Ford 9 inch rear wheel bearing replacement

I filled an ice chest with ice and cold water set axles in it for a couple of hours, then put the bearings in the oven for a few minutes pulled the axles out one at a time and removed the bearing from oven and slid it down on axle tapped it down to the seat with a punch pin and small hammer before it could cool off.

 

Those bearings are sealed with grease. Putting them in an oven will boil the grease out & possibly mess up the seals. At a minimum, you would have to peal back the seal & repack the bearing.

 

For the guys that say you can just press an old wheel wheel bearing off an 9" axle with using a clamshell fixture like I have done, haven't pressed many off or haven't had many splatter during the press operation. You still revert to heating the inner bearing race and driving off with a blunt soft chisel or making a relief cut with a grinding tool.
As long as you don't put too much heat into the axle or cut into the bearing or seal surface area, you are GENERALLY ok. You can also get creative with worn seal surface areas by installing a speedi-sleeve if you modify the installation cup correctly and use a long piece of tubing or pipe. Done it.

 

what to add that if the damage on the o/p axle is where the lock ring will ride get new axle

the store should replace the axles to teach them that this is not aceptable
if a chain of stores go to them

 

I agree. I cut part way thru the outer race, remove the balls and spacer, nick the inner race with a wheel and tap the slit with a chisel. heat from grinding will swell the inner race and can tap it off the axle.

 

So, I read all the advice and did it myself, no press, just plain old garage tools and know how:

Made a bearing driver. I had no tube long enough, so some 2" box welded over some good sized fit steel tube did that job. The tube is about 1/32"bigger than the bearing bores.

I also stood the axle on some wood to protect the studs.



Bearing retainer was sliced through with a 1mm grinder again. I tapped a chisel in the groove and it came loose.



My bearings are Moser, with the O ring to seal them.



I put the bearing in a pan of boiling water for a few minutes, to get it about as hot as practicable without boiling the grease or melting the rubber seal. While it was cooking I squeezed a thin layer of Permatex Gold around the bearing seat, so it would be oil-tight.

I slid on the bearing plate thing, then I then dropped the hot bearing on and used the 'special tool' to drive it down, like a slide hammer. Hammering the tool didn't work well, but used as a slide hammer it shoved the bearing on far quicker.

I then used the gas axe to heat the bearing retainer ring to blue, and dropped it on. It slid straight down into position with no hammering required. There is only a couple of thou interference, so with the heat and expansion it slides on, but cools to a rock solid fit.

I hit it with a very very fine mist of water to cool it gently, so it didn't melt the bearing seal.

The first axle took a little while as I experimented and sorted parts, then I did the second one, took fifteen minutes, and I sat back thinking 'that wasn't so hard'.

Then I noticed a rectangular piece of metal with a hole in, sat on the bench.....

I cut the retainer plate in half and positioned it for welding, careful not to get any heat or shit in the bearing.

Luckily there is a hole in the axle flange, designed for idiots to weld thru.



After that was sorted I cleaned the axle end out, smeared silicon grease over the bearing, O ring and housing, lined it up, engaged the spline, and tapped the bearing in with a piece of wood.



I never bothered with seals, because A, I don't have any. B, the bearing should seal the oil in, as it has double seals, an O ring, and the gasket good round the inner bearing. If it don't work, I'll find some proper seals.

There is a gap about 3/16" which would normal accommodate the brake back plate. I see many people cut a spacer for this, but I see no reason to. The plate is there to hold the bearing tight. The centre of the plate is depressed so it clears the centre of the bearing. I might do something later, not sure yet.

 

Our shop gets $30 per axle to remove and install a standard press-on axle bearing. That includes checking the axle to ensure it is straight at the bearing surface and flange, hot tank the axles and retainers, and lastly polishing the seal surfaces. I think it's a fair price. You'd be shocked how many buchered axles I've seen.

We removed a bearing once and there was almost no press left because the race had spun. We advised the shop that sent it over the axle should be replaced and we wouldn't install a new bearing on it. They said "We'll just mar it up a little bit and it will be fine"

 

That seems like a damn good price to me, considering the time and messing about it took me to do mine.

 

It's not a rear WHEEL bearing. It is a rear axle shaft bearing

 

Thats a bitch leaving the retainer plate off, bet there was some cussing then. Probably shouldn't tell you that the bearing is on backwards and that the 'o' ring is supposed to be on the outermost portion. Just sayin.
Don't ask me the difference, i have put them on that way too and they're a bitch to get into the bearing house, the 'o' ring is designed to be pinched and seal at the gap on the backing plate/caliper mounting bracket.

 

Oh, I get it. Then it's not a front WHEEL bearing either. It's a front axle spindle bearing. Ron

 

I thought that, for a split second, but the O ring is designed to seal in the housing, not to be 'nipped' between the brake plate. O rings don't function that way.

It goes into the housing no problem, when correctly lubricated.

There is a large radius on the one side of the bore of the bearing, to accomodate the radius ground into the axle. The radius is there to prevent a stress riser breaking the axle. Put the bearing on the other way and it fouls that radius.

But yes, you're right, the air was blue for several minutes after I spied the missing retained plate.

 

There not hurt but just doesn't look good. I have used worse that those before and run thousands of miles and no problems

 

Im o glad I found this thread Within one minute had the bearings off ,Works on an 8 inch also