rear wheel bearings

[philby26]

hi guys
i was just wondering if someone had a good clear picture of the stanard diff wheels bearings for an fb i am having trouble locating the right ones i am in tasmania so if anyone could help that would be grate

[MyEKisdriven]

I replaced my handbrake cable the other day and found my rear axle seals were leaking as much as the federal Labour party cabinet.

Trolling through in here to refresh my memory on replacing rear bearings and seals on a standard EK I came across this thread.

Since I"ve just purchased a rear bearing kit from Repco I thought I'd give out the part number;
Part Number WBK2765

Cheers,
Graeme.

PS, I'm not looking forward to fitting the kit..

[MyEKisdriven]

troy_fb
Post subject: Axle Seals
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:22 am
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 1:15 pm
Posts: 44
Location: Hobart

Hi Guys,
Just fitted a 3.55 diff to my FB wagon and have finally removed the source of vibration and noise I have had for 10 odd years.

During the process I found that the two manuals I have differ in the axle seals they describe and I wanted to clarify the difference.
One describes a bearing with a seal that fits to the outer face while the bearing remains flooded, the other describes a setup with a sealed bearing and a boot/seal that fits into the end of the axle housing.

I had purchased the later seals but found that I had what seemed to be a sealed bearing (with O ring around outer edge). I wasn't completely sure if the inner bearing face was sealed and so did not want to fit the inner boot/seal if it was going to deprive the bearing of lube, so left everything as is and cross my fingers that it doesn't leak.

Anyone got experience with these differences and can tell me what i should have done?

I'd be interested in the answer to this old post, the kit I mentioned earlier seems to have both of these options.

Cheers,
Graeme.

[Beauii60]

Hi Graeme,
I've just fitted a 3.36 diff to my '62 Ute and bought the Repco kit as per the one you purchased as this was the one listed in Repco's catalogue.

Firstly, this kit is not for FB/EK as it features the EJ-onwards axle seal (same diameter as wheel bearing outer race) that sits between the bearing and the diff.

The EJ+ axle housing ends has a different design toaccommodate the seal shown in your photo.

FB/EK's have a leather (originally) seal that is about the same diameter of the wheel bearing inner race that is pressed into the axle housing so you did the right thing leaving the seal out.

The axle housing features a counterbore that is the same size as the wheel bearing, then what looks like a front wheel inner bearing outer race (d'ya follow that?) then another counterbore for the leather seal.

I've (tried to) attach a photo showing the leather seal in place.

Do you remember seeing a seal further up the axle tube?

If not you might be relying on the bearing seals (designed for grease) to hold in the diff oil. Check for leaks.

Then there is a thick rubber ring that sits behind the captive plate on the axle and inside the brake bracketry (not sure what this seal does though).

What I'd like to know is how on earth did you get those piddly little O-rings to slide into the axle housing?

I've tried everything but they kept rolling off the bearing until one tore.

The old bearing had a single big meaty o-ring about 3 mm thick that sat nice and deep in the groove.

The Repco bearing has a 1.5 mm o-ring that sticks out about half of its thickness (poor design).

All I can think of is grinding the 45 degree chamfer at the end of the housing to provide a more gradual reduction in diameter so the o-rings won't pop out.

I'm off to Repco today to try get either a refund or a new set of o-rings.

Cheers,
Tony

[Beauii60]

Dear All,
After unsuccessfully trying to install the Repco bearings, I bought a set of NTN bearings which had the "proper" 3 mm o-ring.

Surprise, surprise they went in in a flash. I must add that as an ex-&*#@ rear axle engineer I know a little bit about these things.

One other thing about the Repco bearings is that the retaining collar is super hard and it blunted my Sidchrome cold chisel which didn't even scratch it.

After grinding away a bit and pressing it off, it was not kind to the axle at all so I will be checking the axle retention going forward.

One unexpected bonus (apart from no rear wheel bearing noise, UJ thrumming, and high engine revs) is that with 205/60 x 13 tyres the speedo is dead accurate (confirmed with GPS).

The loss in acceleration (hey, we're talking about a 75 hp engine here) is barely noticeable.

Overall, a great improvement to my daily driver pictured recently delivering a load of rubbish to the tip.

Cheers,
Tony

[MyEKisdriven]

Thanks for the information Tony, much appreciated

I was planning in fitting the rear bearing kit next Tuesday, one of the machanic lecturers wanted to use my ute as a demonstration on fitting the bearings.... (,I work at a TAFE college).

Ok, so here's what I got from your post:
1/ ..Repco has supplied me with the wrong bearing kit.
2/ ..The kit I have will not fit.
3/ ..I'm up the creek if I can't source the correct kit by next Tuesday!!
4/ ..The correct kit is a set of NTN bearings which had the "proper" 3 mm o-ring.

So given the above, where can I get a set of NTN bearings from ?

In the mean time it looks like I'm off to repco to get my money back

[MyEKisdriven]

oh, great looking ute Tony...

[MyEKisdriven]

Update:

I've been down to Repco and got a refund since they no longer supply rear wheel bearing kits for Holdens produced prior to 1963.

I did some digging online earlier today and found that many parts stores had the same (,wrong) part number listed for EK's
I have managed to track down the correct part number, I found it on Suppercheap's website. They list two manufactures with the correct part numbers as follows:

TIMKEN
part # 2764

GCB
part # GBK0167

I have ordered a set of the Timken brand as it comes in a pair for both rear wheels, at $53.00 it was cheaper than the wrong parts I got from Repco.

If it wasn't for Tony's post I wouldn't have known to chase this up so thanks again Tony..

cheers,
Graeme.

[parisian62]

Good info there. Thanks for posting up.

Stewart

[Beauii60]

Hey Guys,
My pleasure. I had a bit of trouble convincing the guy at Repco that his catalogue was wrong - until I showed him the parts that came out of my ute.

Graeme, if the kit did not come with an axle seal, make sure you get the correct one (I got mine from Dinkum autos - talk to Chris 03 9532 5955 or check their website).

One other thing, before you fit the diff it's probably a good idea to fit an new pinion yoke seal (if you don't know how good the seal fitted is).

I (foolishly) didn't and mine leaked so much that I've got oil spatter on the tailgate (from the oil mist blowing under the car then up onto the body).

Not only was the seal shot but the seal land on the yoke badly corroded (I'm chasing an NOS one or will sleeve mine).

Undoing the 120 ft/lb yoke nut took 45 minutes and ended up with me jacking up the end of my breaker bar. I've never seen a Sidchrome tool wih a 1/2" of deflection!!

Thanks for the compliment on my car - It's my daily driver and gets many positive reactions, even little old ladis.

Cheers,
Tony