[Damo]

My rear wheel bearings are starting to sound pretty crook. I've got a spare housing in the shed so i'm doing a full rebuilt rear axle to swap over. The centre itself is OK, that will just be swapped between housings.

The plan:

* Stripped & painted housing
* Stock front disks, R31 calipers using Joe's caliper brackets
* Oversize bearings
* Track bar

I was thinking about shaving the bottom of the housing but I don't think the time spent is worth it.

I'm just going to use bushes in the track bar. I was thinking of the big end spring bushes from Sierra leaves. I was thinking of making the bar about 500 long, and sitting about 75mm off the top of the housing (where the diff centre is bolted in).

Any other suggestions?

[BlueSuzy]

Oil

Sounds good to me! Wish i had disc rears to bolt in...

I should really make a track bar too. But cbf at the moment

[Pubic]

if you are going to the trouble to have a nice rear diff, you might as well shave the diff.

if you cut off an inch, its equivilant to a 2" bigger tyre's clearance.

[BlueSuzy]

I was thinking that too... Pubic you should do it too

I should do it, But i get to eager just to drive it..

[Scrawny]

Sounds good Damo, are you going to fit it for me too or do I have to do that?
I say just get it in and do the shaved bizzo later, or just do the re-inforced cone thingy. Do you have any locker in it? What are you using for bearings?

[Damo]

ScrawnC wrote:

Sounds good Damo, are you going to fit it for me too or do I have to do that?
I say just get it in and do the shaved bizzo later, or just do the re-inforced cone thingy. Do you have any locker in it? What are you using for bearings?

Haha you so funny Scrawn What is the reinforced cone thing? My diff centre has an air locker in it already.

Bearings are RW507. They are same ID and OD as stock bearings but about 5mm wider. They are available from CBC pretty readily. Their part number is H202kit, and they go for about $35 a side.

[Scrawny]

Damo wrote:

and they go for about $35 a side.

That's half the price of the proper ones

I think I'm gonna need some soon

[royce]

I used to get timkens for $28 a side

jsut order the NT kit with the built in spacer, I never had any trouble

[kenn]

Hi Damo, The track bar in my LJ is just a Vitara trailing arm with bonded bushes, but don't tell any body

[Damo]

royce wrote:

I used to get timkens for $28 a side

jsut order the NT kit with the built in spacer, I never had any trouble

Joe's backing plates are to suit these bearings, stock ones wouldn't be retained properly. I never had any trouble with the stock ones either, til I put 31s on with large offset rims

[royce]

yeah I was just pointing it out for everyone else who doesnt get free brackets

whats bigger in the bearings? do they have a larger race or just wider?

[joeblow]

just wider. we've had a good run with them and they have proven a lot more reliable.

[smileysmoke]

i am running 31s with mega offset rims and my bearings have held up well so far.. 6 months down the track.. i reckon run standards and see how ya go

[Saam]

i had 235 75 r15s on my sierra with +3 offset and i had bearings collapse yay.

[joeblow]

smileysmoke wrote:

i am running 31s with mega offset rims and my bearings have held up well so far.. 6 months down the track.. i reckon run standards and see how ya go

yes.....6 months....damo don't waste your time with the standard ones. over a period of 14 or so years i've learnt one thing....standard bearings suck!( and i'm trialing something special for the front ) and plus...these mounts won't suit standard...oh...and as ken said...use vit arms with bonded bushes...a minimum 150mm from the centreline of the diff and as close as you can get to the transfer, and keep it horizontal at ride hight.

[kenn]

and i'm trialing something special for the front ) Hmmm is she a real live version of your avatar

[MUD-PIG]

Damo wrote:

Bearings are RW507. They are same ID and OD as stock bearings but about 5mm wider. They are available from CBC pretty readily. Their part number is H202kit, and they go for about $35 a side.

Im interested in this information got my diff out at the moment to and I was going to put new axle bearings too. Ive read the other responses but is there a mod needed for these bearings to be fitted or things changed and does the kit also come with the collar and axle seal...? Im running disc rear at the moment, I priced the bearing kit at CBC SZ293KIT $59.60 each. damn....


I chopped up a Patrol and Landcruiser Panhard bar to make mine. Used a Rose joint up front.

[Damo]

MUD-PIG wrote:

Im interested in this information got my diff out at the moment to and I was going to put new axle bearings too. Ive read the other responses but is there a mod needed for these bearings to be fitted or things changed and does the kit also come with the collar and axle seal...?

It's not a mod as such, but the caliper brackets and backing plate I will be using are made to accept the larger bearings. I will post up some pics once I recieve the brackets. Check this thread for more info.

MUD-PIG wrote:

Im running disc rear at the moment, I priced the bearing kit at CBC SZ293KIT $59.60 each. damn....

If you want to stick with stock bearings I have some brand new in the box bearing kits at home. I think I paid $40 a side, you could have them for that.

