Replacing Salisbury bearings

[steveG]

I'm currently refurbishing a Salisbury to go into my County. The pinion and carrier bearings are quite worn so I'm going to replace them.

I know I need to set it all up again properly, but practically - are new bearings likely to cause significant change from the originals?
Just wondering if I should bother ordering a few shims now, or if its worth just assembling with the old shims first if its likely to be OK.

Steve

[clive22]

Hi

I'd play it safe. Given that they are quite worn, you would have to think new would be different after all the wear has to be taken up somewhere.

The shims sets all the teeth engagements on a Sals so to have them centred on the strong part of the tooth is the essence of setting up a diff. They (the shims) are not much money and not hard to get. Finally once there set up right there set up for a long while.

Personally I'd go one step further and a have a solid rather than a crush spacer machined to set up the rear diff pinion once and for all. Diff places can do this. They can and mine did crush up further when reversing hard (winds them up in compression ) in LR 4WD. No probs since mine was done.


Clive

[steveG]

Thanks Clive.
I was more thinking that the original shimming would have been done when the bearings were new, and unlikely to have been re-done since. Therefore if the bearing manufacturing tolerances are small the new bearings might be a drop in replacement.
No problem with getting shims, just one less thing to order if I'm not going to end up using them.

I'd heard of using solid spacers, but hadn't considered the spacers being loaded up more in reverse. I'm guessing a solid spacer is nothing special apart from the length being critical, so I could just turn one up myself.

Steve

[goingbush]

there is no easy way to get the carrier bearings off a Salisbury without damaging the shims.

if you change the pinion bearings you will need to start from scratch, the existing carrier shims will be a guide only.

I would buy a spare set of carrier cones and hone out the centres so that they are a push on fit, that way you can set up the shim pack & still be able to adjust them if you stuffed up, otherwise once you have pressed the cones on you wont be able to, once you have found the correct shims you can press on the real cones.

[clive22]

Hi Steve

Not saying you would jamb it back in.

But I'm guessing that the tolerances wouldn't be the same,bearing, wear,etc. machines change and given that you do the final adjustment with paper thin shims, so was thinking that would be a bit too lucky to plan for.

Thinking back I did mine about 3.5 years ago and used set up bearings, i..e Polished salisbury carrier bearings, if your around Richmond, I can did out and lend them to you. They slip straight on and off so you can calculate your shims in-situ.

I didn't do my pinion. That said I understand though that your right just machine up a block to the dia. of a crushed up a spacer. Crush up a fresh one to the set torque then dock your solids length exactly to match. Thought I read threads about this somewhere some time ago though.


Clive

[steveG]

Thanks guys.

Clive, thanks for the offer to loan your setup bearings. I'll ask around the guys down this way first and see if anyone has some to save you digging them out.

Don, I'm assuming you'd use a similar method for the rear pinion bearing - linish a spare cup until it just slides in to enable easy access to the shims under the cup? I'll admit to not having RTFM yet - feel free to tell me so if its all in there

Steve

[goingbush]

Thanks guys.

Clive, thanks for the offer to loan your setup bearings. I'll ask around the guys down this way first and see if anyone has some to save you digging them out.

Don, I'm assuming you'd use a similar method for the rear pinion bearing - linish a spare cup until it just slides in to enable easy access to the shims under the cup? I'll admit to not having RTFM yet - feel free to tell me so if its all in there

Steve

yes Steve, same thing to set the pinion up,
you wont find it in the Manual tho, The manual is strictly measure up and calculate shims, if you don't get it right first time your stuffed, I always measure as good as I can & select shims, use honed out bearing cups to fit it up, Then check backlash and use Yellow oxide or Bearing blue to check tooth contact pattern and adjust as req, The extra $80 you spend on bearing cups is worth it. (better still borrow Clives but makes sure the ones you use are the same brand )

once its all perfect then press on the real cups.

you will get a better diff than the factory set up,

Helps if you have a diff spreader too.

(once you done a Salisbury you can set up a Rover diff in your sleep)

[Bearman]

Thanks guys.

Clive, thanks for the offer to loan your setup bearings. I'll ask around the guys down this way first and see if anyone has some to save you digging them out.

Don, I'm assuming you'd use a similar method for the rear pinion bearing - linish a spare cup until it just slides in to enable easy access to the shims under the cup? I'll admit to not having RTFM yet - feel free to tell me so if its all in there

Steve

Steve, I have a set of dummy bearings in the shed which are a slip fit on the carrier. I will get the bearing numbers for you in the morning if you want them. My 2 cents worth is just fit new bearings with the same shims and do a backlash and tooth contact check. Maybe I have just been lucky but I have done a few over the years and they have been spot on this way. Shouldn't be a problem unless you are fitting the gears to a different housing.

[steveG]

Steve, I have a set of dummy bearings in the shed which are a slip fit on the carrier. I will get the bearing numbers for you in the morning if you want them. My 2 cents worth is just fit new bearings with the same shims and do a backlash and tooth contact check. Maybe I have just been lucky but I have done a few over the years and they have been spot on this way. Shouldn't be a problem unless you are fitting the gears to a different housing.

I've already got the carrier bearings in the shed so I'm OK for those numbers (Timken 382S cup/387A cone), but if you happen to have the pinion bearing numbers around would be helpful.
The bearings in this diff are all Toyo which surprised me as I thought LR were usually Timken. The diff was from an ex-African 130 so maybe that makes a difference. The ones in my County are definitely Timken.

When you say you've had success with just new bearings and the same shims, do you mean the same thickness of shims or have you found a way of getting the cones off without destroying the shims?

Steve

[Vern]

Brian I did the same as you, except I lunched my shims getting the old carrier bearings off. So I ordered some dana60 ones from amazon, got out the micrometer, measured them all up as best as I could, stuck the carrier back in, bearing blue, and it was perfect
Just need to do my solid pinion spacer and seal and all done