passenger side hub re-assembly - tight

C

cruzer1971

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Apr 21, 2010
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I have a feeling that I am missing something easy but I cant find it. I replaced all four ball joints last weekend and besides getting the old ones out it was not a major issue, driver side went back together easily but when I got to the passenger side hub it got really tight. As I tightened the four bolts to pull the hub into place it got to a point that I could barely spin the wheel. This occurred with about 1/4 of the bolt left to tighten. I probably tried 3-4 times before I gave up and to put it back together so I was not in the way of my wife. I thoroughly cleaned all surfaces to remove rust and even put a small amount of grease to help it pull together nicely and sequentially tightened the bolts to pull it in evenly. Any ideas???

2000 ram 3500 4x4
 
Did you wire wheel the knuckle and hub? I always clean up both sides with a wire wheel and cover with anti-seize.
 
Either it did not go in square, there is debris in the knuckle bore, or the bearing is out of spec. At any rate you are on your way to a bearing failure in short order if you don't get it corrected.
 
thanks for the replies. Im gonna look at it again tomorrow. Its not my daily driver so it has been sitting since I out it back together.
 
seems that once I finish tightening the four bolts the drive shaft pushes in a little more and engages the 4x4 making it more difficult to turn. Prior to tightening it all the way the hub will spin freely without engaging the 4 wheel drive. Is this normal?
 
cruzer1971 said:
seems that once I finish tightening the four bolts the drive shaft pushes in a little more and engages the 4x4 making it more difficult to turn. Prior to tightening it all the way the hub will spin freely without engaging the 4 wheel drive. Is this normal?
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No, That is not normal. I would pull it apart and check that the axle is installed right. Sounds like the splines are not lined up and you are putting excessive pressure on bearing.
 
thank you. I moved it around and finally got it to seat with no issues. What surprises me it that the axle doesn't look like there is certain way it needs to be installed, all the splines look the same but as you mentioned water_lover something was not lining up right.
 
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