Rear beam bearing install tool

[Gavin Waddell 18]

hello,

 

My rear beam needs to be rebuilt, (creaking,knocking over bumps, it was rebuild 10years ago). I'm going to be installing new inner and outer bearings and i know that they need to be seated central to the trailing arm shaft. Ive seen a few tools that people have made for the installation of the bearings and was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to share a drawing or dimension of such home-brew tool. I have access to a lathe and some aluminum stock so machining is not a worry.

 

Gavin

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Once you have bought the new bearings you will have the sizes you need to make the tools.

[Leslie green 111]

Bearing sizes :

 

- 2 Bearings on the inner side (chassis) Diam EXT = 53mm / Diam INT = 47mm / Width = 21.9mm brand SNR
- 2 Outer side bearings (wheel side) Diam EXT = 49mm / Diam INT = 42mm / Width = 21.9mm brand SNR

 

I found a 1 and  3/8 inch  3/4" drive socket with an extension bar seems to be  a good fit for the inners ( 46mm outside wall) when I was seeing what would work that I had lying around ,46mm gives a little clearance otherwise it would jam in the tube .

Edited September 2, 2022 by Leslie green

[Gohn 68]

for the inner bearings you can use your old half shafts to guide/nudge them into position

assuming you are pressing out and replacing the half shafts that is

the larger end works well for the diametre of the inner bearing and you can measure and mark up the depth on the shaft

 

 

[Ozymandis 97]

I do actually possess a pair of mandrels turned down to fit , but they are lost in a big pile of such tooling for allsorts of crap. So cant measure them for You.

 

I use an old pivot shaft to knock the inner one in, it works well, and a lump of wood to knock the outer one in. Theres nothing difficult or special about banging them in. The dozens I have done over the decades have all been fine.

 

The smartphone app CNC generation will no doubt recoil in horror, but they are a bunch of puffs, or have businesses and promulgate anything involving a hammer is a sin and You should pay them to do every "specialist" task.

 

Andrew a halfshaft is the driven component in a driven axle, your using the wrong word here.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I’ve seen plenty of prematurely f***ed beams where the bearings haven’t been installed carefully.

 

As you have a lathe so you can make whatever you want, turn your tools to size to support the bearing rollers as well as the outer casing.

If the rollers and cage won’t spin easily with your finger once the bearings are in place, they will indent into the trailing arm shaft and you will be back to square one with play evident. 

 

[Leslie green 111]

Does anyone know what the original Peugeot tool looks like  and if it supports the rollers too  as if you are making something you might as well make it right if its not too complex. ?  A quick google suggests The shafts i, the part pressed into the arm is 46.7mm so would be the perfect outer size  and if the shaft is the same inner diameter the whole way through it must have enough to machine down for the inner 42mm size too.

Edited September 4, 2022 by Leslie green

[petert 593]

These are the tools I made. The mandrel supports and locates the two bearings in the positions shown. It's thus impossible to get the depth(s) wrong. The other smaller tool is for installing the seal.

[Gavin Waddell 18]

Petert, Thats the kind of tool i was thinking about. Would you be kind enought to give the community(me) the dimensions, the diameters are the int dia of the bearing what would the depth dimensions be from the end of the beam tube?

Im guessing that all shafts are the same lenght, and thus the bearings will always be centered on the arm.

[petert 593]

Like this?

[petert 593]

And you need a pair of these, made from mild steel, to remove the old bearings.

[Gavin Waddell 18]

Cool thanks for that peter.

[Ozymandis 97]

On 9/4/2022 at 10:28 AM, Tom Fenton said:

I’ve seen plenty of prematurely f***ed beams where the bearings haven’t been installed carefully.

 

As you have a lathe so you can make whatever you want, turn your tools to size to support the bearing rollers as well as the outer casing.

If the rollers and cage won’t spin easily with your finger once the bearings are in place, they will indent into the trailing arm shaft and you will be back to square one with play evident. 

 

Not using a special tool does not mean, badly or carelessly installed.

 

I resent the implication that my workmanship is poor.

 

I align everything correctly. At assembly my pivots go straight in the bearings by hand every time.

