What is this? & Do I Need New Bearings? (Rear Axle)

[tbst]

See photos.

First, what is the springy ring? It came out when I pulled the rear axle seal.

Second, what should I do about the gouges in the axle housing? I was wondering why that thing was leaking SO bad, and now I know... Gouging NOT from me.

Third, why are these bearings beat up? And obviously I need new ones, right?

Fourth, thanks!

 

[Deaner]

Did you already take the rear axle seal out? cause there isnt one there.... Some of those teeth look pretty worn so you may need new ones.

 

[Nelsonmd]

1. Those springs are tensions springs that are embedded in the axle seal to keep tension on the rubber inner sealing surface.

2. Oof, those are bad gouges and right on the sealing surface; I suppose you could try to fill it with something and sand it back to a smooth finish, but I would start looking for a new (used) housing to replace it. It looks like someone was really careless with removing a seal.

3. It looks like someone either completely blew out a set of bearings in there, or just mangled the internals doing work. I see your ABS ring is damaged too. That's probably not a huge deal, but it is just one of many damage issues.

Honestly, I would look for a new axle to axle assembly to replace the whole thing. You are going to have to do some precision work to get that thing to not leak. It looks like someone totally f-ed that thing.

Where you located?

 

[tbst]

1. Those springs are tensions springs that are embedded in the axle seal to keep tension on the rubber inner sealing surface.

2. Oof, those are bad gouges and right on the sealing surface; I suppose you could try to fill it with something and sand it back to a smooth finish, but I would start looking for a new (used) housing to replace it. It looks like someone was really careless with removing a seal.

3. It looks like someone either completely blew out a set of bearings in there, or just mangled the internals doing work. I see your ABS ring is damaged too. That's probably not a huge deal, but it is just one of many damage issues.

Honestly, I would look for a new axle to axle assembly to replace the whole thing. You are going to have to do some precision work to get that thing to not leak. It looks like someone totally f-ed that thing.

Where you located?

Morgantown, WV and in May I will be in Scranton, PA (assuming NG prices don't fall through the floor).

Since I am trying to finish college (more of a waiting game than anything else), it couldn't hurt to dremel that down, get new bearings, and see if that works?

 

[Nelsonmd]

You can try to clean it up, but you have lost material that will form a leak path for you for sure, so you will need to fill in the gouges with something. If you have salvage yards around you (which I am sure you do), you might be able to get a housing and axles for cheap. Your bearing retainer looks chewed up as well, so something has gone very bad in there.

If you are on a really tight budget, pry the bearing seal off the bearing (you can access it without removing the retainer and ABS ring). If the bearings look good, you can try cleaning them out and re-packing them with bearing grease. It isn't really a permanent solution, but it is better than running the bearings as is since they have likely been washed out by the gear oil.

If you were in NE, I was going to say I have axle's I would sell you for super cheap, but you would still have to source a housing. The bearings are expensive enough and difficult enough to replace that I wouldn't want to do it "temporarily" knowing you would have to do it again later, but that is just my opinion.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Get a used axle.

With gouges that deep, it looks like someone did not bother to check out BFAD's thread on axle seal replacement and decided to blindly making a stab a repairing it, in which they failed at doing such.

 

[tbst]

I will call around tomorrow. I really have NO where to work on the truck though, here in a college town.

I guess worst case scenario I just let it leak until I move in may. Every 2000 mi costs me $8 or so in rear axle oil.

How did something like that happen to the bearing?

 

[Nelsonmd]

If the PO allowed a leak to go a long time, it will wash out the grease from the bearing, which could allow the bearing to wear out and self destruct. Seeing mechanical damage to the ABS ring, retainer, etc makes me think the PO grenaded a bearing in there, then hired a gorilla to change the axle seal.

If you leave it to leak, you run the risk of grenading it yourself. Gear oil doesn't lube the same as bearing grease, so you could still blow the thing.

As far as working on the thing, do your research here, and talk to some of us that have done the axle swap before to make sure you have all the parts and tools you will need, and know exactly how to do the swap, then you could just do the swap on a 1 day shot somewhere. I totally would have done this kind of thing in the engineering center parking lot at school if I didn't have to leave it overnight.