Axle Eater

[MMarauder03]

My Marauder has been having a serious taste for axles lately. I replaced the axle with a ford OEM axle (with new bearings and seal) not long after I bought my car because i had the "soft axle" issue that has been talked about before. about a month ago I noticed fluid coming out again. Shouted a few obscenities and ordered a new dorman axle with the bearings and seal from rockauto. Once again replaced the axle. Just a week ago I saw the fluid coming out again and about freaked out. It's not like changing a serpentine belt. It's not a whole lot of fun on your back in a cold garage getting covered with diff fluid. I ordered ANOTHER new axle, it's on the way. Just wondering why I would be having this issue. Let me describe my procedure on putting in the new axle so we can see if I'm at fault or what can be done to fix this problem because I'm not made of money. lol

jack car up, take wheel off, take caliper off, take rotor off (use all force necessary), remove diff cover and allow to drain into pan, remove the bolt holding the center pin in out, remove the pin, push axle in, remove C-clip, slide axle out, take slide hammer and axle bearing removal tool and remove bearings and seal, take the new bearing and set with force with an oversized socket and rubber mallet (not on the actual bearing portion, but the housing) press the new seal on same routine, slide new axle in, and reverse procedure to reinstall.

Am I missing something or did I just get a set of bad bearings?

Will upload the pics of the bearing and axle that i just removed.

[MMarauder03]

23284

23285

[tbone]

I kept replacing the splined drive HUBS on my 69 VW Bus over and over only to realize that the drive SPINDLES were worn out, causing the perfectly good hubs to go bad.
My point is, the mating surface to your bearings may be the culprit, not the bearings themselves.

[MMarauder03]

I kept replacing the splined drive HUBS on my 69 VW Bus over and over only to realize that the drive SPINDLES were worn out, causing the perfectly good hubs to go bad.
My point is, the mating surface to your bearings may be the culprit, not the bearings themselves.

The only problem is that I'm replacing all mating surfaces when I do the job, axle shaft and the bearings. Those are the contact points in question.i make sure the the axle bearing is seated COMPLETELY and not ****-eyed in any way, because its a pain in the ass to do, not hard, just time consuming... and money consuming. And I have no idea how the axle bearing housing would be almost shattered the way it is. Should I be lubricating the bearing before I seat it? Soak in it diff fluid for a few minutes or something? This happened between 500-1,000 miles of driving on the new axle.

[tbone]

I'm not a mechanic, so I can't think of the name of the part that the bearing mounts to. But my point is, if THAT part is not perfect, it can cause the bearing to spin out of round, and therefore cause the axle to go bad quickly.

[MMarauder03]

I'm not a mechanic, so I can't think of the name of the part that the bearing mounts to. But my point is, if THAT part is not perfect, it can cause the bearing to spin out of round, and therefore cause the axle to go bad quickly.

good call, seems fine, anyone know of a way to check this?

[WI Fordguy]

Check with a dial indicator around the bearing seat

[Joe Walsh]

Maybe your axle tube is tweeked....has the car ever been in a bad accident or slammed a curb?

[69ranchero351c]

with the outside of the bearing looking like that looks like the bearing is spinning in the housing. if thats the case u need a new housing. next time u pull the bearing look inside of the housing where the bearing goes in, if its not a machined surface and looks like the bearing ur housing is screwed.

[MMarauder03]

Maybe your axle tube is tweeked....has the car ever been in a bad accident or slammed a curb?

No prior accidents, never hit and curbs.


with the outside of the bearing looking like that looks like the bearing is spinning in the housing. if thats the case u need a new housing. next time u pull the bearing look inside of the housing where the bearing goes in, if its not a machined surface and looks like the bearing ur housing is screwed.

I pull a double tomorrow but monday I'll be tearing it back down, had to put it back together to move it back about 3 feet to get it fully into the garage. I remember it looking nice inside. What would I do if the housing is messed up??

[Got_1]

My Marauder has been having a serious taste for axles lately. I replaced the axle with a ford OEM axle (with new bearings and seal) not long after I bought my car because i had the "soft axle" issue that has been talked about before. about a month ago I noticed fluid coming out again. Shouted a few obscenities and ordered a new dorman axle with the bearings and seal from rockauto. Once again replaced the axle. Just a week ago I saw the fluid coming out again and about freaked out. It's not like changing a serpentine belt. It's not a whole lot of fun on your back in a cold garage getting covered with diff fluid. I ordered ANOTHER new axle, it's on the way. Just wondering why I would be having this issue. Let me describe my procedure on putting in the new axle so we can see if I'm at fault or what can be done to fix this problem because I'm not made of money. lol

jack car up, take wheel off, take caliper off, take rotor off (use all force necessary), remove diff cover and allow to drain into pan, remove the bolt holding the center pin in out, remove the pin, push axle in, remove C-clip, slide axle out, take slide hammer and axle bearing removal tool and remove bearings and seal, take the new bearing and set with force with an oversized socket and rubber mallet (not on the actual bearing portion, but the housing) press the new seal on same routine, slide new axle in, and reverse procedure to reinstall.

