Front axle movement

[stanggy]

Sorry this is long.

Ok, truck had the typical "shake" that happens when the front hub is going bad.

I reached over the passenger front tire and could move the axle at the u-joints up and down, left and right 1/2 to 1/4 of an inch either direction.

Put it up on jack stands no movement in the wheel (im assuming at this point ball joints are not my issue)

I start assembling and get the hub on, put the thrust washers and the snap ring back on. The thing is that it seemed like there was still room for another washer the snap ring didn't seem to have any pressure on it.

I assemble it and put the warn hubs on, better then when i started but still some play. I called my old man asked him to go out and look at his, he the play was minimal at best.

I take apart the driver side, which has virtually no play in it. get it down to just snap ring and thrust washers and pretty much no movement still. Pull the snap ring and realized that it was actually holding the thrust washers with pressure.

Take apart the pass. side again and look it is not tight like the driver side, im guessing this is my problem.

At this point in the night i have broken 2 pairs of snap pliers and can not get the 2 snap rings off the truck to compare the washer widths so...

Any ideas? Could my washers have been worn down? Could i need to add another washer? Am I missing something obvious?

Any help would be very appreciated.

[stanggy]

I put it back together and took it to a shop they said the only other thing it could be is the axle it self?

the guy came out and looked at it, said he has seen it a few times doesnt happen very often, but he is sure that is what it is.

sound reasonable?

[vitalidle]

Hmm can't help you on that one

[460+]

When you took it apart was there 3 washers behind the snapring? If not, there should have been, 2 round washers and 1 that looks like a nut.

[stanggy]

Thanks for the reply's,

Yea all 3 were there, I even bought new ones from Ford to make sure they were correct.

[460+]

The only other washer that is in there is the one that goes on the outer axle shaft before the hub goes on. In the end of the hub is pilot bearing, if that bearing is bad, that will let the axle move the way your discribing.

[stanggy]

Thanks for all your help, it was a lot of things, my stub axle was very bad, the oil seal was bad, and turns out my manual hubs were non functional. found that out crawling up a hill. have some extra dodge hubs in it until my new warns come in.