 

I have been doing 205 axles for over 37 years and many that came back a decade or 2 later are absolutely fine to rebuild again.

 

Its bad to make beginners think everything is complex and needs special tools X Y and Z when care and simple tackle achieves the same results.

 

Promoting skills and craftsmanship would be better rather than the promotion of businesses and specialists we see on here all the time.

 

There was a thread bemoaning the dearth of new content on here a while ago, and slagging arsebook 205 forums,  they exist due to the attitudes of people on here eg its impossible to change a wheel bearing properly with a sledgehammer, its impossible to do a rear axle properly with a sledgehammer etc. No its not impossible to do those, its simple and requires care.

Beginners are frightened away by all the Stirling Moss local track heroes or the businesses who think they are Mike Costin.

 

These are old bangers with simple mechanicals many of which can be fixed with Victorian locomotive fitting skills.

Maybe many of these types have no skiils and can only do things with a million tools?

 

Dont get this wrong, I do have a million tools, lathe, press etc but when a beginner asks I tell em the way to do things without using all that, if it is possible.

 

Obviously arsebook 205 forums will be s*ite as is everything to do with arsebook , and never having looked I presume its a chav dickhead fest.

 

 

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Smash the c*nts in however you like, just make sure the cage will still spin easily with your finger when you have finished, simple as that.

[welshpug 1,663]

The citroen dealer tool looks much like the tool peter made, a square edge so the face of the cage is not bent in as Tom said is the trick, sockets arent ideal as they have a fair radius.

[petert 593]

Whilst you can probably bodge the installation of new bearings, removing the old ones is, for me anyway, far more challenging. I posted the drawings for these two tools above. They are designed to pass inside an old bearing, stand up and hit them from behind. Square edge against the bearing. The hole is for a spigot on your long stick/rod, which allows you to hit the bearing squarely. I use a broom stick, sometimes an old ARB. The first inner bearing is the hardest.

Edited September 8, 2022 by petert

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Probably the difference between Oz and here, the outer bearings are often badly corroded, its not worth trying to get them out intact, I pull all the rollers etc out then thin the casing with a carbide burr until it will collapse in.

 

The inner bearings I knock through into the middle of the tube, I've an old trailing arm shaft with a circular bit of 10mm plate welded on the end, then poke them 90 deg and push them out with a long bit of bar. My thoughts being you are going to change them anyway so it doesn't matter if you destroy them getting them out.

[Leslie green 111]

Peter was the mandrel tool made from part an old shaft ? just wandering what would be the easiest way to get something made 

[petert 593]

60mm aluminium round bar. There’s no reason you couldn’t TIG a ring onto an old reasonable shaft though.

Edited September 9, 2022 by petert

[Leslie green 111]

On 9/5/2022 at 1:03 PM, petert said:

Like this?

Hi Peter can I just ask you to check if the  45.55 is correct  on the left as this is 1.5mm smaller than the 47mm inner bearing outer diameter size  ,I think maybe it is 46.55  ? maybe there is a reason for this ? as on them outer the difference is 52.9 to a diameter of 53 which is virtually the same.  

[petert 593]

Maybe I made a booboo on the lathe! If the OD is 47, then you may as well make it 46.4 all the way. I'll check anyway.

[DamirGTI 343]

I have a couple SKF kits of bits and pieces for beam rebuild (bearings , tube seals , collars etc.) so , can take some measurement .. later ..

 

Found beam cross section in early Haynes manual but there's not much to it , mainly outer tube dimension , think i have complete beam diagram with all in detail measurements but cannot remember in which book of the lot i've seen it ?!

Edited October 14, 2022 by DamirGTI

[stef205 92 1 Cars]

Seems like a very over complicated thread to push and remove some bearings. 

I just use a thick bar with a mark on it which measures 200mm to denote the inner bearing depth. 

Removal just keep pushing it in with the same tool until it falls into the larger section of the tube then turn it sideways then beat it out with a old arb. 

I would recommend pushing it in with a press rather than giving it hammer rash and bending over the cage of the bearings naturally.