D44 - how to remove differential carrier bearings?

I'm swapping in a used Trac-Lok on my D44. Unfortunately the Trac-Lok bearing races are missing so I must install fresh bearings.

I need to figure out a way to pull the old bearings and install the new ones. Also, I'll probably have to do this more than once as I set up the pre-load. I've seen these bearings pressed off using a bearing seperator and back on using the proper diameter socket.

If I don't have a press, can I install the seperator, then use a gear puller on the seperator if I can find the right diameter socket to engage the carrier and let the bearing slip over?

Any ideas for re-installation without a press?

Thanks!

Do you have a set of set up bearings? I cut my old bearings off, and used the set up bearings to set the gears, and THEN pressed on the carrier bearings. Backlash may change a bit if your set up bearings are sloppy.

I didn't use a press for any of the bearings. You can heat them with a torch (very carefully) to get the most of the way on. Put on the old races, and give 'em a few smacks with a mallet and aluminum drift to fully seat them.

Good luck.

-Jon

Setup bearings? Now there's an idea! I take it I should find an old set of bearings, sand the id some so they will slide on/off, use them for the setup 'cause it's easy, then hope my new bearings are the exact same size as the setups. Good idea. Bet I can find an old set somewhere...

Thanks!

That's the idea. I read somewhere of someone who made his setup bearings by using a brake cylinder hone to clearance the I.D. of the bearings enough to make a slip fit rather than a press fit.

Be sure the bearings you use aren't really toast, though. The whole idea is to get the shim pack set correctly, and if the old bearings are really worn they won't set up the same as new ones.

I think it's worth paying a shop to press on the bearings once you have the shims set up. The image of putting an old race over a brand new bearing and beating on it with a hammer and drift makes me cringe.

"Brake cylinder hone" - another good idea! I was wondering how I would sand case hardened steel.

Agree about pressing new bearings on. I'd rather not pound on them although it would probably work. If it didn't I would find out only after a lot of work, and then face a lot of work for repair. Worth the drive to the shop!

I pressed the bearings on my D35 carrier with a piece of 1/2 all-thread run through the carrier with a nut, washer, and proper sized socket on either end. They went on pretty easily.

Eagle said:

The image of putting an old race over a brand new bearing and beating on it with a hammer and drift makes me cringe.

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Why? The Aluminum drift is WAY softer than the race and the bearing. How can you "feel" if the bearing is binding when using a press-- I know I am in the minority, but I like to know how the bearings "feel" when installed. Each to his own. I like the hands on approach.

-Jon

Michael,

since you have access to a lathe you could chuck the bearings up in the lathe and turn out a few thou.

Here is a link to a good article that might help. http://www.jpmagazine.com/howto/68221/index.html

Greg

Beezil - that's the pic I've been wanting to see! Now I know how to pull them off. I was concerned I'd have to make a press jig of some sort but now I see that all I need is to purchase a little tooling.

Ryan - yep, I could bore them. I was just a little concerned the race ID would be hardened, but I have a carbide bore I could probably use to scratch off a few .001

Greg - thanks for the article. Has the same pic as Beezil.

The brake hone is going to take quite a while. If you've got access to a lathe, do you also have access to a jig grinder? My assortment of setup bearings have all been due to the fact that we have a jig grinder. My brother tried the brake hone for a while until I smacked him in the head and told him to walk up to the machine shop.

Here's the finish to the story...

I purchased the OTC bearing splitter pictured by Beezil and made a fixture similar to the puller he shows.

For the fixture I just welded a couple of 1/2" thick X 2" wide bits of steel parallel to each other at the right spacing apart, placed a big socket where his central threaded rod is, and used threaded rods on the ends where he shows bolts - to go up between my welded metal. I placed nuts on these rods and turned each nut 1/2 turn at a time keeping the fixtrue perpendicular to the carrier axis. Worked like a charm!

Also made setup bearings by boring on the lathe. Boring is easy. You just grip the bearing on its ID by expanding the lathe chuck within it. Bore a little more than 1/2 the bearing depth then flip bearing over and bore the other end. Worked great and having setup bearings helped a lot.

One note on setup bearings: they allowed me to place/remove the carrier easily and without uncertainty in where exactly the carrier sat within the diff housing. This allowed me to save a lot of labor as I set the pinion depth since at each pinion depth trial I found I needed to shim the carrier a little different to get the proper backlash.

However, when the time came to select final shims and install them under pressed-on bearings, my setup shim selection wasn't even close. I don't understand why this happened, but perhaps I wasn't able to squeeze the setup set completely since, after all, I was just placing the bearings by hand. So setup bearings turned out to be a good idea for pinion depth setting, but not for final backlash or carrier bearing preload.

Ryan Brown advised me to start setup using the thickness of shims that were already installed on the old parts (pinion and carrier) that I removed. I tried many different shims, working from pinion too deep thru to pinion too far and have come out to 0.001" from the orignal shims in both pinion position and also backlash. Looks like using the original shims is an excellent starting point.

I have a new question but will start a new thread to ask it.

Thanks for all the help!

When you bored the setup bearing races, how much material did you remove? I want to do it, but will have to take them to a shop. I don't want to bore too much or have to take them back.
TIA

MoFo said:

When you bored the setup bearing races, how much material did you remove? I want to do it, but will have to take them to a shop. I don't want to bore too much or have to take them back.
TIA

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I don't really know. I just took off a little powder, then tried them, then repeated the process. I suggest you measure the carrier OD where the bearings are pressed on to, then add something in the 0.001" to 0.005". Note that 0.005 dimeterical clearance is huge and will have a very sloppy fit. .001 or maybe .002. Take a carrier with bearings dismounted to the shop that will do the work and have them do the same procedure I did.

OneTonXJ said:

My brother tried the brake hone for a while until I smacked him in the head...

Click to expand...

Sounds like Orange County Choppers.