Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

BTW. I'd error on the HIGH side of the end play spec or .007". Later on after a few thousand miles u mite want to tighten the bolts a little tighter due to gasket compression if a leak should occur. IF u set it at the tight setting of .004 then there is not much room for later tightening.

IF ANYTHING error on the loose side. If the endplay is or becomes zero then the ends of the axleshafts will gauld and possible even weld together.


Mite be a good idea to make sure BOTH wheels are clear of the ground before doing ANY R&R of drums or bearings.

DO NOT use any silicone sealer!!! The seler will eventualy work it's way out and cause a loose fit. If there is some indication that a sealer IS needed then use some gasket shellac such as permatex but only if there is indications of major nicks or other mating surface problems.

The only reason i stress any of this is that a modern trend thru out the industry over the last 20 years ahas been to try to set (or make such claims as such) everything up as tite as possible. It's bad policy.

If you look at my project blog, I have pics of me servicing my rear axles. So there are pics of the shims and what the seals look like.

walkerman, Shown below is a photo of a tool I made to measure the rear axle end play of my '47 Custom Clipper. I modeled it after the tool pictured in the service manual. I basically followed the procedure in the manual with my shop made tool. After securing the tool to the axle with the nut I pushed the axle shaft in as far as it would go and screwed in the screw until it was just up against the axle housing. I then locked it in place with the nuts. Then, I pulled out the axle shaft and measured the distance between the end of the screw and the axle housing with a feeler gauge. I repeated this until I was sure I was getting correct measurements. .004" - .007" of an inch is almost impossible to detect by feel. You need a feeler gauge or dial gauge as was suggested earlier. When reassembling the axles I thought I did not have any end play as I could not feel it. I ended up within spec using the same shims. I had shims on both sides.

The other smaller tool in the picture is one I made to turn the brake anchors to do a major brake adjustment.

Good luck.

(o{I}o)

Attach file:

---

  (20.15 KB)

And if you don't have a drill large enough for the hole, just cut a U shaped notch and sandwich it between two large washers.

JW, nice write up and a nice tool and a good move having the patience and desire to do it "right". Yesterday I was going to describe how to make that tool but ultimately decided that it took too many words and still might not be clear enough - and I didn't have a picture of the factory tool handy. Nice job!

Just as an added thought, for rear axles with a thrust block between the two axle shaft inners, the end play is the total end play, meaning you don't measure and set each axle individually, it's for the pair as an assembly. Therefore if that's the case with the rear end in question, you tap the far side axle to put the pair all the way to one side, set the tool, and then tap back from the side being measured to get the total end play. That's why you sometimes only find shims on one side with rears with a thrust block. Can't say if that's the situation with the rear in question here.

I would never set the end play greater than the spec, it will cause premature wear of the bearing races and then the rollers themselves. Stick to the specs.

O_D, Thanks for the compliment. You may remember when I was wrestling with this problem. It caused a delay of several days until I went back and read the manual again and did it by the book. I was not aware that the axle end play was the total and only needed to measure one side (for those differentials with a spacer block). I'll keep it in mind for "next time".

What I like about this site and the posters on it is the added information provided for a topic. It is invaluable.

(o{I}o)

Well I would like to thank everyone for the help.I finished the axle seals today and after doing it . it was very easy. I did find the shims there were 6 on the left side non on the right side. I must say everyone schould do this the bearings did need to be packed not much grease in them at all.When I saw the tool I was able to use a puller I made. I put a hole in the middle of 3/8 bar then weldr two 1/2 nuts on each side. welded 1/2 nuts to some all thread to use as a axle puller. the right side came right out the other side I needed the puller. Then I took one of the all threads out and used it to check gap I was about 8.

The inner seal was a National-49184 a lot thicker then the new one.national # no good

The outer seal was C/R 22382-I used the same. Someone must have put new outer seals and not inner

Bearing is Bower 26878
Race is Tyson 26820

Thanks Again

Instead of an axle puller, when ready to pull the axle put the drum back on but do not push it all the way on. Then put the nut on about 4 turns and pull the drum out sharply. The mass of the drum will unseat the axle. If needed on a 56, turn the drum around and put all the nuts on a few turns and out she comes

Similar to Fred's suggestion..... I just put the axle nut back on, and the caught the back edge of the nut with the hooked end of a slide hammer. A light tap and it was free.

I've occasionally encountered the situation where the outer race was not a sufficiently snug fit in the housing bore. If you enounter this, just use a small center punch and stipple the circumference of the housing interior where the race will nest. This was a pretty standard technique for this situation.