I've done a search...and learned lots of good stuff about my 9 inch rear.... but...I have taken my 9 inch rear apart and i'm not sure how to get the bearing off of the axle. it is a late big bearing end - came out of a cougar. There appears to be a compression fit ring that holds the bearing onto the axle. Until i can remove this ring i can't take the bearing or brake backing plates off. My question is this... is there a special tool to tap off that heavy metal ring? I don't see any set screw...or am i just mechanically challenged thanks for any help - kyle
You should be able to remove the axle shaft .........and the backing plate stay on the housing ends..........and then the backing plates would come off.....
Are you SURE you need to remove the bearing? 9in bearings have a pretty long life span and if they "look" good and didn't make any noise, they most likely are useable. But, if they are questionable in any way, replace em. New bearings are about 8 bucks each. Cheap insurance.. The best way to do em is send em to a machine shop and have them do it. They use a bearing splitter or a shop press, depending on how they learned to do it. OR, you can do it the cheap way... First, wrap teh bearing in a shop rag, hold it against an anvil or your vise and WHACK it with a hammer. The outer bearing is hard as woodpecker lips adn will break into lots of pieces, so wear your saftey gl***es adn face shield! You will be left with the retaining ring and the inner part of the bearing. Use a cut off wheele to score them across thier surface about an 1/8 inch (short ways) then swat the opening with a hammer and chisel. The rest of teh bearing and the ring will come right off. To install your new bearings, you WILL need a shop press. DO NOT use the old hammer the **** out of it technique. Spend the 10 bucks at your local full service gas station, Pep Boys or whatever, and have them press the new ones on. PS. Heat should NOT be involved. Good luck, -Abone.
Damn Kyle!! 9 inches, and big bearings too? Now I know why I feel somewhat threatened around you, I always thought it was because you are capable of sedating me and stealing all my teeth! Bearing is pressed on. You need to either buy a good hydraulic press from the Harbor Freight store, so I can use it too, or take the axles to a shop that has a press. You will need the proper plates if you buy a press. Or, if you are poor,dumb & stoopid like me you can wrap a rag around the bearing, strike it with a BIG f'king hammer & shatter the outer race. You can then take a torch, or cutoff wheel, or grinder & cut the inner race and retainer ring off the axle, but be VERRY careful not to damage the axle. You can then take the retainer plates (made up word?) off the axle. You can buy retainer plates ( I'm termininologically handicapped) that have the 4 bolt holes but are horseshoe shaped so they can be removed without removing the axle bearing, I have them on my roadster.
Take it to any GOOD autoparts store with a machine shop - they'll take off the old one and press on a new one for cheap money.
Don't go shattering bearing races with a Tee shirt on either! Cover your body, arms and face well. My Brother in law is still wearing s***ches in his hand (between the thumb and forefinger) where a sliver from an undressed chisel penetrated about an 1-1/2"! He had to have an actual operation to remove it. Bearings can do the same kinda damage. Dress properly.
Wow - ask a question and go to bed...wake up with all the info! thanks guys! I was trying to get my rearend cleaned up and apart so i could take it to the local guru to have it shortened. now that i know the bearing is pressed on. i'm not going to worry about it. Duece... mine looks the same as the one on the left only my backing plate won't slide off either way. if i took off the bearing then it could slide off. The housing end is supposedly an early big bearing? I wasn't wanting to change the bearing....but while it's apart and getting shortened...why not get new ones. On another note... I've measured my roadster body and with an inch or so leeway i'd call it 46 inches. I'm going to use a 7 inch rim with a 3.5 inch back space. any suggestions on the width i should go for? I'm going to set it up so the wheel is inside the wheel well...not out and above it. I've read that 58 inches is a good width...but if the body is 46 + 3.5 " + 3.5" = 53 inches - if i gave it another couple of inches for safety's sake... we are talking 55 or 56 inches.... what are ya'll running on your model A's ? Eddie...i'll talk to Cindy for you...she'll let you get a press i'm sure...the argument goes something like...but dear... I had to tear up a perfectly good T-shirt!
Just had this done. The old man I used had been doing it for years. He gently used a torch to cut the sides of the bearing to get through one side. And then cut the retainer on one side also. He used a big press and press the new ones rite on. It looked real easy but I would still take it somoene that does this on a daily basis. Only cost me 25.00 to cut and put new ones on.
