I posted this over at cb.com but thought i coudl get some insight here as well...

I'm in the middle of rebuilding my stock 76 dana44 axle and noticed a difference between the spindles. One has a machined groove on the inside the other does not.. when i removed the hub the passenger side bearing was toast and stuck on the spindle pretty good. As far as I know this is an original dana 44 and nothing up front has ever been replaced however I assume both spindles should be the same, however they are not.. and would explain why the bearing was seized onto the spindle.. anyway I need to know if this is stock and if not which spindle is the correct one? Why are they different?

The one on the right has a groove on the inside, the other is flat.. the left one does not have any groove thats a mark left from the thrust washer off the stub axle...



here is a bit better photo of the grooved one...



maybe i should just replace both spindles... the one with the stuck bearing is showing quite a bit of color change from the temp..



any ideas? was about to put in the new bearings and seals but holding off until i can figure this out..

edit im having a brainfart....

Look at these early D44 spindles. viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1424&hilit=spindle

so the correct spindle is the one without the machined groove... somone must have swapped one in or someone screwed up at the factory... iam going with the factory... it was the 70's afterall...

I assume that I can hit up the junkyard and pull a 78-79 bronco or f150 spindle or see if anyone here as one laying around for a 76-79?