To Speedi Sleeve or not: 77 Rear Axle Shaft bearing repair

[Crawdad]

I have a 77 rear axle with large bearings. I plan to remove and press on new bearings this coming weekend. My question is do I need to coat the seating area with a coat of light oil to allow bearing to seat with ease? What do you suggest? I was told not to use WD40, but was suggested a CRC spray product. I appreciate your advice. Matt

 

[Crawdad]

Gotta love this! This is what I found when I removed the shafts a while back.

 

[Justafordguy]

Not good but at least it stayed on.

 

[surfer-b]

You can apply a thin film of bearing grease it want hurt anything, the bearings will press on no problem, the retainer will take a little more force. I always put the retainers in boiling water while I'm getting everything else ready and the seals and bearings on, then press on the retainers fresh out of the boiling water, makes them slide on much easier.

 

[Crawdad]

You can apply a thin film of bearing grease it want hurt anything, the bearings will press on no problem, the retainer will take a little more force. I always put the retainers in boiling water while I'm getting everything else ready and the seals and bearings on, then press on the retainers fresh out of the boiling water, makes them slide on much easier.

I'm going to a friends house to borrow his 20 ton press. Would a plumbers torch at low heat be a good substitute?

 

[surfer-b]

I'm going to a friends house to borrow his 20 ton press. Would a plumbers torch at low heat be a good substitute?

that would be ok just don't overheat it, which I don't think you will with a propane or map gas torch

 

[Brent13]

Mine pressed on pretty easy. Not sure what the press capacity was, but it was easy. I used some oil, not sure of type, but it was a simple process. I did not heat the retainers, but that does sound like a good idea.

 

[Apogee]

The bearings should press on with light pressure...the pressure gauge on my 55-ton press doesn't hardly twitch until the bearings were fully seated. I lube the ID with gear lube for good measure. The retainer collars however took upwards of 10-15 tons heated to about ~200 degrees F, but these were SET20 tapered roller bearings, and the collars are a bit bigger than the sealed ball bearing variants.

 

[Rustytruck]

Forget the torch on the retaining ring use a hot plate. Once you get to 400 F you start to change things in the metal. Boiling water is good if you don't have a way of measuring heat. Hot plate is good because they usually have thermostat control and can set it up close to the press.

At least the cracked retaining ring will be easy to remove.

 

[Rustytruck]

Wire the bearing retainer to the axle flange before you remove and install the axle bearings that way you don't forget it or install it wrong way out.

 

[Crawdad]

Wire the bearing retainer to the axle flange before you remove and install the axle bearings that way you don't forget it or install it wrong way out.

I bought a pair of those slid-on retainer plates to replace the factory ones. I made it Crawdaddy-proof!

 

[Crawdad]

I posted this pic on my build two weeks ago. A few people who I do listen to highly recommended a speed sleeve for my shafts. Where might I get these? Are these items I can get locally? Anyone have any pics?

 

[Rustytruck]

For speedi sleeves contact your local Industrial bearing supplier. They can order them for you. Napa may be able to order them for you if you still have old guys working there and know how to work the books.

 

[Crawdad]

A lil update on my rear shafts since it's been a while. I took the advice of some of the gurus and purchased a pr of Speedi Sleeves. I measured my shafts at 1.535" at the bearing so hopefully the sleeves I have will expand when I heat them up in my oven at 200 degrees. These sleeves are thin and I don't want to break them at $27 a piece on Amazon. Someone suggested using Hi Temp Permatex to give it that extra seal on the bearing. The sleeve came with its own sleeve adapter. I cut the end off so that it will go over the shaft but there's not much left to fit it in place. So I decided the make my own adapter out of some round solid stock. The sleeve fits in it nicely with about .035-.040 play. I just need a few more minutes on the lathe tomorrow and that should be it. Will I need a hydraulic press or will a big hammer and pipe be enough to drive the sleeve home using the adapter I made?

 

[NC-Fordguy]

Those are some seriously pitted and grooved axle shafts. If they were mine I would have tossed them or perhaps used one for a mobile vise stand.

I've used speedi-sleeves on yokes and transmission tail shafts and in that application it's pretty straight forward, gently tap into place using the driver that comes with the kit.

I'm thinking perhaps using a length of black pipe that fits over the shaft so it can be tapped in straight. Some blue thread locker sounds like a good idea to fill in the groove where the oil seal contacts the shaft.

 

[Viperwolf1]

Those sleeves are too small. No one makes the correct size for stock axle shafts. I've looked.

 

[Crawdad]

Those sleeves are too small. No one makes the correct size for stock axle shafts. I've looked.

Thx Viper, I thought the standard width of the shafts were 1.50" but in fact they are 1.535". The repair sleeves I purchased may be too small. I've already ruined one of the installation caps so I will see if the one sleeve I have will fit over my axle shaft when heated to 200 degrees. SKF states not to heat their sleeves by it will expand and may not go back to the tolerance stated on the box. I haven't found much info on National Oil brand. I have found a 99152 but not really sure as to what the inside diameter is. I've sent out many emails to companies and I am waiting to hear something back hopefully.
Matt

 

[Rustytruck]

If the OD of the sleeve is right and the ID is small, then you could have the shaft turned down where the sleeve goes. Just depends on what tools are available to you.

 

[Crawdad]

Update: I decided to turn down the shafts to 1.500" to accept the repair sleeve. As a part-time machinist (7 Level) for the AF I should be qualified to do a 3 Level task. I took a lot of effort to find the center or concentricity of these shafts. And let me tell you it was tough. Not sure if it's a Ford thing but both shafts are about 0.005"-0.008" off center. That's the thickness of a sheet of paper. I taped up the bearing to reduce metal shavings from getting imbedded. Took both shafts down to 1.503"-1.504" and finished with fine sandpaper.

 

[Crawdad]

Getting prepped to install repair sleeve.

I used my grill. Yep I went there. I wrapped up the parts and set the grill to 200 degrees. I wrapped them up to reduce any moisture and grease from contaminating the mating surfaces.

My make-shift installation tool was cooked as well. It's thick and should hold it's temp longer than the supplied installation tool.

While cooking I cleaned the new surface with brake kleener using my sons karate uniform (he no longer attends the class). As you can see the shafts needed cleaning. I put a coat of Hi Temp RTV on the new surface just before removing the first sleeve from my grill.