Hot Rods Runaway axle......what happened?

On my way to Nashville last week cruising down the interstate I smelled rubber burning and smoke pouring out of the rear. I pulled over as quick as I could and after I stopped I discovered the left rear tire was up against the fender. The brake shoe was pulled out almost 2 inches. After jacking it up and pulling the tire I was able to push the axle back in and button it up so it would at least roll to be loaded on the tow rig.
I called Tim Fallon from the Fellow Pages and had it towed to his shop nearby.
It appears the axle bearing broke free and the axle itself starting walking out of it's 9 " housing.
With Tim's help I found and replaced the bearing ( using the BFH and 2" plumbers pipe method) and was on my way.
My question is has anyone ever experienced this with a 9" rear and I'm concerned it may happen again. It ran fine going home,that bearing was about 3 years old that I had pressed on when I changed the R&P.
The bearing is a made in China unit which is all I could find at the time, good idea to replace.
Rear end guru's feel free to jump in.

 

I'd be suspect of the axle as well , if the bearing "walked off" it probably didn't do the axle any good ....
dave

 

I've seen axles with the retaining ring tack welded, so it's not a new problem.

I guess too find out exactly what's wrong, you'd probably need to "mic" the axle and see how much of a press fit you actually have. Apparently not enough, but it could have been in the bearing or the axle - it wouldn't hurt to know which one it was.

 

Years ago [25?] I had an arbor bearing on a machine go bad , the local bearing house couldn't match the bearing [obsolete] they had a bearing the right OD but slightly bigger ID , they recomended a loctite product for "bedding" the bearing , I used it according to loctites instructions & it's been fine since [this is a high load/high RPM bearing }
dave

 

I have seen poor machine shops forget to put the seal or retaining plate on before they press on the bearing and retaining ring, then press it off and back on again. Guaranteed failure but they get it out of the shop.

 

Info here.

http://www.loctite.com.au/3320_AUE_HTML.htm?nodeid=8802648195073

 

Good thing you had a fender to stop the wheel from coming all the way out while rolling down the highway. I actually saw that happen, right next to me on the freeway, to some OT Jeep Cherokee. As I watched the axle slowly exit the housing, I laid on the horn to get the drivers attention, but the lady kept driving till the axle popped all the way out and flipped over the top of the car, then headed for oncoming traffic. When her axle housing dropped on the pavement with a shower of sparks, she finally caught on! All she could say was, "I can't believe this happened...I just had the car serviced!"

 

Very scary situation.

 

When you pressed it on previously,did you press the retainer on square from the start.Just a thought.
If any retainer ring is pressed on slightly on the piss from the start it could stretch the ring and
decrease the interference fit on the axle.

 

I had the same thing happen on my OT Bonneville car. Turned out and realized I didn't have brakes. Looked out the window and saw why. Mine never came all the way out and I took both axles to SLC and had new bearings pressed on. And a tack weld to lock them in place.

 

You might check the runout on your wheels. If there is excessive runout it can act like a slide hammer and eventually pull the bearing off of the axle. We had this happen with our bonneville car one time. We bent the axle flange slightly after a spin out.
DON'T ever weld a bearing retainer ring to the axle. that will creat a stress riser and the axle will break at the weld spot.

 

Previously it was done at a shop that was to set up my new ring and pinion,when he didn't have it finished after 2 weeks I pulled it out of there.
Here's a photo of the one I pulled out.

 

There is supposed to be a 'wedding band' that retains the bearing. The bearing won't hold the axle in place.

 

Here is a New issue I just went through. When rebuilding the 9" in my 51 three years ago. I bought both new bearings at N.A.P.A. and installed both myself. I had noticed the wedding rings were different but both took good hyd. pressure to press them on. I looked them over and then installed the Axles. Less than 10K miles and I'm on the side of the road with a left side tire wedged against the quarter panel. I thought I'd broken an Axle. I had just made a right hand turn when this happened. These were SKF bearings. The wedding ring had failed and let the bearing slide off the axle. The bearing on the other side had also moved 1/4". These rings are NOT machined D.O.M. tube. They are stamp formed. Easy to spot with the shoulder step not flat on the O.D. They are JUNK. Look at the I.D. and the shiny spot is all that had clamp force. I can't believe they pressed on as they did. I can't believe I didn't notice the fracturing on the edge. I almost don't believe it was that bad when first installed. This could have been a real disaster, bad enough as it was. N.A.P.A. did nothing about it being they didn't install them in there shop. Here is some photos of the wedding ring.
The Wizzard

 

the rings that failed were made form the "new" type DOM but not the old style DOM , the new DOMs they make the tubing from ERW tube ( flat plate rolled and welded seam ) then run it over a mandrel and thru a sizing die to compact it ( kind of like a cold forging process and there is no seam visable unless you section it , etch it and look for the weld ) , compared to the old DOM which was a Billet pierced by a mandrel which is now super expensive as a few companies only do this because of tooling costs as it uses a carbide pierce . Timken uses the "old style" method of making the wedding rings

 

I have had a shop do this to us and said it would be all right , after that they no longer got our business as we bought a press and did it ourselves

 

There was just didn't photo it.

