Sorry for the huge picture. Further digging found this. The axle seal may be OK, but it is getting replace along with this wonderful bearing.

Last edited by RV6 (8/23/2019 4:42 PM)

Bearing shrapnel, yum!  The seal leak hopefully got you to catch it in time.  Sucks, but its time to pull the other shaft and the third member, flush it thoroughly, and reassemble with new axle bearings I seals.  I'd really go over the third member too, make sure nothing got trashed from ingesting bearing fragments. 

TKOPerformance wrote:

Bearing shrapnel, yum!  The seal leak hopefully got you to catch it in time.  Sucks, but its time to pull the other shaft and the third member, flush it thoroughly, and reassemble with new axle bearings I seals.  I'd really go over the third member too, make sure nothing got trashed from ingesting bearing fragments. 

I think the axle seal kept shrapnel from entering the housing. The 8" uses sealed bearings and this one grenaded large time. There is a bunch of junk outside the rear axle seal and the tube/lube inside the housing looks good. I will drain the  3rd member and check for shrapnel. 

Even with the ball retainer gone and several balls to boot, the bearing feels great. No slop, no dragging. 

Nos681 wrote:

Hopefully all is well inside too Gary.
From first picture guess you saw oil on garage floor?

Dan,

I saw no oil on the floor although there was a little seepage around the backing plate. I first thought the wheel cylinder was leaking. When I pulled the drum I thought it was the axle seal. Once I got the brakes removed I could see it was a lot worse. I replaced both rear axle bearings 4 years ago (21000 miles) and thought I was good for another 50 years. I guess they don't build parts to last 50 years anymore.  Four years ago when I replace the bearings/seals I thought, "My gosh, these leather seals have been in here for almost 50 years. I wonder if the new ones will last that long?" I never thought the new bearings would fail. 

RV6 wrote:

NAPA has the parts and will deliver to the house tomorrow morning. Next step is to find someone who can press the bearing and retaining sleeve on as I do not have that capability.
 

Dude, with the size shop you have, get you a hydraulic press. Pronto. It'll pay for itself in no time.
 


This one will work for you, but I'd get the 20 ton.

rpm wrote:

RV6 wrote:

NAPA has the parts and will deliver to the house tomorrow morning. Next step is to find someone who can press the bearing and retaining sleeve on as I do not have that capability.
 

Dude, with the size shop you have, get you a hydraulic press. Pronto. It'll pay for itself in no time.
 
This one will work for you, but I'd get the 20 ton.

 
I know I should just buy one but some times I squeak. Since I'll be at NAPA I'll see what they have in stock and maybe bring one home.

My 39 9N tractor uses a similar bearing arrangement. To replace bearings the lock ring is drilled and split to remove. Once the new bearing is dropped over the axle shaft the new lock ring is heated to glowing red and dropped over the axle and shrinks to fit.

So I hop in the SSR to drive the 18 miles to NAPA to pick up the parts as they would not deliver on a Saturday. Go figure. I get the parts and and now going to head the 31 miles to HF and pick up a press. I hear a loud bang while sitting in the left turn lane waiting for the light. Was that me? I rolled down the window and now wondered if the smell was me. Then I saw the smoke/steam rising up on the right side of the hood. A quick glance at the temp gauge I hang a u-turn and head back into the NAPA parking lot. Fluid is dripping everywhere. I pop the hood and see that the cap on the degass bottle has blown off. WTF over? Napa does not even have a Chebby SSR in their database and have no caps that might fit. I got lucky and found the cap sitting the frame in a non accessible spot. A broom handle got it to drop on the ground. 1.5 gallons of coolant later it seems to be holding water. The stupid electric cooling fan crapped out is what happened. I made it home but still have not gone to Harbor Freight and the mustang is still on jack stands. 

Nice work Gary. With a lathe and press,  I've picked up many pieces of aluminum and steel tube and round bar stock to make for using the press. Baby steps. One piece at a time. You'll have a full service shop in no time

Nos681 wrote:

I’m surprised Gary that you don’t have a wood splitter with your tractor.
Redneck shop press! 😁

I had a leaking oil seal issue with axle seals on my 66 and the local speed shop fixed the issue with sealed bearings.