9 inch bearing question

[junebug]

Pulled the rear axle out of the 73 to replace the wheel bearing and the retaining ring had two tack welds on it. I've had a bearing / axle slide out before on a different bronco and judging by previous bodywork on the 73 it had done it as well. Is this a common practice?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DirtDonk]

It's been a practice for probably as long as there have been press-on retaining sleeves, but I would not call it "common" exactly.
It's probably done a lot more by people who use their trucks and utility vehicles hard (think ranching or farming or other commercial use) and especially by those that do their own bearing pressing.
Or by shops that have had a ton of experience with customers like the above and have adjusted their practices accordingly.

About the only other reason i can think of that it might be done often is when the axle surface is not intact, or the ring is not correct, and the press fit is thought to not be tight enough.

So yeah, common in some circles. Not often found on most 9" axles overall I would not think.

paul

 

[nvrstuk]

It was pretty common back in the late 70's, '80's and 90's in a lot of shops, homes and garages with the people I knew.

How else did you fix the "indestructable 9 inch" without worrying about axles sliding out? This was decades before fancy alloy axles, common disc brake upgrades and people with ridiculous amounts of money to spend on toys. These were daily drivers for most folks and they wanted the axle to stay where it was supposed to w/o worrying about it for another 10 yrs or so.

 

[FordBronc]

I just read a bunch on this interesting bit of info. X2 on yes tack welding the retaining ring AKA "wedding ring", is old school common. Also a fix for a worn part of the axle that the bearing is suppose to be pressed on tightly.

Could be a sign that you need new axles (sorry), but it you put on new bearing and do not re-do the tack the ring, you could have an axle walk out on you.

 

[junebug]

Thanks you for the info! Makes sense why some people do it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk