Getting closer - New rear axles, very tight - normal?

[tortuga]

New axles from WH, found the old ones had a cracked retainer on one side so why not. These are the sealed, BB units.

Had a hard time getting one side in, and when torqued to 50 lbs on the retaining nuts I cant' spin them by hand, but a wrench across the lugs lets me spin them so they are not siezed.

is this normal?

[earlybronco72]

Re: Getting closer - New rear axles, very tight - normal?

Doesn't sound right to me. Definitely give them a call Monday.

[GREMLIN]

Re: Getting closer - New rear axles, very tight - normal?

Sounds like housing is bent.

[tortuga]

Re: Getting closer - New rear axles, very tight - normal?

Sounds like housing is bent.

Makes sense, any way to check for that without removing the 3d?

Edit - put old axles back in, all good. Calling WH tomorrow.

[DirtDonk]

Re: Getting closer - New rear axles, very tight - normal?

Did you compare the length of the axles to see if ours match the old ones exactly? Actually should be a little leeway anyway, but if they match perfectly then there is something else amiss.
And I wouldn't think that bottoming out the shaft before the bearing was fully seated would cause trouble in itself. Just once the retainer is torqued down maybe.
Did the retainer distort over the bearing when you were pulling it down?

Should be easy enough to check to see if any of the bearings are seized, but that would be extremely unusual if that was the case.
Certainly does sound strange. Give us a call when you get the chance. Maybe one of the others (Johnny or Jim maybe?) has seen or heard of this before.
Don't remember every hearing that myself, but I could be wrong.

Good luck.

Paul

[tortuga]

Re: Getting closer - New rear axles, very tight - normal?

Did you compare the length of the axles to see if ours match the old ones exactly? Actually should be a little leeway anyway, but if they match perfectly then there is something else amiss.
And I wouldn't think that bottoming out the shaft before the bearing was fully seated would cause trouble in itself. Just once the retainer is torqued down maybe.
Did the retainer distort over the bearing when you were pulling it down?

Should be easy enough to check to see if any of the bearings are seized, but that would be extremely unusual if that was the case.
Certainly does sound strange. Give us a call when you get the chance. Maybe one of the others (Johnny or Jim maybe?) has seen or heard of this before.
Don't remember every hearing that myself, but I could be wrong.

Good luck.

Paul

I had the old axles with me, Jim and Johnny both took a look. The only visible difference was the retainer on the old axles is cupped rather than flat, and the retainer is wider and doesn't have a bevel.

[jamesroney]

Re: Getting closer - New rear axles, very tight - normal?

I had the old axles with me, Jim and Johnny both took a look. The only visible difference was the retainer on the old axles is cupped rather than flat, and the retainer is wider and doesn't have a bevel.

There are three common locations that will cause the axle to bind if the housing is not bent.
1. axle spline against drive gear.
2. axle end against differential cross pin.
3. HD Wheel bearing collar rubbing against axle inner seal.

The easiest way to verify this is to take a big glob of white grease (or really any grease...) and slobber up the axle splines. Also put a dab the size of a Hershey "kiss" on the end of the shaft. And another glob on the bearing retaining collar.

Insert the shaft, and bottom it. (tighten the retainer bolts if you want....) Then pull it out and look at the witness marks. Hopefully it will point you in the right direction.

[welndmn]

Re: Getting closer - New rear axles, very tight - normal?

Do you have a limited slip where you are only getting the axle shaft into one set of the gears?

[tortuga]

Re: Getting closer - New rear axles, very tight - normal?

I guess it was just a newbie error. After comparing old vs new to an EB BB housing on the display rack, which was even tighter, the advice was to stop screwing around and drive the inner races in. Johnny found an extra race to use for that last few thou and it worked fine, torque levels good and I can spin the axles by hand.