4WHEELOFFROAD.COM 4-WHEEL & OFF-ROADNOVEMBER 2019 29
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Over the years we have run into just about
every type of spindle nut and locking design
there is. We generally like the old-school style
with two nuts and some sort of locking plate
in bet ween , or one of the heav y- dut y af termar -
ket type of locking spindle nuts. We’ve never
encountered this t y pe of lock nut , and we aren’t
sure whether part of it was missing or damaged.
We won’t reuse it, but our research indicated
that this 1995 ball joint Ford Dana 60 would
need either a 2^9 ⁄ 16 -inch spindle nut socket or a
23 ⁄ 4 - inch one. The l atter worked for us.2
This dirt and dried oil is a pretty good indi-
cator that the passenger-side axle seal on
our Mexican Dana 60 is no good. It leaked for
a while before the truck was scrapped and we
got a chance to buy the axle. Since then it has
been sitting for a few years. You can bet thatinner axle seal is junk, and chances are the other
side is al so worn , cracked , or damaged. We w ill
replace them both with two new seals from
Spicer (PN 36487). If you aren’t sure what parts
are available for your Dana (and some Corporate
Ford axles) you can check danaaftermarket.
com, which has a great search engine and also
checks parts availability quickly and easily.3
Removing the spindle from even a slightly
rusty Dana 60 can be a real bear. The best
method we’ve found is to use a hammer and
a brass drift to hit the spindle from the back,
inside the outer knuckle. Once it moves a little
bit, put a flathead screwdriver in the gap and
whack the other side of the spindle with a rub-
ber or brass mallet. Keep this up, walking it out
of the bore. Both of the spindles on our axle
were junk because an inner bearing got loose
and spun on the spindle. See the galling and
discoloration from the heat. Luckily, Spicer had
new replacement spindles for this and other
axles (PN 708085).4
Given the condition of the rest of the axle
we decided it was a good idea to replace
all four ball joints on the axle. We loosened the
nuts and whacked the upper inner knuckle ear
with our hammer until we could see it free up.
Do the same with the lower inner knuckle ear,
and the knuckle will drop. We left both ball joint
nuts on the last few threads of the ball joints so
the knuckle wouldn’t fall all the way off the axle
(and possibly onto our toe).5
Then, with the knuckle off, you can use a
ball-joint tool to remove the ball joint , once
you’ve removed any snap rings. We’ve found
that tapping the knuckle near the ball joint as
shown while the tool is loaded helps release the
ball joint a bit easier.1
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