Am I missing something or did I just get a set of bad bearings?

Will upload the pics of the bearing and axle that i just removed.

so let me get this straight. You're replacing axles every time your axle seal leaks?

[69ranchero351c]

[QUOTE= I pull a double tomorrow but monday I'll be tearing it back down, had to put it back together to move it back about 3 feet to get it fully into the garage. I remember it looking nice inside. What would I do if the housing is messed up??[/QUOTE]

replace it

[MMarauder03]

so let me get this straight. You're replacing axles every time your axle seal leaks?

23286

only when my axles look like this ^ The big notch from where my axle bearing was. Did you not look at the pictures I attached, obviously its not just the seal. The bearings are completely pitted and the housing that holds them is cracked all over the place. I'm not an idiot, obviously I inspect parts before I go crazy and start spending money on new stuff I don't need.

[MMarauder03]

replace it

I'm not under my car right now, forgive me, but what exactly would be the part I'd be looking into? I'd like to get a general idea, would I have to replace to whole pumpkin and everything if this is the case or does it connect somehow to the pumpkin?

[RoyLPita]

Did you use a slide hammer to pull the axle bearing out?

[fastblackmerc]

I'm not under my car right now, forgive me, but what exactly would be the part I'd be looking into? I'd like to get a general idea, would I have to replace to whole pumpkin and everything if this is the case or does it connect somehow to the pumpkin?

You'd have to replace the entire rear end housing.

[AConvertedChevy]

No prior accidents, never hit and curbs.


:drink:I dunno about that one lol

[MMarauder03]

:drink:I dunno about that one lol

:flamer: haha, i parallel parked into a curb once, just a knick on the rim :mad2:

[MMarauder03]

So, just a quick update, it appears so far the the housing is perfectly fine. I do have another question, this completely slipped my mind until just now. There were no noises or anything a couple days after I replaced the axle last time, when I went with another member here to get our windows tinted, we dropped his car off and on our way to lunch we started hearing a clicking noise coming from the rear. I put it on a lift and the axle had a decent amount of play, 1/16 inch or so. just enough to wiggle around if I push the axle in and pull it back out, you can't really feel it go in very far but it caused a slight clicking noise. Any ideas on what could cause this?

[fastblackmerc]

So, just a quick update, it appears so far the the housing is perfectly fine. I do have another question, this completely slipped my mind until just now. There were no noises or anything a couple days after I replaced the axle last time, when I went with another member here to get our windows tinted, we dropped his car off and on our way to lunch we started hearing a clicking noise coming from the rear. I put it on a lift and the axle had a decent amount of play, 1/16 inch or so. just enough to wiggle around if I push the axle in and pull it back out, you can't really feel it go in very far but it caused a slight clicking noise. Any ideas on what could cause this?

That play is "normal". To get the "C" clips out you have to push the axle(s) in.

[MMarauder03]

That play is "normal". To get the "C" clips out you have to push the axle(s) in.

Thanks fastblackmerc, but if its doing it when i'm driving loud enough for me to hear do you think that the bearing was no good to begin with? This could be the case since it never made the noise before I changed the bearings out the second time.

[GreekGod]

...if you didn't completely remove your entire axle housing, completely disassemble it, and then power wash it to remove all traces of bearing and axle shaft debris, you cannot assume the bearing failure(s?) were not caused by said debris (steel pieces). It is difficult, if not impossible, to properly clean the housing without removing the pinion gear & pinion bearings.

[Chevyguy]

I went through this with my 2001 after about 50K more miles the main carrier bearings wore out and the differential would deflect from side to side in turns.

So short of a full clean and rebuild I would get a late model full assy from a wrecked police cruiser. There were 3.55 geared models with trac loc factory equipped.

[burtreynolds]

I dont know if anyone caught this, but he asked if you need to prelube the bearing.

To answer this question, yes. I pack my bearings with axle grease. To do this, you put the grease in your hand then basically press the bearing surface (where the seam between the race and the retainer for the rollers are) and drag it through your hand to force axle grease into the rollers and around the race. Now, is this the cause of your problem? I don't know, but I can tell you I have the same rock auto ordered/dorman brand axle kit for the rear passenger axle, did the swap and have driven Ms. Jackson HARD HARD for the past 1500-2k miles (occasional powerslides, launches, ect) and she is not leaking a drop. Might try packing the bearing with grease.