NEVER owned a Model A But most guys are at 56 inches. Measured this way...... Cougar started in 1967....so IF it is a Cougar..it is NOT a early big bearing rear. Big bearing rears for the 9 inch started in 1957....ten years before the Cougar. Most ( if not all ) of the Cougar rears I have seen are small bearing ( Cougars were fairly light ). How wide is your rear end now ? Early Cougars.. ( 67 to 70 ) came with a Right axle that is 31 and 1/8 inches. The left one is 27 and 5/64. A 1965 to 1967 Ford CAN HAVE a axle that is 29 and 1/2 so you can have a shorter axle shaft without resplining... That what I did. My 57 Ford rear end had a 30.5 axle shaft. I got the 65 to 67 Ford axle that was 29.5 and got 1 inch......I then respined the LONG 65 to 67 axle shaft to 1 inch shorter than the short 57 axle......and narrower the housing. I am 2 inches more narrow now for the price of 1 axle respline and a housing narrow fee. I am at 56 inches wide on my 32 3W project.
I feel that the best way to determine how wide the rearend should be, is to put the wheels/tires next to the body, so it looks right, and measure between the wheels (where they bolt to the axles), and that's how wide the rearend should be. Maybe that's too simple though.
The bearing and the retaining ring are a press fit. You remove them with a press and split halves (machinist stuff). Normally the retainer comes off easier than the bearing. I have been known in a real stubborn case to smak the bearing with a hammer to get the outer race off it then heat the innere race and swat it in the side with a hammer that eggs it. The while its still hot grab the axle and slam the splined end against the floor, the inner race will fall off burning the **** out of your hand. the backing plate should come off withput removeong the bearing, sometimes you have to coax it a little because its a close fit, but it will come off.
I think he may be calling the retainer on the outside of the bearing, the backing plate. Not the break backing plate. Don't know, but that is what I get out of it.
no it's the backing plate for the brakes.....thanks porkn******... i'll try and wrangle it a bit more..... when am i going to see a beautiful picture of that 8 ball on a shifter? I'm trying to get my rear done so i can post update pic's for ya. I'm so close to a rolling frame ...
Sometimes you have to persuade them to come out... I use one of these........bought it over 35 years ago.......earned it's keep a bunch of times..... But most of the parts house that have a ' loan a tool ' program have them .........if you do not want to buy one.....
We had a special steel hat with a hole in it to use as a "blow shield". You slide it over the axle covering the bearings to keep the bearings and retainer from flying all over the shop and hurting someone. I tried it on an import bottle jack press and bent the frame of the press! Use a torch to remove it.
You and I bought that tool at about the same time. I borrowed a homemade one. That SOB almost broke my leg trying to get an axle outa' a '55 rear end. The next day I limped into the NAPA store and bought exactly what's in your picture. Good tools are a good investment.
the way i have done for years with great success is to take a 3" cutoff wheel and cut the retainer at an angle almost all the way through.then take a cold chisel and a hand sledge and hit it in the cut you made in the ring.if you cut it deep enough it will crack and become loose on the axle.then you can press the bearing off the axle. to replace,slide the new bearing on the axle then slide the new retainer on and press them on together untill they seat on the axle face. -danny
yeah thats howi do it to minus the cutoff wheel thats how to do it the right way i dont understand why people beat the oldones off and then press the new one on just use the press for both opperations and save some sweat and possible injury jeff
I had a friend with a 69 Ford Torino. In 1970 or so, the axle bearing when bad......I borrowed a homemade POS too.....could not get the axle out. I went to NAPA and got a good one..... almost ******ed that Torino off the jackstands before the axle came out...... Car was only 2 years old with 30 thousand miles. That was the hardest axle I have ever pulled. When I pulled the axles from the 9 inch that was already under my 3W....I took everything loose and said.." well I better get the puller " I did .....but for grins I just pulled on the axle.....it popped right out ..by hand...... So did the other one..... Sometimes you just NEVER know..
Squirrel has got it right.The only way to tell EXACTLY how wide a rear you need is to use the wheels and tires that will be on the car when it's finished. Bloc the car at ride height, place the wheels and tires in the wheel wells with approximately 1" from the closest obstruction. Block the wheels straight up and down like they will be under the car, and measture the distance between the backside of the wheels at the mounting surface. This is the overall width of the rear you need for your application. Frank
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