3 retainer axle mod?

[BN-2B]

Finally dove into that leaky rear axle and found this.
...Apparently the P.O. was a real innovator. 3 retainers, no snap ring. But check out that grease test! Not bad! Without even reversing the retainer.
So, could this be entirely from another vehicle? An interesting mod, or a serious hack?

 

[sleepydad]

Finally dove into that leaky rear axle and found this.
...Apparently the P.O. was a real innovator. 3 retainers, no snap ring. But check out that grease test! Not bad! Without even reversing the retainer.
So, could this be entirely from another vehicle? An interesting mod, or a serious hack?

Hmm interesting but no clip is probably not the best. Guess it was holding up, that looks like a I messed up the clip and forgot to order parts but I need to get this done I will fix it later. Later turned out to be never.

 

[BN-2B]

NeverLand

Hmm interesting but no clip is probably not the best. Guess it was holding up, that looks like a I messed up the clip and forgot to order parts but I need to get this done I will fix it later. Later turned out to be never.

Perfect. NeverLand is home.
As these 3rd Gens turn twenty wrenching resembles archeology, or CSI.
The ABS ring shows friction on the inboard side.
I'm not sure if the mod/hack was the cause of the leak.
There is some play in the bearing I'm replacing.
The seal (I tried the easy fix last summer), is still in good shape.
There was a suspicious amount of gasket maker all over the place.
-Anybody ever seen 3 retainers like this?

...Please excuse the ridiculously gigantuous pics.

 

[Drcoffee]

The grease test is a fail. The seal has a dust lip and a seal lip. What you see there is the dust lip pushing some grease away. The retainer should be clean to the steel surface where the seal lip rides. From the photo, the retaianer is too far outboard to meet the seal.

 

[mtbtim]

The grease test is a fail. The seal has a dust lip and a seal lip. What you see there is the dust lip pushing some grease away. The retainer should be clean to the steel surface where the seal lip rides. From the photo, the retaianer is too far outboard to meet the seal.

I'm not agreeing with your assessment of the OP's grease test. It's clear the seal lip is riding on the polished shoulder. The grease is pushed back to a shiny witness mark on the retainer. It's clear to me that's where the seal was riding. I do agree it's not ideal because it's closer to the bevel than I would like to see, but the sealing lip of the seal is definitely riding on the polished shoulder.

Even when people just replace the seal and do nothing else, the new seal lip will be riding on the polished shoulder around 2mm from the bevel. If the bearing isn't wasted causing excessive axle play, there's people who will get away with this for quite a while. However, a lot of the time, a worn axle bearing was the main contributor to the original seal failing in the first place, and those people who just replace the seal find out they're leaking right away again because they didn't address the main cause of the seal failing.

I've done this job 7 times now and have seen lots of retainers and the double witness marks on the inner retainer from people trying to just replace the seal to fix the problem. The picture below shows what I'm talking about.

 

[Wedgy]

Nice photo Tim !
Thanks for the input guys, I have this job coming up shortly.

 

[mtbtim]

Nice photo Tim !
Thanks for the input guys, I have this job coming up shortly.

In case you're doing the press work yourself, here's a video you can use for the job.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AVhSDnw2ugo" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[BN-2B]

Axle bearing replacement without a press?

In case you're doing the press work yourself, here's a video you can use for the job.

First, sincere gratitude to you guys for making axle bearings more accessible through your contributions to the interweb.
We have learned that there is a legit place for ‘backwardness’ in the world. The Drcoffee ‘backwards’ retainer mod will be incorporated into this job.

Second, the press. Mtbtims’ video is super informative, especially if you have a press. Wish there was one around but, the nearest machine shop is overseas.
No problem, the job is possible without a press.
This other video demonstrates how to go about it mostly old school, especially the assembly.
A press is still used to remove the bearing and the last retainer from the axle.

 

[BN-2B]

In the spirit of the old school hack, the brute force method was utilized against wood. It wasn’t quick, but it got the bearing out and the backing plate separated.