Thread: Front half shaft installation - what's the secret?

They usually fit together quite easily, I've never seen the rollers out of the cage like that.

Was the halfshaft from this swivel hub originally ?
The reason I ask is I had a problem where a halfshaft wouldn't fit. It turned out the inner bearing and outer bearing & rollers were from different manufacturers. I'd mixed & matched halfshafts & swivel hubs.

When you make a bearing the OD, ID & thickness are important but that doesn't mean part of a bearing from one supplier and part from another will fit together. They may be too loose or too tight.
If you change the bearing both the inner & outer from the same bearing need to be used.

Hope that helps.


Colin

Originally Posted by gromit

Was the halfshaft from this swivel hub originally ?

When you make a bearing the OD, ID & thickness are important but that doesn't mean part of a bearing from one supplier and part from another will fit together. They may be too loose or too tight.
If you change the bearing both the inner & outer from the same bearing need to be used.

Hope that helps.


Colin

Thanks, Colin.

Yes, I had to replace the halfshaft bearing, so the inner race is the one that came as part of the new bearing.

When I was pressing in the new railco bush into the swivel housing, I did need to have the inner race in place to stop the rollers coming out of the plastic retainer - I presume this is not normal and the rollers should stay in place with anything other than rough handling?

Cheers,

Les

Originally Posted by FarmerLes

Thanks, Colin.

Yes, I had to replace the halfshaft bearing, so the inner race is the one that came as part of the new bearing.

When I was pressing in the new railco bush into the swivel housing, I did need to have the inner race in place to stop the rollers coming out of the plastic retainer - I presume this is not normal and the rollers should stay in place with anything other than rough handling?

Cheers,

Les

The cage was brass on the original bearings and the rollers wouldn't come out easily.
Plastic cage means a modern aftermarket bearing, I don't have any experience with these.


Colin

Originally Posted by gromit

The cage was brass on the original bearings and the rollers wouldn't come out easily.
Plastic cage means a modern aftermarket bearing, I don't have any experience with these.


Colin

Thanks again Colin,
I guess the question then becomes "are there any sources of original bearings, or am I stuck with the aftermarket variety?"
Cheers,
Les

Originally Posted by FarmerLes

Thanks again Colin,
I guess the question then becomes "are there any sources of original bearings, or am I stuck with the aftermarket variety?"
Cheers,
Les

If you can find NOS originals they will probably be expensive !

You should be able to assemble with the aftermarket bearings although I do remember a comment many years back about a batch that for some reason couldn't be assembled.
Is the collar that presses on after the inner race a bigger diameter so that the rollers can't get past ?

Your original picture shows the rollers on the outside so they have come out as you withdrew the shaft ?

Colin

OK, all back together and working.

The secret is:
Ignore the bit in the Haynes manual, where it says (paraphrasing): It does not matter which way the bearing is installed.

It very much matters with the aftermarket bearings. Here's some piccies to illustrate:
HalfshaftBearingInstallation.jpg
Top pics show the symmetric vs asymmetric nature of the oem (left) and aftermarket (right) bearings.
Bottom pics show correct installation (left) vs incorrect installation (right).

Here's hoping this helps someone else in the future...

Cheers,
Les

Thank you for your update. I've got a used, what I believe to be original bearing that looks like yours, with 13 rollers. Your new one appears to have only 12
I believe the L/R part number is 244150. Do both your bearings have the same bearing number? eg RUL12½ , 407303, RLS12½ etc. Thank you.
.W.
I found this in a 1941 TIMKEN bearing catalogue

Originally Posted by B.S.F.

T
I believe the L/R part number is 244150. Do both your bearings have the same bearing number? eg RUL12½ , 407303, RLS12½ etc.

If it's aftermarket it may have no markings.
Somewhere I have a NOS one in a Leyland box, I'll see if I can find it and get the number.

As I mentioned earlier...the ID, OD & width have to be the same (obviously) but the rollers and the ID & OD they run in don't have to be the same with each manufacturer.
I had a half-shaft from one axle and there was no way it would fit through the outer bearing in the swivel housing of the axle I was rebuilding. When I checked they were different manufacturers.

This is probably why the number of rollers is different between original & aftermarket or.........they spaced them apart further in the cage to save the cost of one roller (more likely !)

Colin