Bent rear hub/axle

[fj55mike]

Gents,
I've recently rebuilt my rear axle with new hubs, seals, and bearings. I took great care to measure and set the end float using the .150" spacer and ending up with a .120" bearing spacer ending up with .0005-.001" end float.

The left hand side was no problem, but pressing the splined yoke into the new hub on the right hand side took considerably more force and I am worried that I bent the hub or the axle during installation. During my test drive, I found that my right rear tire wobbles more than it should. I took the following video showing what is happening.

Hub Video

Does anyone have any ideas regarding what might have gone wrong?

Thanks,
MB

[mgcjag]

Hi.....unfortunatly you will have to strip it down......cant see the hub getting bent but possibly the bearings not in correct or damaged.......Steve

[abowie]

I too doubt you could bend the the half shaft and to me the suggestion that the bearings aren't properly seated sounds the likely one. Even if the shaft was bent that shouldn't affect the hub as it should be held concentrically by the bearings. Of course it's possible that it is accident damage that you simply didn't notice before.

I'd pull the whole thing to bits and make sure the splines on the half shaft are perfectly clean. I usually beadblast them so that the hub will go on as an easy slip fit by hand. Then I'd make sure the bearing shells are properly seated.

[JagWaugh]

Sometimes the splines are tighter in one orientation, but fine in another, especially when fitting new hubs. If the hubs had Loctite and you haven't got all of it out then that can also make fitting a bother. The last few sets of hubs I fitted arrived as if the machinist had just blown the coolant off without bothering to fettle them - it took me about 15 minutes per hub to remove all the flags and sharp edges with a Noga and a stone.

If the spacer falls out of the recess during assembly then it's not going to be good.