CAD&Free spin kit Advice

[codie2379]

looking for advice from anyone who has done a cad delete and free spin kit. Who did you go through? EMS is the only place I have found that offers a 32 spline delete kit for the 00-02 Dana 60. What do you do to have 4wd indication (dash light) after delete? Leaning towards Spyntec shorties anyone have first hand experience? I’m going to have the front end apart to replace ball joints and I’m seriously contemplating on cad delete and free spins. Huge chunk of $ I know but I may just do it. Also axle seals hear they’re a real pain?  Any advice would be very much appreciated 

[Bullet]

I did the Yukon free spin kit at the same time I did the ball joints and steering upgrade...perfect timing to do it.  Mine is the stronger 35 spline upgraded outers with the stock inners.  I don't have the cad on my truck though so I didn't have to deal with that.  Didn't have any problems with the changing the axle seals...they were easy.  Also did new u joints between the axle halves while they were apart.  The bearings are pretty heavy duty.  I would imagine that they are stronger than the unit bearings. 

[codie2379]

Thanks for the reply Bullet I think all the free spin kits come with 35 spline outers, but the inners are 30 spline 94-99 and 32 spline 00-02. Good to hear the inner axle seals weren’t bad, did you have to use a case spreader to get the carrier out? Special seal Installer for the inner seal install? I will also do axle  u-joints as well. Didn’t realize yukon offered a kit for the abs pickups. Do they stick out as far as I think they do? That’s the only reason I’m leaning towards the Spyntec shorties thanks again

[Bullet]

1 hour ago, codie2379 said:

Thanks for the reply Bullet I think all the free spin kits come with 35 spline outers, but the inners are 30 spline 94-99 and 32 spline 00-02. Good to hear the inner axle seals weren’t bad, did you have to use a case spreader to get the carrier out? Special seal Installer for the inner seal install? I will also do axle  u-joints as well. Didn’t realize yukon offered a kit for the abs pickups. Do they stick out as far as I think they do? That’s the only reason I’m leaning towards the Spyntec shorties thanks again

Since I don't cad I didn't have to access the differential.  The axles just slid right out of the axle tubes.  The axle seals I was referring to were the outers.  I imagine it would be a chore to change the inners.  The Yukon kit relocates the abs sensors to bolt on to their spindle...so it is abs compatible.  If you use the Warn hubs they stick out further.  The Yukon hubs are fairly low profile.  But yes the whole system sticks out a bit.  I had to customize my aftermarket hub cover because of that.  But it looks OK on the size and style of wheel that I have.  Took a few pics for you... 

[codie2379]

Looks good thanks appreciate it

Looks good thanks appreciate it

[Dieselfuture]

20 hours ago, codie2379 said:

Also axle seals hear they’re a real pain?

How many miles do you have on your front end, I just rebuilt mine with160k on it and I left the inner seals alone as they were not leaking. Some people go upwards off 350-400k before they develop a leaky seal. Maybe just best to live that part alone for now. 

I thought about free spin and cad delete, but for the money I also thought about somehow fitting 3rd gen axles with 373 gears. Haven't done enough research to do that yet. More than likely it would be combined with G56 tranny and matching transfer case, kind of like @TFaoro did.

But before I do any of it I'll have to put a few more hundred thousand miles on the truck and get my money's worth out of what 've done to it already 

[codie2379]

It’s got 145ish miles so not many, but the passenger side is leaking and if I’m in there and got it torn apart I’m gonna do both, if I don’t then as soon as I put it back together the side I didn’t replace will start leaking. That’s just how it rolls for me!!!! 

[Mopar1973Man]

I'm the odd duck of the pile. Still running solid front axle. Just changed out my wheel joints for the first time. Being my all-time hand math high MPG is 27.2 MPG I seriously doubt there is anything to gain by the free spin hub. 

 

My previous truck which was a 1972 Dodge Power Wagon with manual hubs and drum brakes. That thing was a huge pain in my  ... I ended up breaking wheel joints all the time. I broke several locking hubs. Always packing the damn wheel bearing being the drum brakes would torch the grease so fast. I traded that in on my current truck and only replaced 2 sets of unit bearing in 360k miles.

