Ford 5610 II 4wd

Our new to us 1988 chassis/1987 front axle Ford 5610 II was leaking oil from both front hubs. Never having done this before so I watched some youtubes that pretty much tell the story except for a couple of important points:

1. The oil seal is a press fit into the hub. I used a wooden block to tap it in, but still deformed the outer lip of the seal. So clearly I need a 150mm dia seal press. Since the seal also retains one of the two tapered bearings in the hub, it needs to press into the hub about 1/8" to hold that bearing in place or the bearing will be allowed cant a little bit when the hub is put onto the spindle.

This is a larger than normal seal size so auto parts shops dont keep them as loaners. Any suggestions on the best way to get this seal safely installed into the hub?


2. The new oil seal also fits very tightly onto the spindle ( but it does fit) and does not just slide on, so it needs even pressure. I tried C-clamps and got carried away and cocked the seal and ruined it. After ruining the seal I realized I might be able to just use that big nut that holds the entire planetary gear onto the spindle. (assuming it has sufficient threads to do so) But are there other ways to reinstall the hub that evenly so the seals and bearings aren't endangered with un-even pressure? Photos below
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mvphoto45295.jpg


mvphoto45296.jpg
 
The best seal driver short of the factory tool is the old seal. Start the new seal in the bore, place the
old seal on top of the new one, and use light hammer blows to work the new seal into place evenly.

The reason the new seal will not go over the spindle is because you need to remove the wear sleeve on the
spindle first. The original seal design used a replaceable wear sleeve on the spindle that was supposed to
be changed every time you replaced the seal. Since that time, unitized seal designs have come out that
eliminate the need for the wear sleeve. You can either pry off the sleeve with a prybar, or else heat it
up with a torch red hot and it will break in half.

With the wear sleeve removed the new seal should slide onto the spindle with only moderate hand force.
Also, be sure to follow the instructions in the manual for properly adjusting that spindle nut. The last
thing you want to do is get that thing too tight and have carnage going on inside that hub. Those hard
parts are obscenely expensive, assuming you can even get them anymore.
 

Thanks for that quick information! So as you look at the spindle photo you can see the wear sleeve where I just see spindle? I will check it out and thanks!
 
Yes, I can clearly see the wear sleeve. If you look closely at the spindle on the step that the seal rides
on, you can see the folded over edge of the sleeve.
 

You are certainly correct. It nicked pretty easily with a cold chisel. OK, I assume I can get that off. I dont have a torch so will try the peening technique that timken demonstrates on their 'tricks of the trade' video.

So once it is off and i am pressing in the new oil seal using the old seal as the buffer, how deep should the seal go? If the outside of the seal is perfectly flush with the surface of the hub, then the gap between the inside surface of the seal and the inboard side of the tapered bearing is sufficient to allow some rocking of the bearing in its race. Seems like the new seal should hold the tapered bearing in place to prevent canting or rocking, but just firm enough contact without deforming of the seal material against the bearing?
 

The seal doesn't hold the bearing in place.
It does help keep the bearing in place while one reinstalls the hub, but once in place the spindle keeps the bearing in position while the seal keeps oil from leaking out.
Not familiar with that setup but many hubs have a small lip inside for the seal to goes against to position it at the proper depth.
 
(quoted from post at 14:21:24 11/15/19) You press the seal in until it bottoms in the bore. As Destroked said, the seal does not retain the bearing in operation.

Thanks for your help. Another problem has emerged: I installed the seals on both hubs. The front left seal was canted/cocked a little bit I installed it and I had some doubts about it but it went on the spindle, everything seated firmly and assembled properly. I filled the hubs with gear oil to the correct level, let them sit for a couple of days to see if they would leak. No leaks either side.

So then took the tractor out to drive around a bit to see if the seals would leak then. I drove it back and forth, engaged FWD, took some turns, etc, then heard/felt a little thump in the front left wheel, checked it immediately and gear oil was starting to leak out. So I got it back into the shop and jacked it up immediately, removed the wheel and the planetary cover. Two concerns emerged:

1. The front left knuckle was hot to the touch.
2. The 'sun' gear shaft would not shift in/out to allow the snap ring to be exposed for removal of the hub/bearing/seal assembly. It was not hot, and the entire hub would turn. Nothing locked up. No scary noises; all turns smoothly

But i did notice quite a bit of play in the knuckle (which had heated up during the test drive) . I will try to attach a video.

What would cause that 'sun' gear to jam into its in-board position? How to free it up?

But to get at the oil seal and those tapered bearings I need to remove the hub/bearing/seal assembly.

But since its all jacked up and apart, then it looks like I should replace the u-joints as well. Will that process expose the rear end of that 'sun' gear anyway, so I should just move on to that task and let the hub problem follow in the inspection process? Or do I need to remove the hub before I can get to the knucke?
 

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