A Simple Bearing Job?

[Bolixt]

Here's a note to warn about what might happen if you are not super careful:

Left wheel bearing was gravely so I pulled it apart. Well the spindle was rough so I decided to either sleeve it or smooth it with emery cloth. So I micrometered it and it was 1.725". I checked the seal and it was for a 1.688 shaft. Well!!

I found a seal for a shaft 1.719 and emeryed the spindle down nice and smooth and it came to 1.722 and I figured that was close enough. Maybe I'll work it down a bit more.

Ah, but then I checked the right spindle - *$*^@#%^!!!!! - it was 1.710-1.713". I found the nearest S-sleeve required a minimum shaft of 1.715 - Now What? Hope I can either permatex or epoxy it to that shaft and get it centered. (Not sure which to use).

That's if I leave the shaft as is and don't smooth it up. Probly should leave it rough so the 'glue' might stick better.

Don't just replace parts as per the old part numbers; measure everything; ID's, OD's, shoulder depths etc. Check existing parts numbers against specs.

If I had hired this job out what might they have done?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: A Simple Bearing Job?

This is what I would have done:

"Man this axle sure has some weird parts!"

Drive to Tractor Supply and buy a new complete axle for $120


(actually that's pretty much what I did do. I was having a heck of time finding bearings and particularly seals for my trailer. I took the axle to an RV shop and they said hmmm never seen one like that before. That was all I needed to hear. Trash heap!)

 

[Bolixt]

Re: A Simple Bearing Job?

Did you get hubs/bearings etc with the axle?

I see online they showed 5-6 axles so I phoned the local Trailer Supply and they said no hubs etc. The online pic shows hubs. The call got cutoff so I never got the whole thing really nailed down for sure.

Prices ranged from $120 to $150 mine would probly be the $150.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: A Simple Bearing Job?

Mine was totally complete with hubs. ready to go.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: A Simple Bearing Job?

Curious: How did you determine the seal size? Did you mike the inside? ID of the seal is always smaller than the shaft OD. Sounds to me like a 1.688 rubber seal ID would be just about right for a 1.71-1.72 OD spindle.

 

[Bolixt]

Re: A Simple Bearing Job?

I had thrashed around the SKF site much. Found this info.

16811 seal: OD 2.627 ID (bore) 2.623 H 0.375 For Shaft 1.688
17136 seal: OD 2.627 ID (bore) 2.623 H 0.500 For Shaft 1.719

OD is the seal OD
ID is the hub ID where the seal fits into with 0.004 interference.
H is the seal thickness.

My seals were the 16811. The rubber was mashed flat......

There was no stated tolerance (or variance) on the shaft size but my left 1.725 shaft is 0.037 bigger; the right shaft (1.071x) is about 0.025 bigger than 1.688 -- Seems a bit much.

In fact the only shaft tolerance stated was for the S-sleeves.

Well there are 3 ways; what you should do, what you can do and what you can get away with. I'll probly use all 3.
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I've got the 17136 seals. Will try to mike the rubber id but that'd be tough for accuracy.