Why did the Chicken cross the road?

[1970FordTK]

Answer: to get out of the way of the tire and the axle from the ford 9" rear end coming down the road at it. Thats right, my drivers side rear tire and axle passed me after going across a rail road crossing. Just greatfull I was only doing 20mph at the time. After I get it on jack stands tomorrow I will have more info, but the retainer plate was still bolted to the axle shaft housing. Now I'm just a jack leg/half decent old tractor mechanic, but aint that part supose to stay in there if the plate stays? I think I've had my big excitement for the holiday season, for those who know would you mind giving me an idea what I'm in for to fix this so it don't happen again. With pictures if you can, I don't know if I will be able to hold tools or books steady tomorrow if I can get some sleep. I am greatfull that no one got hurt or anything other than my pride and the asphalt got hurt. ( left a little bit of a line down the road when the axle housing inners of the drum came down) May need to reupholster my truck seat due to massive vaccum created up into my rear from this. Well there is some paint damage to the rear tire area and bedside, but to me thats extremly minor. Am I cursed or has this happened to anyone else?

[fordman]

ive seen gm rearends do that because the c clip in the rear end broke. but ive never seen all four nuts come off the retainer and let the axle go out. thats all that holds it into the axle is four nuts. they must have alll backed out. i dont have any pics of it. but take the tire and drum off and push the axle back in you will see the studs that the plate bolts onto. replace the nuts and maybe use some lock tight on them. you will see a hole in the lug flange to put a socket through to tighten the nuts. then put the drum and tire back on. the drum might have some locking clips that hold it to the axle by the way. just remove them to get the drum off of the axle.

[Hawkrod]

Fordman, I think you misread his post. the bearing retainer was still bolted to the housing. This si actually how it should be and is normal when a bearing completely fails. They usually make noise long before they come this far apart though! Hawkrod

[fordman]

i missed the word housing. the bearing went bad its pressed on to the axle. take it all apart and reassenble it at a press in the order that it is suppose to be together. the plate then bearing and so forth.

[1970FordTK]

Hawkrod's got it right, few things I will need first like how far from the stud plate do you put the bearing on the axle and bearing stop. What order do they go, or will this be the same as the way it is on the passenger side one. Distance from stud plate, order of stuff I think ya'll get the idea. I have a buddy that has a press that I can use to put the stuff on (all new bearings and the like that is) any tips or life saving advice would be helpfull. Hawrod, between the new cab seals and sound deading along with dual shortie glass pack exhaust ( 2 1/2 boar 12" long ones) I may have not been able to hear it complaining. Didn't get any vibration in the wheel or on the foot back through the driveshaft. By the way is there any way to tell wich bearing size it needs other than taking them out and hoping its got a part number on it.

[fordman]

its the same as the other side. retaining plate. bearing the book says there is a retaining ring but i dont remember ever seeing one. then the seal and a gasket for the retaining plate. the is a surface for the bearing to sit on. the retaing plate should spin freely on the axle once the bearing is back in place.

[fordman]

sounds like the car axle was the same as our trucks.

[Happy_Camper]

After the wheel bearing is pressed on, there is a retainer band (it's a little more than 1/4" wide) that presses on the axle behind the bearing. It is this ring that is "supposed" to keep the axle from pulling through the bearing. I was running an enduro with a 9" in a Torino and had the same thing happen.
One of two things normally cause this:
1). Reusing the old ring when replacing the bearing ( a big no-no, and most common mistake I see)
2). An axle or tube that is bent will overheat the bearing and heat the ring causing it to expand enough to slip under load.
If there are no blue heat marks on the bearing, than I'd expect #1 to be the cause. Mic' the machined surface of the shaft to make sure it's still in tolerance, chuck the axle up on a lathe and check for bending near the flange.
If all that is good, take your differential to a reputable shop, and ask them to check the tubes for trueness.
Just did a quick google search for a diagram. Here is a decent set of instructions on the wheel bearing, and retainer that I am speaking of.
https://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0 ... oPages.htm

Good luck,

[FORDification]

...or you could check out the Schematics & Diagrams section right here at FORDification. Here's a link to the same graphic, but with much higher resolution:

http://www.fordification.com/images/sch ... ential.jpg

[1970FordTK]

Thanks guys, all I need now is the torque for the nuts on the retaining plate. From what I can tell from the carcass of the old sealed bearing, it lost all the grease and failed. I have an appointment on thursday to have new bearings pressed on the axles. The new bearings came with new retaining rings, wich will get used. While I'm at it I'm also replacing the oil seals, the one on the failed bearing side is toast anyway. And it has Ford stampings in it, the bearings where from Green. I suspect I've been sitting on this time bomb sense I got the truck. Defiantly not something I'm use to have to check on a truck. Any one got a maintenance schedule of a Ford 9" rear?

[Happy_Camper]

50-70lbs/ft for the heavy duty rear, and 30-40lbs/ft for the light duty.
I didn't realize Ford put the light duty 9" in trucks... Hmmm, learn something new every day.

[Freightrain]

I had a bearing come loose, but it was in my galaxie and the tire couldn't come all the way off, luckily. Surely brought it to a stop in a hurry though as the tire rubbed the inner fenderwell pretty hard.

Looked like someone previously might have tried to re-use the retainer ring(not good). The bearing was loose on the axle and just allowed it to slide out. No harm but a polished sidewall

[1970FordTK]

Update, after playing a little CSI: I found that one side had a bearing made by Green and the other side was by BCA. The BCA side also had an oil seal by them also, the Green side had an oil seal with Ford stampings on it. The retaining ring on the BCA side seemed newer and was slightly smaller in diameter than the one on the side with the Green bearing. I figure that a previous owner replace the bearing and reused the retaining ring. By cutting a slot in the other retaining ring and a several whacks with a coal chisel and BFH it cracked and removed somewhat easy. By cutting off the outer bearing race, then cutting a small channel on the inner bearing race and a few whacks with a coal chisel on the race it cracked. Making for fairly easy remove of it then. ( BCA must have made some good stuff back in the day)
From this I have deduced that when the Green bearing was put on the old retaining ring was used to hold it in place. When the bearing failed, the already pre-streched metal ring did not do its job and the axle came out. Unlike the PO of this truck, I am replacing both sides at the same time with new bearings, retaining rings and oil seals. Although the BCA bearing was intact, having cut it open I could see that it did not have any grease in it at all. I was not aware of this design on the 9" rear ends, if so I would have replaced these items long ago. (like in the first few months of owning the truck) I would like to thank everyone for their imput and knollege on this and for the help. As I have said before, this place is like having a living breathing shop manual. That doesn't mind telling you the short cuts of how to make a job easier when you have to do it. Once again thanks folks.

[fordman]

those wheel bearings are suppose to be lubed by hte rear end grease. so when are we going to have the chicken roasted?

[1970FordTK]

Fordman, that is the excact thing I thought about the bearings. If you look at the schematics that Keith put in his reply, the oil seal goes in first. Then the retaining ring, then the bearing and the retaining plate bolts over it. The bearings are self sealed with no way to grease them. I have mainly worked with tractors for my mechanic experience, none of them run an axle with sealed bearings. Seems like a design flaw for a heavy duty rear end/raced rear that has a great reputation.
However, I have been very, very slack in the picture department. Mostly due to not having a digital camera, and not being very good with any other type at taking pictures. I hope to cure this in the near future, untill then I'll have to drool over everyone elses pictures. I should have made the topic, "the reason the possum made it across the road". I hope to have Ed "the smurf" (what else would you call sky view blue and harbor blue two tone) back on the road by the weekend, so critters beware.