Axle shaft replacement

[mike gaines]

I discovered that the vibration that i have never been able to cure was caused by a buckled axle shaft. I have now installed a new axle shaft but have a few questions.
1.Before pressing the new bearing onto the axle shaft , I measured where the old bearing was located on the buckled axle shaft and tried to use the same measurement to locate the new bearing on the new shaft, The manual is not very helpful as it says you must press the bearing onto the shaft untill it is tight !
2. After placing the shaft and bearing into the axle housing
,I had to use a hammer and a piece of wood to knock the bearing cup into the the axle housing so that it located with the bearing . At that stage there was still some end play but I noticed that the bearing cup was proud of the axle housing.There were no shims when I removed the backing plate.I installed the backing plate and after tightening it all up , I noticed there was no end play , the backing plate must have pushed the bearing cup further into the axle housing.

I am now concerned that the bearing cup may be too tight against the bearing , if so ,how will I know and is this a problem ? iF so how can I sort the problem short of removing the whole assemble and pressing the bearing further onto the shaft ?

[Captain Billy]

Hey Mike,

You need end play, the bearing cup will sit proud of the axle boss to achieve this.

Visit: http://www.ncsdc.com/TechnicalPages/...e/RearAxle.htm

I had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago, and replaced both axles to rectify my issues.





Bill Foy,Ontario SDC
1964 Wagonaire Slider

[Guest]

Does end play need to be rechecked when the rear axle bearings are replaced on the same shaft? I've replaced them on two of my rebuilds, with new races and grease seals, but never checked end play. Thanks.

Western Washington, USA

[Studeman]

quote:Originally posted by tomnoller

Does end play need to be rechecked when the rear axle bearings are replaced on the same shaft? I've replaced them on two of my rebuilds, with new races and grease seals, but never checked end play. Thanks.

It should ALWAYS be checked when you do maintainance. However, it's really not necessary to get out the dial indicator to check.

IF you've swapped any bearings/seals,

• Jack up the entire rear axle with both wheels off the ground.
• Use a heavy hammer and a block of wood to hit the ends of each axle- this seats the bearings in their races, and moves the races against their reinforcement plates.
• Grab a wheel/tire (same side as your last impact), and try to move it in and out. IF You can FEEL any play, you need to reset the endplay

**Note- If you can HEAR the endplay but not FEEL it... you're good to go...
If you don't FEEL or HEAR it.. you MUST reset the endplay, or you'll be replacing bearings very soon.




Specializing in Studebaker Restoration