Thread: Half shaft overhaul - half shaft bearings and retaining collar

Why??? They look fine. You won't notice the difference.

Hi Ben,

I thought that if you replaced the half shaft bearing, then you should replace the race as well? or can I run new bearings on old races? (I will be so happy if this is so! )

the original halfshaft bearings are in the old swivel balls, and so far I have never managed to remove those type of bearing without totally destroying them...is there a way?

James

with a chisel, start hitting the collar with the chisel lined up along the length of the axle and start smacking away at it, 1mm increments all the way around the collar and off it comes.

to put the new ones on put the axle assembly in the freezer over night and then the collars in the oven at about 200 degrees and they should just drop on they might want a little encouragement so prepare a lenght of tube to use as a drop hammer do it the reverse way to how you would normally though, if the ring doesnt go all the way first time when you drop the ring on the axle grab the whole lot by the drive hub side and drop it into the tube vertically.

I have mixed and matched swivel balls and axle (half) shafts - never bothering to change axle bearings or collars. I have never had an issue.

I have two different brands of bearings - first type has metal retaining plate for the roller bearings, and has 'made in England' stamped on them i got from my local bearing supplier, and the second type are Britparts and have no place of origin marked on them and a plastic retaining plate for the rollers. T

The inner race has a slightly different OD as the rollers appear to be slightly different size from one brand to the other.

will take some pics tonight and I'll trial fit the races on the old bearings to see if it looks like I might have match. otherwise it will be a case of finding a length of pipe and lots of swearing i think

Cheers, James

To conclude this thread I tried out the Blknight brute force method, and here is a selection of tools which I tried:

17102010700.jpg

So I started with the brass drift, and since this deformed the collar I used a cold chisel This seemed not to be working (it just deformed the collar) so I got out the gas torch and heated the collar slightly and then hit it with a piece of key steel which seem to transfer the force of the hammer to the collar nicely

17102010699.jpg

Ben asked why I was replacing the race which the half shaft bearing runs on, and I hope this picture shows why:


17102010704.jpg

The race is pitted and shows marks on it where the rollers on the bearing have scored it - im going to guess due to the fact it had free wheeling hubs had been fitted (and them not rotating for a while)

Also I swore a lot, not sure if this helped, but it was a pig to get off

Now I didn't expect that collar to deform quiet like so....best get on the phone to get another pair!

Now I really hope that the freezer method and oven baked metal works, as I did not have much luck when I tried with the distance piece and stub axles....

J