Need help with a judgement call

[dontlifttoshift]

To my fuzzy eyecrometer, that looks like more than .020"

Honestly that looks like the difference between 2.50" axle offset and 2.36" axle offset.

[SSLance]

I measured it a couple of different ways and it's pretty close to 20 thousands, maybe a few thousands either way but very close to the same thickness of the spacer ring.

I took a few more pics this morning to help illustrate.

This is the spacer ring inside the housing, notice it's notch to fit around the axle.



Not in focus but this is the bearing\seal with the bearing fully seated in axle end with no spacer ring in place.



Same but with the spacer ring between back side of bearing and axle end.



I pulled the axle back out just a tad to show the race is full in the axle end but the edge of the seal is just at the edge of the axle end with the spacer ring behind the bearing. You can just see the edge of the race in this pic.



This shows the thickness of the caliper bracket that butts directly against the axle end. ID is exactly the same as the axle end.



I had one more idea this morning for a fix...tack welding one end of the spacer ring onto the retainer plate to hold it in place while I set the retaining ring in and get it started on the T bolts. Here is the spacer ring sitting on the retainer plate. The ring needs to be compressed just a tad to fit into the caliper bracket hole so I can't tack both sides...plus two completely different metal types and limited welding skills may make this a bit difficult as well.



This would fully seat the bearing race into the axle end but would make things very tight between the lug stud heads and e-brake hardware while moving my axle flanges in 20 thousands (which might make me have to run a big bigger wheel spacer to keep tire off of frame).

I really want to put that spacer ring behind the bearing. I don't see a bearing race issue but there possibly might be a bearing seal issue.

Thoughts???

[SSLance]

Originally Posted by dontlifttoshift

Honestly that looks like the difference between 2.50" axle offset and 2.36" axle offset.

You may be on to something here though, place I bought it from is dissecting the pics now... He had an "OH?" response when I mentioned the different bearing placement...and asked for pics before going any further...

[SSLance]

Got the skinny, the difference is actually the axle flange thickness, the old one on the right is a 1/4" thick flange, new one on the left is a 3/8s" thick flange. Inside bearing race to outside axle flange measurement is the same on both axles. I'll verify this when I get home but it makes sense to me now that he mentioned it.

His suggestion was to take the e-brake hardware off of the caliper bracket to gain room to work to get the spacer ring and retainer plate in place and to squeeze the seal down properly. The seal will squeeze down approx 1/8" and that rubber part squeezes out to create the seal between the outer race and housing end. This would cause an issue and a potential leak if I put the ring inside the race. He also said early bearing failure is also a concern if that method is used and that is the reason we are making this swap, to prevent early bearing failure.

I told him my idea of tack welding the ring to the retainer and he liked that. He mentioned that the high end kits actually use a retainer with that spacer built into it all in one piece to avoid this issue.

I've never had the e-brake hardware off before, I'll look at it tonight to see if that method is possible, but I imagine I'll be trying out my welding skills to see if I can make two parts one for a fix.

[DavidBoren]

Lance,

I'm glad you got it figured out. Damn, these axle bearings have turned into quite the saga for you. I really hope this works.

I noticed the flange thickness in the photo in your first post, and was hoping you had a follow-up shot with the wheel mounting surfaces lined up to see if that put the bearing in the same spot. In the picture I'm talking about, you can see the one on the left is off the same amount both ways.

Anyways, let us know how it goes.

[SSLance]

That's just the way it is with this car (and many of our cars I believe). Things just need to be loved on every now and again to make thing splay nice together. I'm learning to not get as uptight about it as I used to get, just take it in stride and fix it.

Both axles have a 3/8s" flange,



The difference in length is this spacer between the bearing and end of the axle.



I think I can make it work though, might have to love on some e-brake hardware a bit but shouldn't be a big deal. The big deal is holding the spacer ring in place while setting the retainer ring on the T bolts...

A little bit of this...



on here and a clamp...



and hopefully we are good to go. Glued it last night, will test it out before heading to work this morning. Wish me luck...

[SSLance]

Let it sit overnight clamped...at first it seemed to work very well...



Until it didn't...



When I test fit the retainer over the T bolts, the spacer ring popped loose when it snapped into the axle end.



I've got a couple of different options here now...I can glue it again and hope it stays in place until I get everything lined up and start tightening down the nuts on the T bolts, drawing the spacer ring inside the hole in the caliper bracket...

Or, I can glamp it back together again and put a couple of spot welds on the inside edge of the ring and retainer and hope that holds better...

My last option is to have my friend John build me a new set of retainer plates with the spacer ring built into them...but that ain't happening this weekend.

[dontlifttoshift]

Originally Posted by SSLance

Both axles have a 3/8s" flange,

Lance, what is the distance between the straight edge and the inside of the bearing on the new axle in this picture? That is how much further inboard the axle face and consequently the rotor and wheel will be. I don't think you have the right axles.

[SSLance]

It's about 20 thousands...roughly a 1/8". The only issue might be a little bit of interference between the lug stud heads behind the axle flange and some of the e-brake hardware. I think it'll be alright though. The spacer on the old axles is the difference...I let QP know today, we'll see what they say.