rear axle bearing replacement

[Tappy]

Hi i'm still on the forum only a hole lot less then when i was unemployed , i barely can follow reading up new posts.

The spider still works and finally i'm almost ready to go and replace the brakes (after beeing urgent for 4 years) , but hey when you cant drive , you dont need brakes , right ?

Anyway , looking at the state of the brakes earlyer this wheek it seems like at least one of the rear axle bearings has some space to wigle arround and i'm almost sure that is not how its ment to be , so i'm planning to replace them at once

I've never done this kind of stuff so can anyone fill me in where to start and even more importand , because i need to order in the pieces from outer Belgium, what pieces i need to order in before i begin. It would be great if someone can tell me what kind of troubles i might have , special fiat tools needed and , well everything you can think of or advise

so far on my shopping list i hve nr 's 4,12.13.14.15 from the picture below
for those who're not bored to death with this ; mine's a 1979 2000

[manoa matt]

The bearing is an interference fit with the axle shaft. It is also locked on with the axle bearing retaining ring, which MUST be pressed on with a 10 ton press. The good thing is both can be removed easily if you are carefull.

The bearing retaining ring sits just rearward of the sealing surface on the axle shaft that rides on the axle seal. I used an angle grinder to grind off the bearing retainer. You have to be extreemly carefull not to nick the surface the seal rides on, I used a piece of thin aluminum bent and taped around it to protect it. I only ground a little bit at a time trying not to heat up the retaing ring to red hot. I also did not grind all the way through the retaining ring, but stopped about 1mm from going all the way through, then split it with a cold chisel. You may have to pry a bit to get the bearing off, but it should come off.

You should be able to place the new bearing on the axle then take them to a shop to have the retaining rings pressed on. I did the aforementioned procedure to save some money, but now that I think about it, it probably was not worth it. The shop should be able to press off and press on the bearings and retainers in a matter of minutes.

[ventura ace]

I second Matt's suggestion to have a shop press the old bearings and retainers off and to press the new pieces back on again.

Be very meticulous when re-installing the axle, so as to avoid damaging the seal. You could possibly fashion a thin cardboard protector ring to put inside the seal as you slide the axle in, then remove the protector sleeve before sliding the axle in the last couple of inches.

Don't overfill the rear end, or you may get leaks at the axle seals.

The o-ring seal (item 12) is for keeping water from going into the bearing OD area. I didn't have much luck finding new ones. You may need to re-use the old o-ring, which should be OK, if it appears good. I lot of folks just leave this o-ring out, but it is better to put it back in if possible.

Alvon

[Tappy]

ok guys thx i'll keep ya posted on the progress hopefully i get the requested parts before the weekend , after that i need to find a decent , affordable mashineshop to help me getting those off and on