MUD-PIG wrote:

I chopped up a Patrol and Landcruiser Panhard bar to make mine. Used a Rose joint up front.

I'm going to try to get to the wreckers next week to have a scratch around, i'll be looking for something similar.

[MUD-PIG]

Thanks Damo, the other thread is also pretty interesting as well. Thanks also for the offer of the bearings though I imagine freight will mean there is not much difference at this point being that part of the highway is missing and freight companies are charging for the extra trip because of it. I would like to go for some stronger bearings replacing them every year or less is not fun.

I went to my local Suspension shop up here the guy has heaps of Standard Panhard bars sitting on pallets out the back he lets me grab stuff every now and then. So maybe even hit up Pedders or something.

[Damo]

MUD-PIG wrote:

I went to my local Suspension shop up here the guy has heaps of Standard Panhard bars sitting on pallets out the back he lets me grab stuff every now and then. So maybe even hit up Pedders or something.

Good tip, thanks!!!

[Damo]

I haven't got too far with the rear diff build yet but I have had a little progress.

Unfortunately no luck with local suspension places when it came to sourcing a control arm, they reckon they don't keep any of that sort of stuff after it's pulled off a vehicle. They did offer to order me in a new/reco'd one at hundreds of $ though... So it looks like a trip to the wreckers soon for that.

I've stripped the housing of paint and it's now in primer. I have to do something about a bracket for the torque rod but don't want to weld anything on until I know how wide apart the brackets need to be. The only other fabrication needed is to weld some brake line brackets on and drill a couple of extra holes in the spring perches for fine tuning the wheelbase. Oh, and i'll be welding some plate to the sides of the spring perches to make them 60mm wide as i've got plans down the track for a conversion to Hilux leaf springs.

Bearings have been ordered off eBay as it was the cheapest I could find. CBC wouldn't honour the pricing they gave me over the phone originally. Joe's brackets have arrived, but I haven't got any pics of them yet. I'll mock up the brackets and calipers soon to figure out where the handbrake cable will sit and will get some pics then.

I'm going to be using soft lines connect a shortened version of the factory hard lines (that are mounted onto the diff housing) to the calipers. The brackets are going to be a bit tricky to make so i'm going to try to source some factory ones. There are two to be found on the front of the Sierra chassis, and one on the rear diff housing. Here is a pic of the one on the rear diff housing.



I need 2 of these brackets, if anyone can help me out please shoot me a PM. Ta!

[Damo]

Got the brackets I was after, thanks to Wants33s.

Got some brake pads for my R31 calipers today, didn't get anything special. Being rears I don't think it will matter too much. I bought decent metal pads for the front though.

[Hybrid]

Sometimes its worth visiting suspension shops that "don't keep anything after its pulled off" after beer o'clock on Friday. A stumble around the back is normally worthwhile lol.

[Damo]

Just a FYI if someone is after brake pads for these calipers, the RDA part number is RDB1106SM.

[datso]

Hybrid wrote:

Sometimes its worth visiting suspension shops that "don't keep anything after its pulled off" after beer o'clock on Friday. A stumble around the back is normally worthwhile lol.

too true, but as long as none confuse you with their love life after too many tinnies.

[Damo]

I'm wondering if I should bother putting in the stock axle oil seals. By the looks of it these new bearings have oil seals built in, so it shouldnt matter if I dont put in the stock ones.

These didnt come with the retainers either (which i'm pretty sure is what the stock oil seal runs on and seals against), so if I AM to fit seals guess I need to get some of them. Seems like a PITA and why bother.

[joeblow]

you must use zook retainers and seals with the rw507 bearings.

[Damo]

Ahh crap.

You wouldnt happen to have the part numbers for them?

[MUD-PIG]

I'll have a look today for you Damo for those part numbers I have the axles out and should be able to read the part No. for the oil seal and retainer.

[Damo]

Yesterday I mocked up the brackets on the axle housing to check clearances. I also notched out the 3rd bracket to allow easy axle changes.

Start with bare housing


Tap on the number 1 bracket, you might need to file a little off the housing


Slide the number 2 bracket over the axle shaft (the holes is just bigger than the bearing so it will slide over it) and slide the axle shaft into place


This is the number 2 bracket in position. You might notice the orientation is different, I was trying it in a couple of different positions


I notched out a piece of the number 3 bracket. This is so that I can slide the bracket over the shaft once it's in place. Otherwise this bracket needs to be fitted to the shaft before the wheel bearing is pressed on.


Now that i've cut the bracket I can take a spare shaft with bearing pressed on and do an easy swap in the bush.


Bracket number 3 in place



With part of the caliper bolted on. You'll notice the bolts coming through the flange like the original backing plate bolts. These hold the whole assembly to the axle tube.


Spacing is about spot on now that I added 1 washer about 1.5mm thick. It's possible I could get away without even using that washer. I'll run it like this for now and see how it goes.


The calipers i'm using (R31 Skyline rear) have handbrake built in. The next step is sorting the handbrake cable.