A friend of mine has a 1st Gen 4x4 3.9L ... and her husband drove it around all day on pavement with patches of snow, in 4H. On the way home (I was riding with him, but decided not to say anything about the 4x4), we heard "thump thump thump"... sure enough, left front axle was hanging.

All six bolts connecting the inner CV joint "tulip" to the drive axle coming out of the differential are missing. They must have backed out, I didn't find any leftovers (the inner flange is threaded and would have held part of the bolt if it had sheared off.) It looks like they would be about 7/16" bolts, maybe 1" long.

So my idea is to replace those bolts with grade 8s from ACE, but I need to know how much to torque them.

Also, we drove to their house about 1.5 miles at slow speed with the axle flopping. I didn't think about this until later but I know some vehicles have to have the proper torque on the axle or else the wheel bearings get shot. Could we have screwed something up there?

Thanks,

John

 

I can help you with specs but I need to the year of the truck.

 

Its possible. You may want to take apart your hub, and check it out. As for the bolts, tightem them with an impact or a lang 1/2 in. ratchet with some lictite. It should be tight enough, and if not, then you got a problem.

 

She said it's a '90...