Ever pop a bearing off a Ford 9" axle?

[bob_lafrentz]

Higuys,

Has anyone ever popped a bearing off a Ford 9" axle?

Thanks.

 

[nvrstuk]

9"

What do you mean "popped"? With a press or driving down the road and have it come off?

 

[Apogee]

Hmm...hopefully you mean with a press. I have had a hard enough time getting the bearings to come off after the bearing retainer has been removed with a chisel, I can't imagine one "popping" off on it's own unless the press fit was significantly less than all of the ones I've had the pleasure of working with. I chose to cut the last one off with a friction cutoff because the 55 ton press was getting a little too scary for me without a cage to protect my ugly mug in case something let go Let's just say that the 3x3x3/8" angle iron supporting the bearing was deflecting enough to make me worry.

 

[A&Mbronco]

I've had fairly good luck with an air chisel

 

[Mark]

I agree, cut off the old one, press on the new one.

 

[Dave]

I drill a hole in the retainer. Select a drill with a diameter just a little less than the width of the retainer. I use a dirll stop to keep the tip from nicking the axle shaft. They usualy come right off with a hammer and chissle. The bearing can be driven off by supporting it with a bridge pounding on the end of the axle. Use a brass mallet or protect the end of the axle with a piece of soft metal such as aluminum or brass. Sometimes you have to cut the bearing apart and do some die grinder surgery on the race. Sometimes carefull application of "mother &^%$#@", "$#@$ sucker", and "son of a *&$%#" helps.

 

[racebronco]

Higuys,

Has anyone ever popped a bearing off a Ford 9" axle?

Thanks.

if your talking about while driving then yes!! I was @ glamis going down sand highway & I thought I had a flat tire, looked out & my axle was stuck out by about 2 feet. jacked it up, pounded the retainer back on & tack welded it on so it wouldn't come back off.
not sure if that was the stock axle or one of my superior axles but it's only happened once.

 

[nvrstuk]

brg

I've replaced at least 5 outer axle brgs on Ford 9" rears that have "walked" out of the axle housing. Bad luck or design defect? Design defect, absolutely. Different housings, bearing size, didn't matter. I've seen at least 5 other Broncos in my community (only 14,000 including Univ. students) that have rolled or been in serious accidents due to failure of the axle and or brg.
BTW, it's time to change underwear when you look in your side mirror and see your entire tire/wheel outside of your wheelwell when you're cruising along with wife and kids in your rig! :-(

55 tons of pressure is way beyond what it should take to press it off. Chisel it or cut thru most of the way with a die grinder with cutoff wheel. Don't mess up the mounting surface on the axle at all. Put a dab of blue locktite on for a bit of extra security.

I went with a FF setup 6 years ago for safety reasons...never go back to a stock setup. Too EZ to fail.

 

[Skuzzlebutt]

I've replaced at least 5 outer axle brgs on Ford 9" rears that have "walked" out of the axle housing. Bad luck or design defect? Design defect, absolutely. Different housings, bearing size, didn't matter. I've seen at least 5 other Broncos in my community (only 14,000 including Univ. students) that have rolled or been in serious accidents due to failure of the axle and or brg.
BTW, it's time to change underwear when you look in your side mirror and see your entire tire/wheel outside of your wheelwell when you're cruising along with wife and kids in your rig! :-(

55 tons of pressure is way beyond what it should take to press it off. Chisel it or cut thru most of the way with a die grinder with cutoff wheel. Don't mess up the mounting surface on the axle at all. Put a dab of blue locktite on for a bit of extra security.

I went with a FF setup 6 years ago for safety reasons...never go back to a stock setup. Too EZ to fail.

D'ya suppose it's that ungodly cold weather over there that shrinks the axles out of their bearings?

 

[Dave]

Walking out of housing: If you beat the retainer on you can stretch it. I chill the axle shaft in a freezer or with dry ice and warm the bearing and retainer in the oven to about 180 degrees. Then I drive them on with a piece of pipe that just fits over the shaft. Never had a problem. Make sure that there are not any burs or corossion on the axle surfaces that will interfere with the bearing seating.

