rear axle has play after installing new bearings

[teamsmith]

I installed a new bearing on my D35 about 2k miles ago and everything seemed to be hunky dorey until last week when I started hearing the loose rattle noise. I jacked it up and the rear wheel was loosey goosey. Pulled wheel/drum off and I could see there is a ton of play between the bolt on plate and the bearing seal. I pulled everything out and the bearing still looks good and is pushed all the down to the collar as it should be.

 

I devised a spacer out of some metal flashing that I had laying around to try to take up the slack between the bearing seal and the bolt on plate. This worked fairly well and kept the rumble of doom down to a rattle for about 100 miles but, driving into work, the loosey goosey rumble of doom returned when I hit a bump, like the axles about to fall off. It is possible that the bolts have backed out due to under torquing but, assuming they are still nice and tight, what is the best course of action here that doesn't include buying a new axle? I think I need to work on a better spacer that will take up more space without a risk of binding up on the axle. 

[HOrnbrod]

Non c-clip D35's didn't use a spacer behind the seal retainer plate, so something must be wrong. Are you sure you purchased the correct bearings and seals? Is the retaining ring pressed on all the way?

 

[teamsmith]

Well I'll never say I'm sure I didn't do something wrong. The retainer ring is snug against the bearing race and the bearing race is snug against the lower collar, but there is still room between the seal, # 4, and the seal retainer. The retainer will bolt down nice and tight against the axle tube but the axle itself has a lot of room to pull out before the seal bottoms out against the retainer. It's possible I have the wrong seal, # 4, but it's a new problem and I installed it 2k miles ago.

 

Since you seem to have the book handy, do you know the torque specs on the nuts that hold the retainer to the housing? Also, the picture shows five holes for the retainer but mine only has 4, not sure if that is relevant but it is different.

 

The funny part of all this is that I spent a whole bunch of time and energy replacing this bearing using a chisel and a hammer only to find out the noise I was trying to fix was actually a busted u-joint, which means whatever is going on now is a result of me needlessly screwing around with it. But that's just how it goes.  

[HOrnbrod]

I had to replace a couple of axles on my old D35 that snapped. SOP was to slide the seal plate, seal, bearing, then bearing retainer onto the new axle in the right order. Since I don't have a shop press I'd bring the assembly to a local shop with an axle press and pay a few $$ for them to press the new bearing and retainer ring home. Did you get the bearing and retainer ring pressed on at a shop or do it yourself? Sounds like they are not fully seated..........

[teamsmith]

I agree it does sound like they're not seated and that is what I thought when I first pulled it off. I did the install myself with a BFH and cold chisel; an experience I will not repeat. They are fully seated, I can clearly see that the back of the bearing race goes all the way to the where the axle diameter increases and the bearing retainer sits nicely up against the inside of the bearing race. I do notice that there is a lot of inboard-outboard play on the bearing 'cage' (the piece that actually contains the roller bearings), meaning that it can move inboard and outboard by a fair amount. While not good, that doesn't seem like my problem since the axle should not be allowed to move outboard if the seal plate was cozied up better to the seal. 

 

I'll see if I can take some pictures or video tonight and post it. 

[HOrnbrod]

If you drove it initially for 2k miles and it was fine, something has moved, compressed, or wore down a whole lot to cause the excess gap between the seal plate and the seal. Most likely the seal. Did you do both sides or only one side?

[teamsmith]

I only did one side. Following the logic of seal compression, coming up with a stop gap 'spacer' of sorts still makes sense, doesn't it? 

[HOrnbrod]

No, I don't think it makes sense. I've replaced several D35 axles with new bearings / seals and it's never happened to me. The only times I've used a spacers between the seal plate and the seal was when converting to disk brakes to make up for the thickness of the rotor. Those spacers are machined to within thousands of an inch accuracy to get the proper preload on the seal.

 

Maybe someone will chime in on this, but I'm at a loss as to how the seal shrunk.  :dunno:

[MJCARENA]

I agree it does sound like they're not seated and that is what I thought when I first pulled it off. I did the install myself with a BFH and cold chisel; an experience I will not repeat. They are fully seated, I can clearly see that the back of the bearing race goes all the way to the where the axle diameter increases and the bearing retainer sits nicely up against the inside of the bearing race. I do notice that there is a lot of inboard-outboard play on the bearing 'cage' (the piece that actually contains the roller bearings), meaning that it can move inboard and outboard by a fair amount. While not good, that doesn't seem like my problem since the axle should not be allowed to move outboard if the seal plate was cozied up better to the seal. 

 

I'll see if I can take some pictures or video tonight and post it. 

Sounds like your bearing is bad. Doesn't the seal just press against the outer cage part of the bearing, this would let the inner part and axle move .