the knuckles.  Once the rust was removed and the knuckle cleaned up, I sprayed Ospho all over the knuckles to make sure all the remaining rust (that I was not able to remove) is taken care of.  The Ospho turns rust into iron phosphate, which will help keep these from rusting for a long long time.

 I then removed the cover to the differential.  I was so glad Jeep used regular hex bolts on these Dana 30 axles instead of the torx bolts they used on the rear model 20 axles.  These bolts came right out with no problems.

After breaking the seal with a screw driver the old oil drained out.

From what I could see. all the gears looked to be in good shape, which I was happy about because I did not want to replace any of those gears.

I I scraped the old gasket off around the sides and then cleaned up the inside with some break fluid and a rag.

The next thing I started to tackle was fixing up the axle shafts.


The first thing I did was remove the rusted up u-joints.  This was a pain in the ass.  I first removed all four c-clips.

I found the best way to remove these c-clips was to use a small punch and a hammer to tap them out.

You can see that these clips were pretty rusted and broke up on me.  I had to make sure I got all the little broken pieces out.

Removed all the clips and oiled up the old u-joint with some PB Blaster and let it sit overnight to help get the u-joints out.

I rested the end of the axle shaft on my vise so that the two ears of the shaft rested on top of the two jaws of the vise.



I then put an impact socket on the thickest part of the axle shaft just below the u-joint cap and hit the crap out of it with a hammer.

After a few good hits, the u-joint cap popped right out.  The u-joint cap then just pulls right off.

I then rotated the axle repeated the process with the socket and the hammer.  Did this on each side of the axle shaft until the u-joint came out.

I inspected the seals on the axle shaft (as you can see on the bench) and to my surprise they all looked to be in great shape.

Due to it being winter, I had to put the installation on the new u-joints on hold until it got warm enough to paint the ends of the axle shafts



The spindles were in rough shape due to rust.  I did my best and cleaned off all the rust off the spindles and packed more grease in the bearings inside the spindles.  Hopefully I wont run into any problems continuing to use these.

Next up was cleaning the dust shields.  The center of these dust shields were eaten up real bad from where the spindle was resting on it.  I don't feel like spending $100 for new dust shields, so I am just going to clean them up and reuse them for now and keep my eyes peeled for a decent used set that might be in a little better condition than mine.

I took the wire wheel and cleaned all the rust and old paint off.

I then took this small hammer and anvil and straightened out the center, where the rust caused the metal to fold in some.

Finished the first one (the one on the left).

Here is the center of the two dust shields where the rust took over.

It got warm enough one weekend, so I decided to paint some of these parts.  I first took a wire wheel to these parts and then went over them again with a scotch pad.

After cleaning them up with some lacquer thinner, I taped the steering knuckles up to get ready for painting.

I decided to go all out and use this Rust Encapsulator on these parts.  This stuff is a little expensive, but people swear up and down about how great this stuff is.  I might re-paint the rear axle with this stuff.  Eastwood advised me that even though I removed the rust off these parts with a wire wheel, it would still be best to apply Rust Encapsulator to be on the safe side.  I want to treat this like a primer.

Here is the steering knuckles and dust shields after their second coats.

It is finally staying warm outside which is allowing me to finish up all the painting. 
I removed the diff cover and taped up the axle.

I sprayed on the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator again on the axle.  I decided that I am going to continue to use this stuff as the primer.  I went with red so that I would be able to make sure I put enough top coat on when I got to that point.

I cleaned up the diff cover and the shock towers with a wire wheel.  I purchased these two shock towers off Craigslist since mine were very rusted.

After cleaning everything again with some degreaser and acitone (including the axle shafts), I threw on a coat of the Rust Encapsulator.

Prepped for a top coat of Extreme Chassis Black paint that I picked up from Eastwood.

Applied first coat of Chassis Black onto the axle shafts.  I used the Simi Gloss Extreme Chassis Black.

Put a coat on the diff cover.

Sprayed a coat onto the axle.

Here is the axle after a few coats of chassis black.

Here are the shock towers, axle shafts, dust covers, and steering knuckles after they have been completely painted and dried.  Its nice to have some finished parts.

Finished the diff cover.  The picture makes it look like it is smiling from the light reflection.

Removed all the tape from the axle and cleaned up the opening of the differential.  

I then primed and painted the yoke.

