[ihc] Front Spindles Heat treated?

["James Lidberg" <jameslidberg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dana 44 front axle: are the spindles heat treated?

My bearings got so hot they cracked the hubs from the inside out and turned the spindles blue, a rather dark blue, in 
bands just where the inner bearing races contact them.

Are the spindles toast? Do they need to be replaced?

The bearing rollers themselves are OK, the inner and outer races drew off the heat, tuned black in spots,  and put the 
heat to the hubs and spindles - new one on me. I've always seen the rollers disintegrate first before the heat built up 
so high.

I think it was the grease that did them in. Morey's Red.

Here is a quote from their corp web site, it sounds like the best grease there is, and that it is great for wheel 
bearings, doesn't it?

http://moreysoilonline.com/products.htm
"Morey's Super Real Premium Multi-Purpose EP Grease protects equipment worldwide. The ultimate in multipurpose grease, 
providing stability and performance for agriculture, industry, marine, automotive & fleet applications. Suitable for 
all types of bearings: ball or roller/sealed or open/truck & automotive wheel bearings/boat trailer bearings."

I read from another site that distributes Morey's, and I read that  the bearing rollers are not supposed to go past 
5000 RPM, (I think they exceed that at 70MPH):

" NOT RECOMMENDED FOR SMALL ANTI-FRICTION BEARINGS OPERATING OVER 5000RPM."
http://www.unitedbearing.com/MOREYSsuperred.html

I used this stuff at the recommendation of a local drive shaft repair place, guess now that I should have calculated 
the roller RPM first, oh well, Live and learn, or better yet: "Burn and Learn".

I've got to say I am lucky to have caught it before it got worse, the wheels showed no sign of being loose nor did I 
feel any roughness while spinning the wheels and listening for broken or rough bearings, that is becasue they were 
still intact.

The hubs cracked, inside, along the casting marks.

The only reason I caught it was that I was hunting the source of an intermittant "ooohh" sound, usually in 4LO, on 
rough sections of trail. It sounded like a spring bushing or spring teflon pad or a loose ubolt/spring plate or such. I 
had taken all of those things totally apart and put them back together in the last 2 months, and there was no change. 
The last thing was the bearings.

Thanks,

- Jim in Mesa
**************
Jim In Mesa - James Lidberg
jameslidberg@domain.elided
'79 Scout II/4X4/345/Edelbrock 1400/727/D20/3.07 open/PS/PB/4"Trailmaster
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