How do I get the 240 rear axle shafts back in, big hammer?

ducttapeandzipties · Post by **ducttapeandzipties** » 28 Apr 2018, 21:35

I pulled both axle shafts and replaced the bearings. They came out pretty easily with a slide hammer. I pressed on new bearings and replaced the seals. Now I can't get the darn things back in again. They go almost all the way, I only need about another 3/8" I tried using the flange and bolts to pull it in, and tried smacking it with a hammer. They pulled out fairly easy, and I was able to pull the cone shaped races out by hand.

How do I get them back in?

93Regina · Post by **93Regina** » 30 Apr 2018, 17:56

ducttapeandzipties wrote: ↑28 Apr 2018, 21:35How do I get them back in?

Never done one of these, but were there C-Clips on shaft's end? Meaning, one was suppose to remove rear-end's rear face.

If C-Clips have dropped off, you need to fetch them

ducttapeandzipties · Post by **ducttapeandzipties** » 30 Apr 2018, 18:05

Nope, no c clips, I have the diff cover off. The axle is kept in the vehicle by the press fit of the bearing and spacer, which is in turn held into the axle tube by the flange and bolts. Really it should have no trouble sliding in, it didn't take much at all to pull it with the silde hammer and it went*almost* all the way in pushing it by hand.

93Regina · Post by **93Regina** » 07 May 2018, 19:00

ducttapeandzipties wrote: ↑30 Apr 2018, 18:05 Really it should have no trouble sliding in

Again, never seen it, but Spider Gears can move about

lummert · Post by **lummert** » 07 May 2018, 19:16

Are you certain that the bearing races are correctly sized?

ducttapeandzipties · Post by **ducttapeandzipties** » 07 May 2018, 19:59

I can see the end of the driver side shaft inside of the spider gear, so it is sliding into the spider gear fine. The only thing I can think is that the bearings are too wide. They only had one bearing in stock at autozone, I ordered the other one from fcperuo, I would surely hope one would be correct, but who knows?

Being that a slide hammer was needed to the the shafts out, wouldn't that mean I would need to put them in with some force?

*EDIT - I was mistaken about FCP, actually got both bearings from autozone"

lummert · Post by **lummert** » 08 May 2018, 09:01

Can you use the above mentioned slide hammer to install the axles?

ducttapeandzipties · Post by **ducttapeandzipties** » 08 May 2018, 20:33

lummert wrote: ↑08 May 2018, 09:01 Can you use the above mentioned slide hammer to install the axles?

I could. but I don't think it's necessary. I went to the junkyard today, pulled an axle and measured the ring and bearing. The axle pushed right back in by hand, no problem. The ring I have is about 5mm wider than the one on the junkyard axle. And guess how far away I am from seating this axle completely? 5mm. So somehow I have two rings that are too wide, even though I bought them from two different places. The bearings came with two rings per bearing, the one I didn't use is the narrow enough, but the diameter is far too big to fit inside of the seal, almost 7mm too big, so no way it would fit. I'm tempted to try and pull the rings off and turn them down on the lathe at the hackerspace.

Just for illustration, this is the old bearing and ring. It's the new ring that is too wide causing it to bottom out on the axle tube.

lummert · Post by **lummert** » 09 May 2018, 15:29

Maybe use the axles that you pulled at the junkyard.

93Regina · Post by **93Regina** » 09 May 2018, 22:47

What bearing kit did you get?

National Bearings RA-338