Agreed, deer year of a lifetime, father and son. Very cool.
Well guys, I should have known better than to assume the plow truck was broken.
I split the knuckle on the suspect end of the front axle, pulled the axle, inspected.... and then it came to me, after finding nothing wrong but noticing a little bit of water in that hub.
The lockout was iced up, that's all.
No bad joint, no broken axle, no shattered spiders... Nuthin, there wasn't a damn thing wrong with that truck other than a trace of water inside that hub.
So, I learned how to work on closed knuckle dana 44 axles and I repacked the bearings on that side.
I was so foolish for doubting the ford.
I even noticed that the axle end joint was a Spicer brand universal joint..... which makes me wonder if it could be the original joint???
