Dana 44 problem / questions

[old_man]

I have a Dana 44 housing that has a chronic wheel seal leak problem. It appears that the inside diameter of the section where the seal rests is oversized due to a bearing burning up. I need to fix this. I am a machinist and have machine shop access.

Options:

1) Find a replacement housing

2) find a replacement driver's side tube or portion and splice it in.

3) Machine a new end to the tube and attach it.

Anybody have any input/ideas.

I am also considering going with either a wider D44 housing to match the front D44 or moving to a semi-float D60 with a 5x5.5 pattern capability.

Where can I get info on buying or machining a replacement tube. Are there premade tube ends that have the inset machined to hold the bearing/seal that I can weld on? When you retube, how do you address this issue?

[Anak]

If the bearing is adequately supported and not creating challenges for the seal, could you possibly solve this with a Speedi Sleeve?

Is the seal O.D. enough larger than the bearing O.D. such that the sleeve could be installed in the axle housing?

Actually, thinking about it, you must have room in the axle housing for a sleeve. That is the source of your problem.

If you can find a sleeve that takes up that slack and then make yourself a mandrel to install it (because you are using it in the opposite side of the picture from what is generally intended), set it into place with a good sealant (perhaps loctite or an anaerobic sealant...I am not sure what would be best in this application...some research would be in order, or a call to loctite), let it cure, remove mandrel and then install axle assembly.

That is the best I can dream up at the moment. IF the bore for the bearing is oversize too there may not be any hope for this method.

Here is a link to a chart of Speedi Sleeves: https://www.oit.edu/docs/default-sou...g.pdf?sfvrsn=2

[old_man]

Originally Posted by Anak

If the bearing is adequately supported and not creating challenges for the seal, could you possibly solve this with a Speedi Sleeve?

Is the seal O.D. enough larger than the bearing O.D. such that the sleeve could be installed in the axle housing?

Actually, thinking about it, you must have room in the axle housing for a sleeve. That is the source of your problem.

If you can find a sleeve that takes up that slack and then make yourself a mandrel to install it (because you are using it in the opposite side of the picture from what is generally intended), set it into place with a good sealant (perhaps loctite or an anaerobic sealant...I am not sure what would be best in this application...some research would be in order, or a call to loctite), let it cure, remove mandrel and then install axle assembly.

That is the best I can dream up at the moment. IF the bore for the bearing is oversize too there may not be any hope for this method.

Here is a link to a chart of Speedi Sleeves: https://www.oit.edu/docs/default-sou...g.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Thanks for the tip. I didn't think about using a speedi-sleeve on the inside. I think I found one in the link you gave that will work perfectly. I will simply press it in with the Loctite "bearing glue" and see if it works.

[Anak]

Cool.

I hope it works. Sure would beat replacing the whole housing or even the end of the housing.

Take pics and post up what you learn. Odds are good someone else will walk this same path someday.

[md21722]

This would be an interesting solution to an OD seal problem.

[old_man]

I scored a naked housing, so all is good. Thinking of widening it though, which brings up, where to source wider axles.