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I have a 1951 Packard ultramatic 200 I'm replacing the rear wheel bearings and seals,the passenger side axle came right out but the driver side axle seems to be held in place, does anybody know if I need to open up the rear housing and remove a c-clip to pull that axle out?in the book it says to use an inertia puller but says nothing about removing anything from the housing

No clips used. You can use a slide hammer to pull it loose.

Assuming the brake backing plates have been removed the only impediment in removing the axle is the drag between the axle housing and the bearing cup. Packard controlled that fit to have only a few tenths tight or a few tenths loose, so a few taps with a slide hammer should do the trick. In the ‘Literature Archive’ section of this site there are several shop manuals that cover the details. Since you’re changing the bearings be mindful of shimming the bearing clearance. The ‘as disassembled’ configuration may not correct with the new parts. An item that is not in the shop manuals is the ‘tribal wisdom’ of checking the axle nut torque after using the car for about 100 miles. Because of the possibility of the thrust block to rotate, I would advise the removal of one axle at a time (see the ’54 shop manual).
dp

Client1904

If you check KPack’s 1954 Panama project blog around and beyond page64 you will find a discussion about rear axle bearings. Posting #633 contains a PDF attachment that pulls together most of the Packard shop manual information, plus some Timken technical data on bearing clearance/interference.

So far, we have identified two items not covered in the PDF file. One was pre-lubing the seal with gear oil. And second the fit of the bearing cup into the housing. Specifically, how much looseness in allowed and whether the housing should be lubed.

dp

For reference, here is the thread that David is talking about. Removing the rear axles starts on Page 66. A big slide hammer and a couple of good hits is all it should take to pop them out.

This page discusses the oiling of the outer grease seal.

Thank you so much that's what it says in my manual as well I just wanted to make sure cause as well as my quote on quote mechanic and YouTube say I have to open it up and pull out the c-clip but I keep explaining that it should be able to come off with a slide hammer.

Thank you so much yeah that's what my shop manual says too I keep having to explain it to my quote unquote mechanic I can't trust YouTube LOL

G'day Client1904,
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