The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Pulling rear axle to stop oil leak

Dusty, a 20 ton press and a little neverseeze did the job nicely with very little little effort. The difficulty I ran into was the locating the sleeves. There not even as wide as the bearing stacked on the oil seal. The sleeve is 1.341” and the stacked height of the bearing and seal is 1.375”. The rollers are recessed in the bearing about .173”, so that gave me a little bit of room to play with.

To get the location, I ground about .010” off the OD of the old bearing to make it easier to install/remove on my belt sander then reinstalled the bearing retainer washer, bearing, slid in the axle and installed the retainer C-clip. I finished by pulling the axle shaft out into its installed position. No need to install the seal as we are only after the measurements.

I measured the distance between the axle flange (backside of where the wheel bolts on to) and the end of the axle tube where the bearing and seal are installed and then the depth of the machined recess in the axle tube. This and a few calculations gave me the location of where the bearing sits in relation to the axle.

I’ve been documenting every step so if it works I will write up a detailed procedure on how to perform this fix.

Jerry, please send me a picture of the modified tool post on your Craftsman lathe so I could copy your setup.

Great info here guys.

I took a different route on my 49 GMC Suburban. After not having any luck finding a nice set of either good used axles or NOS axles, I ordered a pair from Dutchman.

https://dutchmanaxles.com/index.php

They arrived quick, went in easy and so far no leaks.

Can do! I also installed a square-head setscrew with a brass tip that bears on the cross slide to eliminate any slack in the feed screw. Once the depth of cut is set, I tighten the screw to lock the cross feed in place. It makes for a much more stable cut. I'll take a few pictures of my setup today and send you a PM.
Jerry

TrknGMC, what axle set did you order? Do you have the part numbers?

X2
I looked at the site and have no idea what SR means. A pair of stock axles are priced pretty reasonably. Although shipping up here to me might be $$$$.
I don't know if I need them yet, but knowing what the rear springs looked like and the abuse my truck took early in it's life, I wouldn't be surprised.

I suppose a call to Dutchman would clear that up though.

I finished machining the other axle and this one only took about two hours including pressing on the sleeve. I used a larger carbide bit that was brazed on the tool which made it a bit more rigid. I was able to take .015” cuts so that cut the time considerably. once I cut thru the hardened steel, I finished with the replaceable inserts tool bit which has chip breaker for a better finish.

I tried both axles in the rear axle tube and it appears that the sleeves will work. When I finally assemble the axles, bearings and seals, I will post the results.

Here are the assembled axles.

Thanks for the update and good work on the axles

I finished installing the axles and closing up the rear end. After installing the bearing and grease seal on the passenger side, I tried installing the axle. It wouldn’t slide all the way in so I pulled it back out and tried the drivers side uninstalled new bearing and found it was a bit tight. I had previously tried the old bearings and they fit perfectly, so I wasn’t expecting a problem. With the .0005”-.001 press fit, it expanded the OD of the sleeve an equal amount. Back to the lathe with 400 grit sandpaper on a flat file. I polished the axle sleeve until I got the bearing to just slide on easily. I kept a tab on things with a micrometer. I only removed about .001” to get a perfect fit. I checked the drivers side and had to do a bit of polishing on that sleeve also. Once this was done, both shafts installed perfectly. I feel good about this repair and believe it’s going to work, but only time will tell. After reinstalling the rear cover and filling it with 90 weight oil, I turned the axles and it sounded nice and quiet.

I’m going write up a “Tech Tip” to submit and want to thank all those (especially Dusty) who had a hand in making this happen!

Wow. Awesome. I like the persistence you put forth. TechTip indeed. Good job.