Rear axle all back together, crap!!!

Well, I've replaced inner seals, bearings, races, and the outer seals.

I put it all back together. Torqued the drums to 150 ft/lbs. Now, the axle isn't turning smoothly (it was after seating the races). There isn't a lot of resistance, but it is definitely not smooth,,,almost like the feel/sound of the chain on a motorcycle while pushing it.

I packed the bearings the best I could, but have not greased them in the axle yet. Everything went together very smoothly, I didn't force a thing (except for the inner seal and race.)

The only thing I did that I wonder if I shouldn't have:
1) I used an impact wrench on the six bolts on the bearing retainer. They are tight.
2) I didn't shim it,,,I just reinstalled the exact shims that were in there.

Now I can"t get the stinkin drums off. I might as well buy a puller, the guy with the brake shop will get tired of me snooping around. I tried with a hammer puller, no joy.

Any ideas on what my bearing problem is?

Thanks.

 

You can't just put the same shims back in on a rebuild with new bearings as the production tolerance on the bearings will make them slightly different and will require different shims. Sorry about the difficulty!

 

check the shims. when i put mine back together i accidentally put the shims on the opposite side from where they were supposed to be and i had a similar problem.

 

Alrighty then. Do you believe that could be the source of my grief?

If so, then if I add shims, it should let some slack in the bearings, and then they roll like they did prior to installing the rest of it.

I thought I checked endplay, and "could almost feel it move," as per advice. I will admit that I am but guessing,,,and learning though.

How's my logic?

 

I plead the fifth.

I'll report back.

Thanks. I really appreciate the knowledge and experience you share.