Project: SAS the FM

[oO_Rogue_Oo [Veteran Member]]

Do your balljoints understand chinese?

[Reserector [Veteran Member]]

They are about to get a course.

[Reserector [Veteran Member]]

Anyone have a good link to a D44 teardown instruction?

[redneck23ms [Veteran Member]]

as for the harbor freight ball joint press. i have one as well. when you start to press the joints in/out. when it starts getting hard to turn the press give the end of the threaded part a good whack with the hammer. try not to bow up on the press too much as they are known to bend. just go a little at a time and keep smacking it with a hammer. the shock will loosen them up and they'll come out.

[redneck23ms [Veteran Member]]

d44 teardown step by step. this one has drum breaks but everything else is the same. http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/Mr.N44.htm...ear%20Down

[601cherokee [Veteran Member]]

as for the harbor freight ball joint press. i have one as well. when you start to press the joints in/out. when it starts getting hard to turn the press give the end of the threaded part a good whack with the hammer. try not to bow up on the press too much as they are known to bend. just go a little at a time and keep smacking it with a hammer. the shock will loosen them up and they'll come out.

Same thing goes for loan-a-tools from AutoZone. I used to give these same instructions everytime I rented a puller, press, etc.

[Reserector [Veteran Member]]

as for the harbor freight ball joint press. i have one as well. when you start to press the joints in/out. when it starts getting hard to turn the press give the end of the threaded part a good whack with the hammer. try not to bow up on the press too much as they are known to bend. just go a little at a time and keep smacking it with a hammer. the shock will loosen them up and they'll come out.

Thanks, Alex. Someone had told me that you need to coax them with a hammer.
I found a couple of kits on Ebay and was about to bid when I noticed that they looked bent. Every kit on ebay was bent!
I will grease the threads and be cautious.

[Reserector [Veteran Member]]

Thanks for the link. I forgot about Mr. N's site. I started to search, then thought I would be better to ask the experts here at Mississippi Mud.

[Reserector [Veteran Member]]

Oh, man! Look at THIS. The Official Dana manual in .pdf format from their site.

[Reserector [Veteran Member]]

I finally got started on my axle. So much to do. I didn't get to it until the mid-afternoon, but I have a pretty good plan, now. I know what I have to work with and what I will need.
I test-fit some axles, and started to tear into the waggy axle.

The main thing is that I am finally getting underway. Got a little dirt under the fingernails.