Entry 24: Axle Bearings

I had forgotten how nothing stinks like gear oil!!!

Took the 86 out for its first drive last week since its "rebirth" and heard a disturbing rumbling noise from the rear. The faster I went the worse it got. When took it up to 50 and put it in nuetral it made no difference, the sound remained. My thoughts were, "all that work and its still not right."

Pulled the tires off and was able to move the axle shafts around, way too much endplay. Very noticeable. Assumed it was the bearings so I put it up on the jack stands, opened the pumpkin, dropped the crosspiece and C Clips and pulled the axles out.

As suspected the outer axle bearings were shot and grooved/scored the axle shafts to the point that I could feel the ridge with my nail. Had read somewhere online axle savers were available to use so purchased a pair of #RP5707's at Advance. Its a cool part, combines the axle seal and the bearing into one unit you just press in and it pushes out where the bearings contact the axle shaft.

 

Rented an axle bearing puller from Advance and used it to yank out the bearings, took all of 5 minutes with the right tools. Can't imagine trying to break those out without it, what a nightmare it must be.

Used a bearings race (disc shaped tool of some sort at the shop) and brass hammer to press the bearings in and loaded everything back up. The passenger side was a bit snug at the outer axle seal causing the axle shaft to need a bit of help to go in but it all went back together. Likely over pressed the bearing a touch but it'll be fine for a weekend driver.
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Took it out last night for a long drive to get all the fluids moving around, the car probably hasn't been driven in at least a year so it took a few minutes to get up to temp but everything went well.