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DRIVE-AXLE INNER BEARING SERVICE.
Author: andy1canada (Show all albums)

As I've prefaced in the Mechanic's Corner thread, what follows is an amateur pictorial and description of my first attempt to grease the inner drive axle shaft conical bearing assemblies on #846.

There's likely some things I could have done better, or, differently and all are welcome to chime in with their own input to help make this a more useful reference to encourage other owners to do this important job on their own coach.

This is how I did it with what I had to work with. Good luck!
Show Newest Photos First | Show Oldest Photos First33 Photos - Page : [1] [2] [3]


After the 2nd snap-ring is out then this last bearing cup comes out and the entire axle with the last bearing still on it can be pulled out, assuming you've already removed the outer drive-flanges (8 bolts) off the other end of the axles.


This is the entire assembly you pull out reassembled before cleaning.


Get at least 2 of these radial shaft oil seals (#CR-24911/SKF-24911) before you start. I'd recommend having a spare as well in case you bugger one up. I found these are not so simple to put in. It's easy to get them tilted out of whack. I used a stub of 3" OD alum intercooler pipe with a small block of wood on top of it to get it started then finished it up by carefully tapping it all around with a 12" chunk of 1"x3/4" oak.


My bearing was stuck on the shaft so I used a hard plastic mallet to carefully tap around the bearing to loosen it for cleaning and re-greasing.


Finally, here you can see the order of disassembly: cotter-pin; outer castle nut; heavy washer; yoke assembly(not shown); CR-24911 seal; inner bearing & cup; spacer; snap-rings(2); inner bearing & cup. ASSEMBLE IN REVERSE ORDER - GOOD LUCK!


If you need bearings & cups be sure to replace both as a set. Cups: Timken Part #LM603011 Conical bearings: Timken Part# LM603049. SKF Bearing & Cup set (2-pcs) part # BR37 Note: Before reassembly, refer to aforementioned FMC parts/service manual (Group 17) for instructions. I discovered with further reading (I think Dan mentioned it, too) that the cups do not rotate, only the bearings, so I assume that implies they need to be reinstalled without grease and only the bearings get greased.


One side done. Oil seal was a bitch, almost buggered it. Note: Although I will get through this with the coach up on jack stands, do yourself a favour and do this job like Dan advised - leave the wheels on and drive the coach up on ramps! I'm really struggling to hold the yoke still while I use my impactor to get the yoke nut on/off. An impactor is the way to go on this job if you have one as there's very little room under there to swing wrenches.


FOOTNOTE: This is the SKF crossover bearing-cup set you can use vs the Timken part listed in the FMC manual. Set= 1-conical bearing & 1-cup. Note: After I'd reassembled both my axles 'reusing' the (freshly greased) old bearing/cup sets I discovered the pass-side shaft had about 40-50 thou end-play in the shaft. After you unhook the propeller-shaft from the drive-yoke on the end of the shaft, you can easily measure your end-play by popping off the grease cap on the outer drive flange (exposing the end of the drive shaft) then use a Vernier (the thin pointy depth measuring shaft) and then take measurements after pulling the shaft inwards and then pushed outwards and compare the measurement. Talked to a Timken rep and the consensus was that mine was excessive. Bought a couple of new SKF sets (above) as changing out the bearings seemed the only thing left to do to fix it. I was kind of freaking actually until I put a Vernier on the old bearings and discovered the new SKF's were roughly 20-thou wider than the old ones. So I wondered then if the 2 x 20-thou (= 40 thou) extra width of these new ones was the solution to my shaft issue? Reinstalled the new ones and WHAM-O... no end-play in the shaft! My hunch is, just a hunch, this was the first time the inner shaft bearings were done on my coach after 85,000 miles and it may have resulted in accelerated wear, as they're supposed to be done every 25,000 miles. Wheels are going back on #846 today!


LISLE - 34550 BEARING PACKER! GET ONE OF THESE AND DON'T BE STUPID LIKE ME AND THROW AWAY THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU USE IT - THE WRONG WAY! THEY WORK LIKE A HOT-DAMN! (SEE YOUTUBE VIDEOS) NOTE: THESE DON'T WORK WITH THE LARGER SPINDLE BEARINGS AS THE TUB IS ABOUT 1/8" TOO SMALL. WTF?
   
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