 

The biggest problem is when people putting large tires on unit bearing they tend to fail quickly they are not designed for wide profile tires and tall tires. 

[Bullet]

2 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

I'm the odd duck of the pile. Still running solid front axle. Just changed out my wheel joints for the first time. Being my all-time hand math high MPG is 27.2 MPG I seriously doubt there is anything to gain by the free spin hub. 

 

My previous truck which was a 1972 Dodge Power Wagon with manual hubs and drum brakes. That thing was a huge pain in my  ... I ended up breaking wheel joints all the time. I broke several locking hubs. Always packing the damn wheel bearing being the drum brakes would torch the grease so fast. I traded that in on my current truck and only replaced 2 sets of unit bearing in 360k miles.

 

The biggest problem is when people putting large tires on unit bearing they tend to fail quickly they are not designed for wide profile tires and tall tires. 

I agree...not really worth the expense of the kit for mpg reasons.  Running big tires with offset wheels is the only really good reason to switch to the lockable hubs because of the size and serviceability of the bearings.  The axle doesn't spin anymore when unlocked so some wear and tear is being avoided on u joints, axle joints, seals, ring and pinion gears and bearings.  But that benefit is hard to measure. 

[Mopar1973Man]

Kind of like I've got the CAD axle on the 1996 Dodge Ram 1500... Personally, I hate that damn thing. Doesn't lock when its suppose to and then hangs up to unlock sometimes. That truck is going cross 180k miles soon. Never done any front end work on that truck ever. The only thing I've replaced was rotors and front brake pads. Still completely OEM everything yet. 

 

The factor is the weight on the front axle and the wheel and tire configuration. This is what makes the leveraging forces on the unit bearing and front end suspension parts and a key reason for the failure. 

[codie2379]

What’s your thoughts on just sliding the lock collar over and manually fixing the cad system fork with a bolt and a couple nuts to basically have both sides turning all the time? Other than having one axle in two pieces joined with the coupling it would basically be like the 01&02s I think?  I totally agree that there is very little payback on free spins and will probably never run anything bigger than a 35 and even that’s doubtful pretty good with the 285/70s I’m running. 

[Mopar1973Man]

Most with CAD axles rave about the idea of having the manual pull cable to allow for 2WD LO for backing trailers and other stuff around. 

 

 

[Bullet]

1 minute ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Most with CAD axles rave about the idea of having the manual pull cable to allow for 2WD LO for backing trailers and other stuff around. 

 

 

That is one benefit of the lockable hubs too but I have never used it so I really can't call it a benefit for me. 

[Tractorman]

6 hours ago, codie2379 said:

It’s got 145ish miles so not many, but the passenger side is leaking...

 

I now have 302,000 on my CAD axle with original axle seals.  About 12,000 miles ago the right front axle seal was leaking to the point it was leaving oil on the floor every time I parked the truck.  I was not looking forward to that repair.  Turned out to be a blocked vent.  A piece of hardware that fastened the vent hose to the frame or body had crushed the hose.

 

- John

[Ram Man 02]

i have the syntec lock outs on my 02. have roughly 30k on them with zero issues.

theyre expensive for sure. i didnt really notice any mpg gains afterwards and that was one of the reasons why i went with them. the other reason was the U joints and wheels bearings were all shot so i was replacing all those parts any way, figured i might as well add the kit? i dont regret it because im sure its saving wear and tear on the u joints during the summer months but its going to take a long time to recoup the costs that way

[codie2379]

Thanks for the reply and the pic I’m still leaning on going that direction mainly because I’m there and IMO it’s a better system. Thanks again 

[Mopar1973Man]

Factory configuration... I've covered 360k miles on my truck and its 16 years old. I've replaced...

• 1 set of wheel joints (357k on the joints when the passenger side failed)
• 2 sets of unit bearings (roughly 180k a piece)
• 1 set of ball joints
• 1 set of tie rod ends
• 1 set of brake pads
• 2  track bars