Rear axle bearings

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Rear axle bearings

Post by Stish704 »

Hi guys. Small problem hopefully that you may be able to help me with.
When I bought my car, the previous owner had done quite a bit of work on it including changing the rear wheel bearings. But, when I had it mot'd last year the mechanic said I had a slight leak from the osr bearing. I know these had been changed but decided to remove the half shaft and investigate. Now, the guy had indeed changed them but must have forgot to grease them up when putting them back. I did grease both half shafts up as I put them back but I noticed the other day when giving it a clean, they had both started leaking slightly again. My question is, should there be an additional oil seal in the axle? Or is the bearings that have been used not good enough and I'll need to change them again?
Help please guys because I don't really want to change the bearings as you know how freakin tough they are!
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

Hi,
Some aftermarket bearings don't have the oil-sealing lip that should be fitted to the inboard side. They're quite obvious, so if you whip out the half shafts you should be able to see if the correct bearings have been fitted. They should look like this (photo credit : stevermarl).

Image

If you have the incorrect bearings with a flush edge on the inboard side, they will allow the oil to seep past.
If you do have the correct bearings fitted and they are in reasonable shape, you could try a smear of Hylomar around the mating faces before re-assembly.

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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Stish704 »

OK,thanks. I'll inspect over the weekend. I'd be surprised if they wasn't proper bearings as everything else has been done well. Now I'm intrigued.
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Mc Tool »

Or on arse about face. TBH I didn't know about that lip till after I had replaced one bearing ( other still to be done ) so I'll be interested to see if a, I have lipped bearings in the 1st place and b, if its on the right way round ...... doesn't leak but ... :D
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by MattMe »

I'd ordered Firstline bearings and apart from them lacking the necessary oil seal Andrew points out, the sleeve that holds the bearing in place is wrong on my set. Not sure if I was perhaps sent the wrong items, but I have a feeling it's just that they're crap.
Martin (capri gear) suggested using hylomar on the face that meets tyhe axle tubing to prevent seepage, which would probably work.

CCI sell what seem to be original spec bearings. I've just ordered some, so fingers crossed they're better.
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

MattMe wrote:Martin (capri gear) suggested using hylomar on the face that meets tyhe axle tubing to prevent seepage, which would probably work.
It does. Not for long though.
It's definitely worth the effort of fitting the correct bearings. Remember that oil leakage from there may find it's way onto the brake shoes.

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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Stish704 »

I do have a set from cci, but am just hesitant to change them as I don't have or know anyone who has a press I can use. I'll try the hylomar route first and see how it goes. I can inspect them to see if they're the proper ones or not then!
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by r2vdh »

Been through hell trying to find some new rear bearings that werent mickey mouse sh*t from china.
Spoken with an old guru and he said original bearing have one grease seal and one oil seal. The chinese ones have two oil seals no grease seal.
My Axle guy had spoken with burtonpower and their first line bearings were chinese... numbers on the bearing gave it a way on the google search!!
Found first line just get what ever beaeing they can get a hold of and shuv them in to their boxes. So becareful what you put on your halfsharfts
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by brooky »

Got mine from tickover as previous owner had used ones with no seal and had used a sealant that didnt last, tickiver ones had grease seal and oil seal, no leaks
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

Hi,
Either Martin or CCI will supply the correct parts.

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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Stish704 »

I got mine from cci but still haven't got round to checking them. Once I get home from holiday I'm having a purge on the old girl.
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by ollyw »

Resurrecting an older thread.

I’m continuing to have problems with a leak on the N/S. I replaced both bearings at the same time with some from Tickover taking into account what has been said above about the seal either not being present or poor.
The O/S has sealed beautifully and is ok.
The N/S leaked outside the outer diameter of the bearing.
I decided to change just that one for a CCI OE spec bearing (at no inconsiderable expense). I cleaned up all the traces of hylomar from the axle end, reapplied plenty of new hylomar. When I slid the half shaft in it went in so easily I was surprised.
It’s now leaking again, my gut feeling is theres a tiny gap in the circumference between the outer diameter of the bearing and the diameter of the axle end. Effectively the bearing is too small by a microscopic amount.
Not sure what to do now. How much hylomar can you apply!!!

Does this constitute an mot fail? It’s in a few days time.

Olly W
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Peter-S »

ollyw wrote: Tue May 07, 2019 10:04 am Resurrecting an older thread.

