Rear axle bearings….

shaune

shaune

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
So I had a bearing fail on my 65 truck, 9 inch, 28 spline. Bought the bearings (changing the left and right, $75 each) and had someone else press off and press on the new. These are roller bearings and sealed on both sides. I am thinking why, why are they sealed on both sides of the rollers. How will the differential oil get down the tubes to lubricate these bearings if they are sealed ? Is it a good idea for me to pop the inner seal out of each bearing so oil can help lube them ?
 
You will have gear oil in your drums and all over your brakes. They do make a bearing that has an O ring with it, I had to use them on the 40, however I think that may require a different housing for the bearing. I can't remember either. lol
 
The bearings have an inner and outer seal and then I install them with a little silicon in the axle housing to seal the circumference. I just don’t see how these bearings, being sealed will provide thousands of miles of sealed lubrication, while that pumpkin is splashing juicy gear lube around.
 
Watching to see what the seasoned experts provide…I am with you though. Do you have the “Factory” bearing part number? 1RS versus 2RS … perhaps it should only have 1 seal (outer) in place. Many bearing manufacturers went to selling only 2RS, to reduce over all “cost to the counter”. Think boxing and shelf space for the various versions of a bearing. Put both seals in, end user configured for application.
…juicy gear lube should be getting to inside the bearings I believe….prove me wrong. Greg
 
Imo if the bearing is sealed it's designed to self lubricate for it's life. Same as any other fully sealed bearing,, not?
Fred
 
So any pointers on assembling what has snow balled ? I am a little out of my comfort area with this …..
The pinion seal was leaking i noticed while laying under there. So now the pumpkin is out, it took my Napa guy 3 weeks to find what I thought should have been readily available gaskets, seal and crush sleeve. Now I have all the pieces plus the pinion assembly is in a wash basin of 8 or so parts.
Reassembly of pinion assembly I found 175 ft/lbs on pinion nut, 8 inch pounds rotational for a used bearing on the preload/crush sleeve. So does this mean 175 will equal 8ish or do I go to until I hit the first limit…..8 inch pounds rotational or 175 ft/lbs on the nut ?
 
I think the important thing is the drag on the pinion.
Whatever ft lbs to get the 8 inch lbs.
175 ft lbs,,, I put the pinion assembly on the floor, yoke in the jaws of an old 2ft long pipe wrench, snipe on my 16" bar and reef, check for some drag and reef more.
Haven't destroyed any Ford 9s yet, they is tough!
 
Well, I have little idea what I am doing or did but I am finally ready to start final reassembly…..talk about freaking yard art !
surprisingly these parts are not easy to find according to my various parts guys, one rudely reminded me that these 9 inch rears are 45 years or older. Race type 9 inch rear ends would be more modern.
I ended up reusing my pinion nut and the crush sleeve. I tried a new crush sleeve and there was NO way it was crushing. New it measured .505” the old one measured .400” I had the torque wrench cranked to 250 ft lbs and the bearings were still sloppy, the sleeve still measure new diamension. So I reinstalled the old crush sleeve and tried different torques. The goal was for bearing rotation to be 10 to 15 inch lbs. Start off at 50 foot lbs, zero inches to rotate…..I called it quits at 220 foot lbs and all I could get was 4 inch lbs to rotate. Frustrating because this was suppose to straight forward, and with the seal installed the reading I did said the rotation torque will be on the closer side to 15 or 20 inch lbs. I dunno. Next one I do I think I will skip the crush sleeve and use regular shims.
Surprisingly a reputable driveline shop in Saskatoon said he probably had some used pinion nuts and that they reuse them…..well, I guess I will reuse my own then.
 
I must admit to reusing both crush sleeves and nuts. I do blue locktite the nuts though. Have used the solid shims once and was a pain! Checked everything, assembled, torqued, not right, took apart, smaller or bigger shim, reassembled, torque again, not correct, disassembled, you get the picture. Finally ended up correct but the crush sleeve is sooo much easier. The one thing I will point out, if you are racing with any kind of torque/hp the crush sleeve will continue to crush and throw out the preload.
 
O/D is still at All O Matic, said they could get reverse on the bench but the inside has issues. Overdrive sun gears heavily worn and cluster gear is not too pretty good. $$$$$$$, $$$$$$$, :sick:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom