RWD XT and front wheel bearings

[Markus56]

Hey guys, I'm in the middle of making my 88' XT rear wheel drive, and am having some issues with the front cv axle.

 

When i pulled the shaft out of the hub, the inner wheel bearing and seal went with it.

 

so i have a new wheel bearing and seal installed, and now i cannot install the outer shaft back into the hub. I have greased the shaft and the inner races of the bearings and it still will not go in.

 

What tricks are there to install the spindle shaft? The last time i did a front axle, it just slid right in.

[NoahDL88]

Stick the shaft in the freezer overnight?

[WoodsWagon]

Almost all the axles I did on my EA82 I had to sledgehammer out of the bearings and then use 2 different lengths of cut pipe as spacers to use the axle nut to pull it back in. They were all an interference fit from what I found.

 

Would have been faster to just sawzall the halfshaft off flush with the back of the joint if you were going RWD.

 

Want pictures of my shredded rear transfer gears, busted stub shafts and grenaded differential carriers? These drivetrains aren't built for RWD shenanigans.

[Subruise]

awwww gopher it anyway!!!! as for your problem, try a different spindle?

[idosubaru]

try cleaning the splines of the cv stub first. and the splines inside the hub if they're rusted/corroded/dirty at all. they'll just hit a brick wall sometimes if they're not clean. unless EA82 stuff is vastly different from ER27/Ej, it's been a long time since i've touched an EA front hub.

[GeneralDisorder]

Yeah - there's no spline's Gary.

 

Clean up the shaft with a fine file and then fabri-cut or scotch-brite, etc - make sure there are no burrs or nicks - the fit is not interferance - it's what known as "net zero". Which means the OD of the shaft is basically the same as the ID of the bearing race. If you get them both clean and then coat the shaft with anti-seize they will often slide right in with little effort. Sometimes just a little prying is needed - use the axle nut, then the cone washer (reversed) and axle nut, and then the cone washer, flat washer, and axle nut stacked up - you should be able to pry the axle through with those combo's and a couple small pry-bars. Make sure as you go that the axle is centered up in the bearings - having it angled going into the bearings will cause it to bind.

 

This is not a job for hammers and brute force - you will just comprimise the bearings by doing it that way.

 

GD

[NorthWet]

Also, sometimes the spacer in the hub between the inner and outer bearings can droop down and get in the way.

[WoodsWagon]

It may be net-zero with the origional bearings and spindles, but I never ran across one. Even new ********* bearings and GCK axles were a crank together with the axle nut fit.

 

Believe me, if there was a way they slipped together, I would have used that rather than cutting up aluminum pipe to make spacers. Getting them out usually resulted in mushrooming the end of the axle, so I'd leave the nut on for the first few hits, then grind the threads and back it out.

 

Sometimes working on cars in the northeast requires a different level of "finesse"