The paint is all dry



I went to Advanced Auto and picked up these two remanufactured calipers and a can of silver caliper paint.  I taped everything up, cleaned the surface with acetone, and gave the calipers three coats of paint.

 Finished with the calipers.  These calipers look a lot better now.

Next job was to press the new ball joints into the knuckle.  At first I picked up some cheap ball joints from Advanced Auto.  When trying to press one of them in, I noticed how cheap they were.  I decided to return them and get some better ball joints.  I ended up going with Moog ball joints after reading good reviews online.  I also rented a ball joint hand press from Autozone to help get them pressed in.

I started by using the ball joint press and pressed in the lower ball joint.

 Pressing the ball joint took some effort.  I had to use the pipe-on-the-ratchet method to give me some extra torque.  I also sprayed a little grease on the ball joint to help lubricate it.

Almost pressed completely in.

All the way in.

Installing the upper ball joint was a little harder.  I used one of the metal tubes from the ball joint press and placed it on top on the ball joint.  I then took the whole steering knuckle and rested it on top of a larger metal tube.  This prevented damage to any of the ball joints while I installed the upper ball joint.

I placed one of the spacers that came with the ball joint press on top of the tube.  I then hit it with a hammer until the ball joint was seated properly.

I made sure the grease fitting, on the bottom of the ball joint, was going to be placed at a spot that I could access it.

After the grease fittings were installed, I pumped some grease into the ball joints until the grease started to come out of the top of the rubber boot.

I cleaned up the old steering knuckle bolts and reinstalled them.  I had to use a hammer to punch them back in.

The bolts has a little surface rust on the heads, so I put a coat of black Rust Encapsulator on the heads.

Before I put the steering knuckles back on the axle, I went ahead and put the diff cover back on.  I once again cleaned the cover and the diff real good.

After everything was clean and dry, I used Permatex Right Stuff for the gasket.

I put a good continuous bead of the gasket maker around the diff opening, making sure not to get it in the bolt holes.

I then put the cover and the new bolts on with some lock tight and torqued each bolt down to 20 ft/lbs

I know the grade 8 bolts are a little overkill.  I just like that look.

Now back to the steering knuckles.

I first removed the old spanner nut

I then put the steering knuckle on the axle.  I screwed the lower ball joint nut onto the ball joint only hand tight just to keep the steering knuckle in place.

Before I installed the new spanner nut, I put some anti-seize on all the threads.

The spanner nut was then installed

Since I did not have a spanner nut socket, I went out and bought a cheep 3/4 socket and made my own spanner socket with the help of my die grinder.  The socket only cost me $0.75 compared to the cost of a real spanner socket which can run about $20.








After I was all finished, I realized that I should have bought a deepwell socket due to the ball joint head getting in the way. (oops)



I once again spent another $0.75 on a deepwell socket and made another spanner socket.

I torqued the spanner nut down to 50 ft/lbs

The lower ball joint nut was then tightened all the way down.  Before I put the nut on, used some lock tight on the threads.
It was a bitch to get the nut on due to the ball joint head spinning as I was trying to tighten the nut.  I tried a bunch of different methods and even got my neighbor involved.  What finally worked (thanks to my neighbor) was using a C-clamp to press the steering knuckle up which seated the lower ball joint and allowed me to tighten the nut.  Sorry I did not get any pictures.  I was too pissed to worry about taking pictures.



Lock tight went onto the top castle nut before tightening it down.

Finished with the drivers side.

Finished with both sides.  It is starting to come together.

The next "fun" job I tackled was installing the new U-joints on the axle shafts.  I used Spicer U-joints.
The first thing I did was carefully remove the caps off the U-joint without messing up the bearings in the caps.

After placing the U-joint in the axle shaft, I put the caps back on.  I made sure to put the same caps on the same side of the U-joint as it came.  I used a socket and a hammer to lightly tap the cap in the axle shaft and onto the U-joint.

Once the caps were completely on, I was able to slip the c-clip on.

I then did the same process for the for other side of the U-joint.  Both axle joints were both finished with little problems.

The rubber seals were placed back onto the axle shaft and then the axle shafts were installed back into the axle housing.  The pink stuff on the axle shaft is some grease I put on there for the spindle.

Before installing the original spindle, I packed some grease in the bearings.



The spindle slid right on.

I then installed the original dust shield.....

....and bolted it on with new all-metal lock nuts.

Next up is the rotors and hubs assembly.  The rotors were in bad shape and needed to be replaced.  The rotor and hub assembly are held together by the lug nuts and studs.  To separate them I just had to tap the studs out.

