Thread: Front axle End Float

Originally Posted by Tins

I'm curious as to the two shims. AFAIK there was only ever one. RAVE says to refit the original one. ....

Maybe if you're just repacking or re-setting bearings and didn't change anything.

Mike at BritRest did an axle just a couple months back, and he shows two shims going on. Dunno how many came off, but just as long as the endfloat is good, and nothing has been fitted incorrectly add/remove shims as needed.

video at 8:45 shows how much endfloat he's trying to get ...

Fair enough. Mike has certainly done more of them than me!

Originally Posted by AK83

I can imagine two reasons for the smaller end float distances.
first would be that maybe you hadn't driven the bearing races to seat fully? I assume you have. could have been a bit of debris .. etc.

Of it were all perfectly clean, and seated fully, then it could be a case that the new bearings 'thickness' is a thou or two more than the old bearings.
If both bearing total thickness were a thou or two more than the previous bearing it all adds up.

Do you know the brand of the old bearings? Are they the same as the new ones.
if the old ones were cheapos, pretty much 100% guaranteed that they will have been made cheaper(for example less material) ... or something.

Hi AK

Yes I also had that thought - the races maybe not be quite home. I guess I will have to check. I did check by pushing a fine feeler guage around and thought they were ok..but.....?

I can check the old bearing brand..but the distance difference is more than a couple of thou.

Is there a trick to easily getting the brake caliper and lines out of the way? The front swivel bearing bolt is tricky to get to and get out of the line retaining bracket.

With the bearing races, did you bang them in by hand, or press(hydraulic or otherwise)?

When you bang them in by hand, you know they've seated, as they make a distinct sound once they've hit bottom.
They kind of clang, until they seat, then make like a thnk sound ... like a thunk, but without the u .... less ringing type of sound. it's very obvious when you hear it.

LOL! the brakes/lines. Unless you bodge it(like I did) I can't think of one.

I did all four corners at the same time(I think over a couple days) ... the lunatic design of the brake lines retaining setup did my head it, so I hacked it to pieces to make it easier to unclip for future work.
And that swivel bearing bolt was what I was thinking about.
I want to redo the swivel bearings(maybe swivels too), but the arrangement of the lines directly over the bolts is just stupid.
I nipped the passthrough retainers to have a small cutout, so that the lines can slide out sideways. The sliding spring clip still holds the connector part fine, just now that when I slide it off, I have the small cutout I can slide the hard line out sideways without distorting it.

Originally Posted by TonyC

Hi edddo,

Are you sure the WB play is WBs and not the swivel king pins?
Or a damaged stub, and the bearings are moving on the stub?

The only way I can see the bearings not adjusting up is the inner nut bottoming out on the threads.

The axle end float sounds like back bearing outer race is not fully home in the hub, pushing the whole hub outward.

All the best with it.

Tony

Yes either is possible - in my first post I incorrectly called the stub axle the half shaft for some reason...the stub is is imperfect so could be involved in what is happening.
And it is quite possible that the swivel bearings are worn.

I didnt want to pull it all down right now as just wanting to get it registered.

Am in process of dissembling again.

Originally Posted by AK83

With the bearing races, did you bang them in by hand, or press(hydraulic or otherwise)?

When you bang them in by hand, you know they've seated, as they make a distinct sound once they've hit bottom.
They kind of clang, until they seat, then make like a thnk sound ... like a thunk, but without the u .... less ringing type of sound. it's very obvious when you hear it.

LOL! the brakes/lines. Unless you bodge it(like I did) I can't think of one.

I did all four corners at the same time(I think over a couple days) ... the lunatic design of the brake lines retaining setup did my head it, so I hacked it to pieces to make it easier to unclip for future work.
And that swivel bearing bolt was what I was thinking about.
I want to redo the swivel bearings(maybe swivels too), but the arrangement of the lines directly over the bolts is just stupid.
I nipped the passthrough retainers to have a small cutout, so that the lines can slide out sideways. The sliding spring clip still holds the connector part fine, just now that when I slide it off, I have the small cutout I can slide the hard line out sideways without distorting it.

By hand with pin punches.

Hmmm.
So hub didnt come off easily.
Had to rip the seal to get it off as the inner WB is jammed on the stub axle.
It seems to be right hard up against the lip of the stub axle.

That probably says that the stub axle (SA) surface is out of true. And that I went overboard tightening it to get rid of the WB play.

How to go about getting the WB off the SA?

Or am I in new SA territory?

Question - are WB's individually matched to their races? If I can get it off could I just use a new WB with the races in the hub? The races are brand new (undriven) as are the WB's.

WB.jpg

update: cut off the bearing outer then some gentle heat, the inner tapped off ok..happy with that.
SA looks ok but sliding a new WB on I can feel discernible clearance along the SA and it gets sticky up against the lip. Will emery around the right angle and apply grease prior to installing WBs.
Have made sure that the inner race is now as home as it can be.
So will reassemble later on to see if the end float is back to normal.