Front 10 Bolt Teardown / Rebuild PICTURES!

[x ReAcT x]

With the heat / dust shield off your are now faced with a challenge: Removing the Spindle. This has always been a difficult part in rebuilding a 10 bolt. Just take a good size mallet and tap the spindle near the 6 bolts holding it in place. A few rounds of that followed by a few rounds of a chisle should break the rust lock. Take the spindle right off and then you are left with the axle shaft. When the spindle is removed the plastic dust gaurd and seal might pull off like in the picture. Your best choice would be to run to the parts store and get a new seal, they are relatively inexpensive and are the first line of defense from debris. Unlike the rear axle which has c-clips holding the shaft in, the front does not so pull the entire axle shaft assembly right out like a boss. All you should be left with is the knuckle.

[x ReAcT x]

We are finally getting somewhere. Now its time to remove the knuckles and ball joints. Push your knuckle as far to one side as you can to expose the ball joint nuts. The upper ball joint is seated with a castle nut and cotter pin. First remove cotter pin (page 1 for more detail on removing pins) and then remove castle nut. Make sure to spray the castle nut with some PB Blaster and let it sit for a minute or too before continuing. The castle nut is 5/16" wide, and happens to be the only socket i have missing. So i used a wrench and just gave it a couple taps with the mallet. Nut unscrewed right off. Now for the bottom ball joint nut. This is where things got interesting. The bottom ball joint nut was a 28mm wide?!?! I didnt realize they threw metric and standard sizes together on the front axle (happens more than once..) Once you get both ball joint nuts off its time to remove the knuckle. I first tapped the knuckle in multiple areas to try and break the ball joint seat but since I wasnt going to reuse the ball joints I ended up beating the **** out of the ball joint bolt with the mallet. Came out fine.

[x ReAcT x]

Now that the knuckle is off it should look something like this. Just the axle tube. As a habit I always shove a rag in the axle tube housing to keep dust and debris out while im working on it. Also be careful when beating out the upper ball joint, because if you get reckless like I did the ball joint bolt mushroom tops and wont fit the seat hole and then your gonna have to hit it with the grinder to push it threw. (I learned the hard way)

[x ReAcT x]

Gear Carrier Removal/ How to Remove Gear Carrier

So now the fun part, I finally get to swap the POS 3.08 gear ratio out and throw my 3.42's in. First things first, you need to remove the ball bearing caps. To remove the caps your going to need a breaker bar, extension, and 5/8" or 16mm socket (both work perfects, weird). So loosen the bolts and before you remove the ball bearing caps and bolts make damn sure you lable the bolts. Use a paint marker and mark TR (top right) BR (bottom right) TL (top left) BL (bottom left) or 1,2,3,4 or a,b,c,d. Whatever will make you remember the order. I placed mine right on the bench that way I dont forget the order.

[x ReAcT x]

SPIDER GEAR REMOVAL / HOW TO REMOVE SPIDER GEARS

Now on that last picture I got a little bit ahead of myself with showing you the spider gears. Heres how to remove them. Start by turning the gear carrier up to expose the bolt on top screwed into the carrier holding the spider gear rod in place. This bolt easily comes out with a 8mm socket (I see they switched back to metric) Remove that bolt and the rod is either going to slide right out or you will have to finger the hole and push the rod out yourself. Once the rod is out, remove the spider gears from the side. If they drop into the axle housing no big deal. Turn the carrier, fit your hand in, and remove the gears.

[x ReAcT x]

Once the spider gears are removed the carrier should look something like this. May i remind you once again to keep organized and remember the bolt pattern. (The blue blobs are the cone washers wrapped in a rag, nothing crazy)

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by x ReAcT x

With the heat / dust shield off your are now faced with a challenge: Removing the Spindle. This has always been a difficult part in rebuilding a 10 bolt. Just take a good size mallet and tap the spindle near the 6 bolts holding it in place. A few rounds of that followed by a few rounds of a chisle should break the rust lock. Take the spindle right off and then you are left with the axle shaft. When the spindle is removed the plastic dust gaurd and seal might pull off like in the picture. Your best choice would be to run to the parts store and get a new seal, they are relatively inexpensive and are the first line of defense from debris. Unlike the rear axle which has c-clips holding the shaft in, the front does not so pull the entire axle shaft assembly right out like a boss. All you should be left with is the knuckle.

I know this is an old thread but I'm doing this now. Same 10 bolt. My axle won't fit through the spindle hole. Tap it through??