 Once all the studs were knocked out, the hub assembly easily separated from the rotor.

The hub looked in good shape.  Only surface rust and grime.

 I wire wheeled the surface rust off the hubs, cleaned and taped them, and then primed them with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator.  

Once the Rust Encapsulator was good and dry, I sanded it, cleaned it with acetone, and painted it with some aluminum rustoleum. 

Here are the hubs after the paint dried and the tape removed.  They look good as new!

I took some grease and greased up the insides of the hubs where the bearings were, which appeared to be in good shape.

After the hubs were greased, I was ready to install them onto the new rotors.  I picked up these rotors from a good local parts store, Loop Road Auto.  Loop Road Auto has a machine shop too.  I might be using them when rebuilding the engine.

I cleaned up the old wheel studs and pressed them (aka hit them with a hammer) back into the new rotors and hubs.

Done and ready to be installed on the axle!

I put a little grease on the end of the axle shaft.

Slid the rooter and hub onto the axle.

Picked up some new spindle washers and nuts from 4Wheel Parts since the old ones were shot.

slid the smaller washer onto the spindle making sure the little lip fit into the spindle grove.
(WARNING: If you are following me on this step read a little further before you do this step.)

Next was installing one of the spindle nut.

I tightened the spindle nut the correct way with this 2 1/16 socket I picked up from 4Wheel Parts.

Torqued it down to 50 ft/lbs

OOPS!!  After the first bolt was torqued down I realized that I forgot to put the wheel bearing in.

I removed the washer and bolt, packed the bearing with fresh grease, and slid the wheel bearing onto the spindle.

Again, I slid the washer back on

...and again installed the spindle nut.

.....and again torqued it down to 50 ft/lbs

Next I slid on the 2nd larger washer with the lip facing down.

The 2nd nut was installed and torqued to 50 ft/lbs.  I then took the end of the larger washer and bent it into the nut.  This will help keep it from turning.

I put some more grease around everything.  ( I probably over did it on the grease)

I cleaned up the old hub gears and then put some fresh grease on it.

...then slid it onto the axle shaft

I then took the old snap ring and slid it onto the grove on the axle shaft.  This holds the hub gears.

Done.  Did the same on the other side.

Now its time to instal the new calipers and brake pads.

I first placed the new springs onto the steering knuckle.

The brake pads slid on first.

I then put the caliper bolts on the caliper, making sure the brown sleeve stays wrapped around the bolt.

I put a little locktight onto the threads.

I rubbed some brake pad lubricant onto the metal backing of the pads to prevent squealing.

The caliper bolts were torqued down to 35 ft/lbs

All done.  Did the same for the driver side.

Decided to reuse the original hubs since I had never had any problems with these.  From the research I did, these were actually made by Warn.



I first took a wire wheel and cleaned off all the old paint from the aluminum hubs.  Here is a little before and after shot.



Finished cleaning and removing the old faded decals.



Cleaned one last time with some acetone and sprayed some dupli-color primer on the hubs.  This is after the first coat.


After final coat



I then put a few coats of gloss black paint on the hubs.  This primer and paint combo it supposed to be good for aluminum and plastic.  The top of the hubs are plastic.



Finished with the final coat

After letting it dry for a few days I sanded down the top a little,....

...cleaned it up with some mineral spirits, ..

... and installed the new Decal that I purchased off Ebay.

It looks a lot better now!

To paint the little "2" and "4" on the top of the hub, I used some white modeling paint that I had.

I carefully painted the numbers and wiped away any paint that went outside the lines.

Finished with the letters

To give it a little more protection, I lightly sanded down the whole hub (minus the decal) and then gave it a few coats of clear.  This should also keep the decal on a little better.

Finished.  Here is a before and after shot.

I purchased these paper seals from 4Wheel parts.  I have read that these seals help keep the water out of the hub components.  

Since the seals were round, I cut around the hub to make the seal fit.

They turned out perfect.

The paper seal/gasket goes on the hub assembly first.

Then the hub goes on.

Before I installed the hub I placed some blue lock tight on my new stainless bolts.

To make it a little easier to install, I put to paper seal through the bolts first.

I then bolted everything down and torqued the bolts down to 25ft/lbs

Done and Done!!!

For right now, I am all finished with the Front Dana 30 axle!!  Here are a few before and after shots.