[FC] Differential side bearing

[Paul Steinberg]

I can't tell you anything about any of the questions that you have asked
except for the last one.  I have seen rear axle bearings come off easily and
then be cleaned, regreased, and reinstalled.  I have also seen where the rear
axle bearing won't come off the axle no matter how hard or careful it is done.
Sometimes they just self destruct because of the tight fit and the length of
time that it has been on there.  Any time that I have a bearing removed, it is
going into the trash because I know it to be no good.  A good bearing can be
cleaned and greased on the axle with little difficulty.  It just takes a
little longer and a little more patience.... Paul in CT
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Charles
  To: corvanatics@corvair.org
  Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 9:57 PM
  Subject: [FC] Differential side bearing


  Hi all,

  Well, I'm back from a long weekend to take another look into what is
  making noise from my van's rear end. Ok, I've gotten some good advice
  from some of you already about this. Here's the original observations:

  I heard some nasty scraping from what I thought might be the rear
  brakes. There was no real change in the sound when the brakes were
  applied so at first I thought a rock or some piece of spring had broken
  off and was grinding around in the drum. It happened a couple of times
  for a few minutes and then just stops and then starts up again. I can't
  imagine that the bearings would stop making noise once something goes
  wrong. I pulled the drums and can't see anything wrong. There was no
  evidence of something scraping around. I did notice that the star wheel
  for the self-adjusting brake was not engaging on one side (the side
  where I thought the noise was coming from). I can spin the wheels and
  hear nothing like the god-awful scraping. Before I parked I put it in
  reverse and then applied the brakes and then went forward and the noise
  decreased significantly. I'm beginning to suspect that the differential
  is the problem. The noise is not engine-speed related. I did notice that
  when I pulled on the hub that it moved in and out about an eigth of an
  inch. The bearings aren't great but again I find it hard to believe that
  they could go quiet once they start making noise.

  Tonight I'm taking off the section of floor over the tranny/diff and
  having a peek inside the diff which is where I strongly suspect the
  problem to be. My question is:  Is it possible to remove/change the side
  bearing in the diff without having to remove the diff or drop it down?

  I have another question: Has anyone sucsessfully separated a rear axle
  bearing from the axle shaft without destroying the bearing of course?
   If so, what's the secret?

  The reason I ask is that I had previously taken a set of axle/bearing
  assemblies to a licenced machine shop to have the bearings pulled off so
  that I could inspect them properly and with a bit of luck salvage one
  useable bearing as a back up. When I went to pick up my professionally
  separated bearings I was informed that they could not budge them. They
  even tried pulling on the outer race which of course
  cracked/broken/useless. A good reminder to never trust anyone. Sure, I
  could have complained but to what end? Anyone who would do what they did
  is not going to stand behind their "mechanical skills". All I can do is
  warn my local car enthusiasts about this shop.

  Thanks for the opportunity to rant a little and I hope somebody can help.

  - Charles
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