 

[Skiddy]

I've replaced at least 5 outer axle brgs on Ford 9" rears that have "walked" out of the axle housing. Bad luck or design defect? Design defect, absolutely. Different housings, bearing size, didn't matter. I've seen at least 5 other Broncos in my community (only 14,000 including Univ. students) that have rolled or been in serious accidents due to failure of the axle and or brg.
BTW, it's time to change underwear when you look in your side mirror and see your entire tire/wheel outside of your wheelwell when you're cruising along with wife and kids in your rig! :-(

55 tons of pressure is way beyond what it should take to press it off. Chisel it or cut thru most of the way with a die grinder with cutoff wheel. Don't mess up the mounting surface on the axle at all. Put a dab of blue locktite on for a bit of extra security.

I went with a FF setup 6 years ago for safety reasons...never go back to a stock setup. Too EZ to fail.

yep bad design on all older fords have had few come out myself on other trucks

 

[OX1]

Wow, I've had a bunch of 9" axles fail (for all kinds of reasons, but never a slipped retainer) and parted lots of trucks. Never seen it. I guess it happens as multiple guys in this thread have seen it. I've even seen the axle crack right outside the bearing from a massive sideload (2.5 ton pulling my buddies mudstuck 79 F150 from a pretty bad angle) and not seen the retainer let loose.....

 

[Apogee]

Bad design? That's funny. Someone should write Currie, Moser, Strange, etc and tell them they messed up basing their business models on a poor/dangerous axle design with all of their custom setups.

If you're having axles walk out of the bearing retainers, there are probably other problems, either with the parts themselves or the installation/removal techniques. The only retainer issues I've seen or heard about until now were installed on used shafts with pitting and other issues from being beat for too many years and not well maintained.

 

[Skiddy]

Bad design? That's funny. Someone should write Currie, Moser, Strange, etc and tell them they messed up basing their business models on a poor/dangerous axle design with all of their custom setups.

If you're having axles walk out of the bearing retainers, there are probably other problems, either with the parts themselves or the installation/removal techniques. The only retainer issues I've seen or heard about until now were installed on used shafts with pitting and other issues from being beat for too many years and not well maintained.

mine were all because bearings went bad:-[

 

[fbronco86]

I have heard of people putting a little tack weld on the ret to hold them in place. Some of the racing guys do that.

 

[FerrumCampitor]

We had a an LEBC member's axle roll out during the sand drags at the Round Up two years back. He was 3/4 of the way down the track and it popped out, when he made the turn off the track it walked about about 2 feet and everybody came running up to him waving their hands to stop. It was pretty funny since nobody got hurt.

 

[RajinCajun]

Have had two walk out myself.. Put a tack weld on the retainer and no problem since.. To get the old ones off I use the hot wrench VERY CAREFULLY to get it hot while using a BFH, if the BFH doesn't do the trick I actually cut the retainer and bearing off with a cut off wheel or the hot wrench.. Just depends on how big of a hurry I am in .

 

[mike732]

Back years ago when I worked in a parts store machine shop, it was an everyday thing to work on 9" axle bearings and I always just cut the old off with the torch and then greese and press new on with shop press and I never had any problems to speek of...

 

[wpaeb]

I had an axle bearing fail. It left the axle come out. I was on my way to work, started up a grade and my engine raced. Pulled over and noticed the tire hanging out. Jacked it up slid it in and got to a better place.

Oh and to remove I use a torch and hammer.

Steve

 

[Dan's73]

I had one not only walk out on me, but take off running down the highway and pass me! Worst of timing too: me & 3 friends were loaded into the EB with shotguns & gear to go pheasant hunting along the KS/NB border one particularly cold January, about an hour west of Manhattan when it happened. Engine revved, EB slowed, DS rear corner dropped and the tire, wheel, & axle went jumping past us. Slight freak out, but nobody was hurt and at least we had plenty of gas to keep the engine running/heater going so my buddies could stay warm while I hiked towards the nearest phone. Oh yeah, this was before cell phones. I was surprised to see that, though the brakes were destroyed, the housing was OK, and so was the axle; just needed new brake ass'y, bearing, & retainer plate.