Dana 25 rebuild?

I have the D25 stripped down to the housing and was cleaning the housing end of grease when I noticed that the left side was pretty chewed up. I’m wondering if I can get away with grinding and smoothing out the bad areas or do I need to go another rout? Thanks in advance for your help.

Glenn, you were right the 5.38 ring and pinion gear wasn’t too easy to find, but eventually I did get a pretty good used one, differential gears in all.

 

Rogue42 has a set of axels in the 4sale section, I'm trying to talk him out of just the diffs, may free up a good d27 axel housing complete with hubs axels and brakes...

 

I would dress it only , cleaning up rough edges.
I would not remove any material in excess.
as much material as possible needed for strength in this area.
axle shaft must have busted up/come apart for that kind of damage.
that's my opinion

 

Jim, I’m thinking the same thing. When I removed the drum there were nuts instead of bolts holding the backing plate. When I removed the backing plate I noticed the P.O. had welded the spindle onto the knuckle he also welded the studs from inside the knuckle so that the nuts could hold the backing plate.

 

he went to a lot of extra work for nothing IMO
you might consider the knuckle stud upgrade for this axle (or bolts)
welding the spindle to the knuckle.........dumb, dumb...trail repair ?
Chuck, are you sure this housing is straight and not bent before proceeding with the o'haul?
what does the outer surface look like? are the balls are smooth?
do the king pin races fit tightly into the housing ? if not, ditch the housing IMO

 

Here is a pic of the spindle and inside of the knuckle.

 

I've seen welded spindles, not the spindle welded to the knuckle !!
maybe a 911 trail fix that never got repaired

 

I doubt this was a trail fix although it may have been a 911 during a snow storm this D25 belongs to a 52 pickup.

The axle is straight, but one race isn’t to my liking I’m thinking I will take your advice and find myself another axle. Just as well, I would have had to find another knuckle and spindle anyways.

 

if it's not trail driven it may be okay
if it's snow plow duty only it may be okay
if it's 70 mph on the interstate, well, that's not okay
what kind of use will your truck see?

 

I imagine the owner will baby this thing no snow plowing or trail riding mostly driving around town possibly towing a boat.

 

hmm...not your rig then....
I think I would fix it the right way
don't need shoddy work coming back on you

 

I agree, I want to fix it the right way. Although I want to save him as much money as I can, having the job done right is foremost in my mind.

Thanks Jim as always you’re a great help.

 

I believe I found what cause the damage to the ring and pinion gear, the pin that helps hold the differential gears in its housing fell out. When I opened the cover all I found was fine pieces nothing large so I had to do a little searching, I guess that is why they went to screw type in the later D25s.

1) arrow pointing to missing pin in old housing
2) old pinion gear
3) pin reinstalled with lock tight in new/used gears

 

can you say ker-chunk !

 

I have a Dana 27 housing In great shape the internals are smashed. I will sell or trade.

 

Thanks Brad for the offer, but my son found a Willys pickup last Saturday just sitting there wanting to be rescued, I will be picking it up this weekend and will post pics.