76 Mav 8" axle bearing install help.

Discussion in 'Technical' started by pudland, Jan 21, 2014.

  1. 71gold

    71gold Frank Cooper Supporting Member

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  2. Dave B

    Dave B I like Mavericks!

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    Will the fridge be cold enough to make a difference?
     
  3. pudland

    pudland Adam R

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    Junrai ,
    Thanks for the kind words! That's my aim!
    Adam
     
  4. pudland

    pudland Adam R

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  5. dyent

    dyent Member

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    1973 Comet 2 dr., 302 w/AR aluminum heads, Toploader 4 spd, 9" Trac-Lok w/3.70
    Great job! Just something that I noticed on your pics, your bearing collar retainer looks thicker than most, seems like there is not too much polished area on the shaft for the housing seal to ride on. It could just be how the picture looks, but here is what my bearing/collar (Koyo bearing) looks like on my axle.........you can see the mark where oil seal was.
    I am using those same bearing retainers that was mentioned on earlier post, also had the same fellow custom build 9" housing to exact OEM specs for my 73 Comet. They do excellent work! I should post pictures of the housing......
     

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    Last edited: Jan 21, 2014
  6. 71gold

    71gold Frank Cooper Supporting Member

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    I'm seeing what you're saying...:yup:
     
  7. Paul Masson

    Paul Masson MCCI Atlantic Canada Rep

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    I'm glad you had success in getting the bearings installed. (y)

    And it's funny you mentioned revising 'procedures'. That's what I do for a living, and it's something that will never go away in our industry. I was taken off shift to help with revising procedures for a 6-month term, but that was back in 2005...and I'm still here! :yup:
     
  8. pudland

    pudland Adam R

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    Hi dyent,
    Funny you mentioned the bearing Retainer! I had read on a few posts that the Moser bearings retainers are thicker and that I can't use the factory axle seal. I did a test fit last night and found that the bearing sticks out a 1/4", even with the back plate on. I will yank the new seals out and test fit the axles again without the o-ring on the bearing.
    If the bearing seats on the shoulder, I'm going to spread a light film of silicone around the OD before final install.

    Thanks!
    Adam
     
  9. pudland

    pudland Adam R

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    Paul,
    You'll be able to retire from that position!! Every time a peice of equipment gets an upgrade, procedures have to be rev'd! Even if it's something as small as a bolt that needs a different torque spec!

    Thanks,
    Adam
     
  10. dyent

    dyent Member

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    Hi Adam:
    Once the bearing is seated on the axle shoulder, they still do stick out of the housing approx. 1/8" or so past the flange, the OEM bearing plate is designed with this in mind. As you can see the plates center is concaved out to fit around the bearing.
    With the sealed type bearings that you have, some do not bother using the axle seal, but use silicone around the bearing OD/housing ID like you mentioned. If you can still use the axle seal, I would do both seal and silicone for added insurance. Nothing worse than gear oil leaking out and contaminating rear brakes etc.....:(
    David
     
  11. 71gold

    71gold Frank Cooper Supporting Member

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    we pulled an axle from one of the Guys car here and there were washers between the bearing retainer plate and the axle flange...come to find out someone had installed a new seal behind the old one, this had the bearing way out of the housing...:yup:
     
  12. pudland

    pudland Adam R

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    Hi dyent!

    With the factory seal in and the Moser spacer, there was a lot more sticking out. I attached a pic of the math I did a few days back, not taking into account the thicker spacer contacting the seal. With the seal out it should work out, from the math!

    I noticed that my bearing plate sits flat on the face of the bearing, the inner concave area appears to be a "drainage" path that allow fluid etc to drain out of a rectangular depression in the plate.

    I already removed the seals I installed, had to cut them out. I dont beleive the new bearing spacer will allow using a factory seal because of the extra thickness. I will use silicone as suggested.

    I attached a pic of the math I did, without the factory seal installed. I didnt measure but the amount of bearing that stuck out with the seal in was over a 1/4".

    Thanks!
     