 

did the whole bearing unit come out or just the axle stub ?? if it was the bearing there is supposed to be a plate that holds that in , I have seen them get bad over the years and allow the bearing to slide thru ( or they use the large end unit with a small bearing housing ( happens more often than you think they grind the bolt holes to make it fit ) , but if your using the 1/2 plate style get rid of them I have seen some that were thin or only had 2 bolts to hold them ( I think the customer in that case modified it as he was the lazy type ) and bend out and allow the bearing to slip out of the housing or had the bolt holes elongate and do the same thing

 

Had the same thing happen, riding around in a friend's '60 vette. Just got off the freeway and I happened to see a tire in my peripheral vision. Could have been ugly.

 

The axle backed out enough to push the drum half way off the brake shoes.
I should have taken pics but semi's roaring by at 70 mph,
I'm thinking the wedding ring must have shifted and the bearing followed, how and why can't figure unless it was heat related.?
Wasn't low on gear lube and the bolts were tight to the backing plate.
I'm thinking of pulling the axles and redoing both with new QUALITY bearings.
Any suggestions or part # would be helpful, Moser? Mine are considered small, 1.531bore x 3.150 outer dimensions.

 

Harry Hoffman welded my retainer rings on. Really just a tack to make a stop for the ring. That was is 1980. Last time I ran that car was 2013. Axles still in one piece. Then I sold the car down under. Have heard no complaints.

 

I owned the second street V-8 Vega that Don Hardy built. When I tore the narrowed 12 bolt rear end down to change gears in it, the housing used earlier housing ends with pressed on bearings on the axles. Yep, there was a very small tack in two places on the retaining ring on one of the axles. I drove the car as a daily driver and drag raced it every time I got a chance. It lasted thru two more owners after me, until the last owner finally put aftermarket axles in it when he went to a 12" slick.

 

I remember that happened to a friend's '71 Ford Torino wagon way back when. I always thought that whole press fit retention thing was a bit sketchy on those rears. C-clips seem like a better idea to me, but what do I know, I'm no engineer.

 

We had it happen on 58 Ford Stock Car with radius wheel openings, the left hand wheel/tire and axle came out on the exit of a corner, due to side load. A small tack weld on the lock ring is good insurance, maybe silicone bronze with a tig.

 

I have always thought the "C" clip was the 'sketchy' method of axle retention. In addition, it's more involved to change an axle. For all the accounts here of axles slipping out of the bearings, it is something I have never seen in 60 years of being around and in the auto service industry as well as a hobbyist.

That's not to say I haven't seen axle failures or bearing failures, I certainly have. Just never saw this sort of axle/bearing separation with a pressed on bearing. Worth noting, I suppose, when I am next installing new axle bearings.

Ray

 

The discoloration of the bearing outer ring is a classic example of fretting corrosion. It is always caused by a "loose" fit. I realize the bearing is a slip fit into the axle tube but your clearance seems excessive. This situation could have contributed to a vibration which eventually convinced the lock ring to give up. Can you post some pics of the bearing bore? My guess is it has similar fretting.

 

Off brand bearings and no so good news down the road . Use the best bearing and retainer you can buy and never look back , welds are added insurance but not needed

 

It happened to my 9" at 70 MPH and by the time I stopped the brake shoes and wheel cylinder were on fire. The heat bent the axle shaft, the housing was scored. Name brand bearings but made in China.

 

Upon disassembly it was pretty clean and not scored nor was the seal leaking.
I'm looking at the Moser bearings at Summit,says made in USA. Can I do better than this?
I plan on driving to Colorado this fall and don't want to be on the side of the road again. I want to repair it properly and move on.

 

I lost a wheel bearing in my 8" last year, almost all the balls were missing in the bearing, but it never moved or tried to come out of the housing. In fact, it barely made any noise, only reason I noticed it was I had to take the drum off because of a broken brake spring, the drum/axle had a lot of play in it. Had new Timken bearings and seals pressed on, so far, no more problems.