I’m continuing to have problems with a leak on the N/S. I replaced both bearings at the same time with some from Tickover taking into account what has been said above about the seal either not being present or poor.
The O/S has sealed beautifully and is ok.
The N/S leaked outside the outer diameter of the bearing.
I decided to change just that one for a CCI OE spec bearing (at no inconsiderable expense). I cleaned up all the traces of hylomar from the axle end, reapplied plenty of new hylomar. When I slid the half shaft in it went in so easily I was surprised.
It’s now leaking again, my gut feeling is theres a tiny gap in the circumference between the outer diameter of the bearing and the diameter of the axle end. Effectively the bearing is too small by a microscopic amount.
Not sure what to do now. How much hylomar can you apply!!!

Does this constitute an mot fail? It’s in a few days time.

Olly W

Hi Olly

With regards the MOT - will it be obvious that there is a leak - don't you need to take the brake drum off to see it?

The leak itself should not be in relation to the circumference of the bearing as the flat vertical side should be sealing against the axle casing stopping it getting that far. Presumably your new (expensive) bearing has the oil seal that is posted about earlier in the thread so I am wondering if the mating face on the axle is pitted and so not sealing against the bearing's seal.
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Mr B »

Hi guy's,

Not sure how relevant this is but I recently bought a second hand 3.0 litre axle off eBay, upon closer inspection I noticed that the axle breather was missing, getting a new one was a nightmare I eventually found a Morris marina breather and adapted it to fit the axle, however during my research I discovered that if the axle breather is blocked it will cause oil to seep through the half shaft bearing seals regardless of whether they are the correct bearings or not, apparently the air expands in the axle during use and if the breather is blocked it will find the easiest route out of there and take some oil with it, just a thought ..

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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Not_Anumber »

Where is the breather located ? Ive worked on and around the axle but never thought to look
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by ollyw »

It appears the oil is tracking between the outer race and the axle casing.
I’ve bought some loctite 641 which is designed to seal bearing outer races to recesses. Basically exactly where the oil is coming from.

When I inserted the half shaft back into the axle I was able to push the whole thing in fully without the use of a hammer. I’d expect it to require a light tap of the hammer to drive it home fully. There was no scoring marks or heat damage on the axle recess but this makes me think the beating is fractionally too small by the smallest of margins (0.001mm). There’s no discernible play if I grab the hub of the half shaft and rock it up and down or left to right but I think the bearing has been able to rotate a tiny amount enough to disturb the hylomar and rear seal on the bearing and create a leak.

I’m hoping the loctite will work and still allow the bearing to be removed when the time comes to replace.

I’m going to take the half shaft out again. Clean the remaining hylomar off and replace it with the loctite 641 and leave it to cure for 24 hours.
I’ll report back if it’s successful.

Olly W
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by ollyw »

Mr B wrote: Wed May 08, 2019 11:46 am Hi guy's,

Not sure how relevant this is but I recently bought a second hand 3.0 litre axle off eBay, upon closer inspection I noticed that the axle breather was missing, getting a new one was a nightmare I eventually found a Morris marina breather and adapted it to fit the axle, however during my research I discovered that if the axle breather is blocked it will cause oil to seep through the half shaft bearing seals regardless of whether they are the correct bearings or not, apparently the air expands in the axle during use and if the breather is blocked it will find the easiest route out of there and take some oil with it, just a thought ..

Mr B
This is a good thought. Does the breather unsure in some way to clean it?
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by Mr B »

Hi all,
This is a picture of the breather I used on my axle, it locates on the offside half shaft tube between the diff casing and the anti-roll bar attachment point, even though this appears to screw into the axle I couldn't find any thread in the tube so I adapted this breather and used expoxy resin to hold it in which should be fine as it's not under any stress, I can only assume that the original breather can be prised out but I would suggest this be done with care as age may have fatigued the original component

Hope this helps

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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by ollyw »

Unfortunately it hasn’t worked.

However, a friend noted down the part number from a genuine set of eub204 bearings he fitted a while back.

It turns out they are made by SKF and are still available. Why pay phone numbers just because it’s in a ford box?

The SKF bearing number is 361971ce. I’ve duly ordered one. Let’s hope it works
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Re: Rear axle bearings

Post by STEVEW »

Hello Olly

Pleased you have found a part number from a reputable manufacturer. (I've noted the number)
Could you please let us know if it solves your problem?
I will then know should I need bearings in the future.
All the best.
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