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  13. dyent

    dyent Member

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    Adam:
    When you mentioned that the bearing plate now sits flat against the bearing, does the bearing itself still protrude out approx. 1/8" from the face of the housing flange?? You mentioned that you where probably going to purchase those newer style bearing retaining plates from thread #16? Using these are great, since they can be install/removed with the bearing still on the axle, the factory ones you have to install/remove with the bearing off. If the bearing does stick out slightly, you may have to use spacers between the plate/housing flange to make up the difference.
    Bearing should be almost flush with the housing flange face, plate is just to hold/retain the bearing/axle from coming out of the housing. If there is too much space between the plate/bearing face, then the plate gets all distorted when tightening down. Having a little space is OK as there is now some tension against it. With my rear disc conversion kit, it actually came with 1/16" shim plates to fill in the difference, I had to use 2 per side as my bearing stuck out 1/8". If need be, you could use washers on the 4 retaining bolts just to have the plate flush up against the bearing.
    I will try and post a couple pics of my set up......have fun!
    Cheers,
    David (dyent)

    If i can recall, I think OEM had those copper shim plates, they where thin around 1/32"?
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2014
  14. pudland

    pudland Adam R

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    Hi 71gold,

    What the?! Some of the stuff you find, huh!

    Quick summary of what I've been dealing with in the last month I've been working on the Mav:
    1) Issue with the rear end steering when getting on and off the gas, while cruising. Everything "felt" tight suspension wise. Decided to check out the differential, in case it was a friction disk style(limited slip?) and some of the disks were messed up?
    Yanked the center section to find an Eaton No-Spin style differential. No apparent issues with it. I did notice a whole lot of sparkly material coming out when I drained the oil. Working in the crane business, I knew that was a potentially bad sign! Thats when I found the pinion pilot bearing half gone, the pinion support cracked across the casting of the inner bearing bore. The inner bearing race was half as thick half way around the ID. A few toes of the pinion cracked off. No spacers between the pinion support and housing.

    2) Both of the Traction bar plates(where it contacts the leaf spring) had 2 extra holes each, to offset the traction bars, to accomodate the aftermarket coil over shocks that are a larger diameter than stock. The axle u-bolts were bent open to match the 2 new holes. They would hit the axle tube otherwise. The leaf spring center bolt had worn a groove in both traction bar plates, or they were pounded concave. The traction bar bumpers were cut too short and had about an 1 1/2"+ gap between them and the leaf spring.

    3) The axle spring perches had the same "wear" as the traction bar plates.

    Short story shorter:

    Bought:
    1) KYB Monotube "stock shocks".
    2) New ESPO 4-leaf springs and all hardware.
    3) Made a steel spacer for the traction bar plate to get rid of the slop between the hole and the leaf spring bolt and welded in.
    4) New traction bar bumpers(old ones were all mangled).
    5) made 2 new spring perches, 1/4" thick steel and welded them on.
    6) Pinion support from Currie, stock, cleaned up.
    7) Richmond Ring and Pinion, 411 gearing.
    8) Bearing, shim etc kit for the center section.
    9) Axle bearings
    10) T-bolts(the originals are bent).
    11) Making new back plate spacers(originals are rusting away at one end).
    12) more to come I'm sure!

    Needless to say, If I didn't look into the rear steering issue, I could have had to deal with a catastrophic rear failure in the wrong place at the wrong time! Especially if the wife was driving her WHEN it happened!

    Sorry for the rant!

    Adam
     
  15. pudland

    pudland Adam R

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    I will be trying a "test fit" of everything tomorrow.

    I do like the split bearing retaining plates. I would have to cut the originals off the axle, no? That way the bearings can stay on?

    I did have to flatten the ears of the stock plates(I dont remember the amount, but it was definitely noticeable).

    I would rather go with shims, larger surface contact area, over washers. Even if I have to make the shims myself!

    That would be great!

    Cheers,
    David (dyent)

    The shim plate, or back plate spacer?, on mine is like a spring steel from what I can tell.

    Thanks!
    Adam
     

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