[EMAS]

Yes you should lube the bearing before installing the axle, don't need to soak it just squirt some gear oil in it spin the rollers and squirt some more on. Doesn't hurt to squirt a little on the bearing surface of the axle just before you slide it in. The other thing is once you've filled it jack up the oposite side so the lube can run down the tube, return it the axle to level and re-check.

[Local Boy]

Looks like one of two things...

Excessive heat / poor lubrication = bearing failure

or

Out of round / not running true (axle dimensions)

Aloha

[EMAS]

I dont know if anyone caught this, but he asked if you need to prelube the bearing.

To answer this question, yes. I pack my bearings with axle grease. To do this, you put the grease in your hand then basically press the bearing surface (where the seam between the race and the retainer for the rollers are) and drag it through your hand to force axle grease into the rollers and around the race. Now, is this the cause of your problem? I don't know, but I can tell you I have the same rock auto ordered/dorman brand axle kit for the rear passenger axle, did the swap and have driven Ms. Jackson HARD HARD for the past 1500-2k miles (occasional powerslides, launches, ect) and she is not leaking a drop. Might try packing the bearing with grease.

I wouldn't recommend using grease, some greases aren't compatible with gear oil and you end up starving the bearing from lubrication as the resulant pudding doesn't have sufficient lubricating qualities and may prevent the seal from being properly lubed by preventing the gear oil from reaching it.

[fastblackmerc]

I've never pre-lubed an axle bearing......

[CBT]

I've never pre-lubed an axle bearing......
What?! I guess that's why yours blow out all the time. :rolleyes:

[fastblackmerc]

What?! I guess that's why yours blow out all the time. :rolleyes:

Never had one blow out either........ :neener:

[cougarmandan]

Sooo, How did things turn out here?

I replaced the left axle on mine when the e-brake came apart and made lots of heat and caused it to lock up. I pulled off the ebrake with my assortment of tools at the time on the side of the road which I think was only a tire iron and drove it to the dealership that happened to only be about a mile away. They gave me a huge estimate to fix it so I carefully drove it home. I ordered most of the parts that they recommended on the estimate. They told me since the abs tone ring on the axle had rubbed something, they said the axle needed to be replaced. I went ahead and ordered an new one from someone on ebay that was cheap. That was a few years ago it has 15k miles on it now. At the time I was swapping them out, I compared the two axles and the tone rings looked identical and didn't appear to me to have been rubbing anything. It was covered in lots of metal powder and slivers. I had a new one so I went ahead and put it in. I still have the original one if it would be of use to you. I was going to cut the flange off it to make a contraption to straighten out some rims, but since its still in good shape, I never did anything with it. If I were having this kind of trouble that your having, I would have tried a Ford/Motorcraft bearing and axle. The area where the bearing rides on the axle is supposed to be hardened. If I were guessing, they may have not got the Dorman axles hardened properly if at all. It may just have been a bad batch. I had a friend that had several bearings cause something similar on his Falcon last year. He knew it was bearings since he just replaced them as a precaution while he was in there replacing seals. Didn't work out so great. The parts store told him on set number 3 it was the axle housing and he finally bought some from Currie I think and hasn't had a problem since. Anyways, I was looking for the stock axle width of a Marauder and started reading this thread so I was curious if you fixed the problem and how it all turned out.

[MMarauder03]

Everything turned out great. Order 2 axles from dorman on rockauto.com get some differential fluid (ls) and do it all yourself. Not too difficult and a great way to learn more about your car and what all is involved in repair processes. Replace the bearing and seal as well while you're in there. Sleep easier at night ;)

[justbob]

I've never pre-lubed an axle bearing......
Me neither.


23284

23285
One of two things has happened here. The Dorman bearings are soft or sized wrong. Or one of your previous axle bearings spun and opened up your tube to the point of DOA. I would start by spec'ing out the tube and compare it to a Motorcraft bearing, but I am afraid your entire rear is shot at this point. My axle made SERIOUS noise and didn't look even a 1/4 that bad. Just how long did you ride around on this originally?

[MMarauder03]

Me neither.


One of two things has happened here. The Dorman bearings are soft or sized wrong. Or one of your previous axle bearings spun and opened up your tube to the point of DOA. I would start by spec'ing out the tube and compare it to a Motorcraft bearing, but I am afraid your entire rear is shot at this point. My axle made SERIOUS noise and didn't look even a 1/4 that bad. Just how long did you ride around on this originally?

I heard a thump on the highway so I parked and had it towed to my house so about 5-10 seconds while I slowed from 55. I replaced both sides again and it hasn't leaked or made a noise since. And I've driven 7000 miles since at least.

[justbob]

Must have been bad bearings then?