8-3/4" Axle Questions

[Ford.P51]

Hello all,

I was adding a rear disc kit to the car, so I pulled the axles to install the brackets. The drivers side came out nice, and the bearings looked OK. On the pass. side however, the bearings looked like they had separated when I pulled it. I thought that I would finish the disc brake upgrade, and then the next thing to do would be the axle bearings. Well on the short test drive (only about 4 houses down the street)  the passenger rear was making an awful sound, so I brought it home and pulled the axles again.

Here's a pic of the pass. side axle:



After doing some searches here, it seems that the car was missing the axle end play adjuster lock, which explains why the pass side bearing is now dead.

So finally my questions - I played around with the adjuster turning it clockwise and counter clockwise and it didn't seem to do anything. Is this because the bearing has come apart and the adjuster isn't contacting some threads or something? Just wondering if the adjuster is destroyed or not.

My plan was to pick up some new tapered bearings (advance auto has them in stock!), take the axle to a shop to have them pressed on, and order a lock pawl . Anyone see a problem with this plan?

Thanks in advance!!!

[Chryco Psycho]

I would just replace the axle brgs on both sides , if the adjuster was loose both brgs would run out of the cups & be damaged
using the factory style tapered brg is the best solution , you will probably have to cut the brgs off so youcan reuse the adjuster / retainer plates

[Ford.P51]

Thanks Chryco!

I was planning on doing both. Is there just one tapered bearing and race to be replaced on the axles? I've seen listings for both an outer and an inner bearing. I haven't found an exploded view of the bearings yet ....

[Chryco Psycho]

Yes there is just one bearing per side with a steel retainer ring , there is an inner & outer seal , a grease seal behind the brg & an oil seal inside the housing