Dana 44 Axle Bearing And Seal

[airspeed]

I had new bearings and seals pressed on to my axles but they don't seem to fit properly. The depth of the counter bore in my axle housing is .970, the thickness of the new bearing and seal is 1.115. Those retaining plates will not pull up tight?

[mnkyboy]

Your missing the brake backing plate.

 

Are you planning drum or disc brakes?

[HOrnbrod]

 

Preload spacer for disks, or brake backing plate for drum brakes fills in the gap.

[mnkyboy]

On mine I took the plasma and just cut the centers out of the old backing plates to make the spacers.

 

 

[HOrnbrod]

On mine I took the plasma and just cut the centers out of the old backing plates to make the spacers.

 

That's one way to do it. They sell them at Teraflex for cheap too.

[mnkyboy]

I thought about buying some but I didn't want to wait and the backing plates were going to be scrapped anyway.

 

 

[airspeed]

The brake backing plate almost filled the gap, good thing I talk to you guys before I go back to the shop and make a fool out of myself. There was a slight compression on the seal when I installed the bearing retainer plate, seems just fine.

 

It is hard to believe that the thin retainer plate pushing against a rubber seal hold the axle in the differential. I don't understand all the physics there but I would think there would be some heavy side loads on the axle under certain conditions.

[HOrnbrod]

The brake backing plate almost filled the gap, good thing I talk to you guys before I go back to the shop and make a fool out of myself. There was a slight compression on the seal when I installed the bearing retainer plate, seems just fine.

 

It is hard to believe that the thin retainer plate pushing against a rubber seal hold the axle in the differential. I don't understand all the physics there but I would think there would be some heavy side loads on the axle under certain conditions.

 

The retainer plate pushing against the seal is not what holds the axle in the tube. The plate or spacer thickness is critical to apply the correct load on the axle seal to prevent leaks. The axle itself is kept centered and secured in the axle tube by the pressed on axle bearing, bearing collar, and T-bolts that mate the axle housing to the bearing retainer plate. It's better and more secure than the c-clip axle retaining system used in later axles IMO.

[mnkyboy]

On mine I took the plasma and just cut the centers out of the old backing plates to make the spacers.

 

Some clarification since I have been messaged on this.

 

I made a weld on caliper mount on the axle tube so I was able to simply use part of the backing plates to fill the gap were the backing plate would normally be.

 

When doing a brake conversion with a bolt on caliper mount like the ZJ or 8.8" the caliper mount is thicker then the original backing plate so you need to buy or make a preload shim to make up for the extra thickness of the caliper bracket.

 

[skidoo_j]

I know it's an older thread but I don't like to open new threads if I find one very similar.  I'm in the middle of doing the zj conversion now and trying to get all the parts ahead of time.   

 

So my question is  The .230" spacer by tera flex works with our current retainer, Or is it in addition to the retainer from the Wrangler?   

 

Has anyone used an aluminum spacer, or other materials?  I'd like to make something that can be split and slipped over the axle so I don't have to press of the bearings.   

 

 

 

Teraflex part number 86262

 

The Wrangler Retainer is part number 5083678AA  available as a crown part or mopar

 

Our Original Retainer.  Part number 83504190

 

I only question it because I got in an argument with the guy at the dealership. I don't think he understood.  I walked in gave him a part number and got duped with what are you working on.  I left pissed and didn't order as I was not 100 percent sure.