Flanged Dana 44 Help

Been a while since I've posted on here but always lurking the site. A few years ago I had my axles rebuilt with powr-lok's and all new bearings including the outer axle bearings. The original axle on the passenger side the outer bearing would i guess "come loose" to where I could pull the shaft outward a good bit. Now the same thing is happening on the rebuilt axle but now on the driver side. The passenger side is nice and tight but the drivers side I can pull it outward about an 1/8 - 1/4" almost the same as the passenger side on the other axle. I did not put new retaining plates on and wondering if that could be why it is walking outward? That is the only thing holding the axle in right?
I'm running 33" tires and this rig might get driven 1000 miles in 5 years and that is a maybe. Looking at the tire it does look as if it is out of round. Thought at first it was the spacer I was using so removed it and still out of round. The rim does not look bent and cannot remember if this tire was on the passenger side when the other axle was in.
Do these retaining plates need to be replaced over time?

 

Forgot to say it's the '71 in my avatar and signature

 

is it normal to be able to pull the shaft in and out?

 

pull the shaft in and out, like 1/4"? 1/2"?

is it just old wear and tear that you never noticed before? out of round suggests something is loose, and causing unever wear, right? your axles shouldnt be sliding in and out when you have them bolted on.

 

yes pull the shaft in and out (side to side). only on the drivers side
the axle probably does not have 1000 miles on it over the last 5 years or so. so not old wear and tear. would an out of round tire cause this?

i was reading fino's mini build thread and thinking of ordering new retaining plates with new bearings.

 

yeah i was thinking the same thing glen but wanted to make sure.

 

i didn't know the plates were available till i read through fino's thread.

 

Wear would be visible on the plates.
And some slight end play movement in/out of the axles I would say is normal.
Damage can occur if previously a bearing went bad on the shaft or the axle walked out of the housing.

 

Does this axle have tapered bearings or the self-contained bearings? My axle has the self contained type bearings with no seal between the bearing and plate.



I'm not familiar with the tapered style bearing on a flanged axle but maybe one of the seals between the plates and housing is damaged or worn away allowing for the extra end play?

 

my axle has the bearings you have in the photo. those bearings will come apart when you disassemble but they are one piece when they get installed at least from what i remember.

 

Interesting. I have no idea where your excessive end play is coming from then. Sorry.

 

going to take it apart when the heat wave has passed or just get up at 5 am and work on it. i want to inspect the races and the plates for wear. also going to bring my rim and tire to the tire shop to see if the rim is bent and how far out of round the tire is. i do have a full size spare i'm going to throw on there to see if i get the same runout.

 

Here is a link to the Dana Maintenance Manual. The rear axle rebuild is after front axle rebuild

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ore=original&usg=AOvVaw20_4xUa7TXQ3Lx2kbiwoJ-

 

thanks steve for the link. i have that downloaded from a long time ago.

 

i'm wondering that too.

 

yes new retainers were used or at least i bought new parts and hopefully the rebuilder used them