SQ100 front bearing

I have play in the first bearing, the front bearing, in my old SQ100 forward axle. It's the bearing in the power divider.

I had a seal go bad, and bought a new seal, but then I noticed some heat coming from the bearing area. That's when I checked for play and found some.

I found out there are shims inside. If I replace the bearing, how do I check for proper clearance? I'm assuming that if there are shims, the bearing clearance is meant to be adjustable.

 

Yes, I believe there are shims for backlash in the pinion gear, but this is in the power divider. There is no pinion gear, only the shaft that turns the power divider.

I looked again today and I realized that the yoke is loose. The yoke nut needs tightening. I'll change the seal, re-torque the yoke nut, and see what happens.

Thanks for your reply.

 

I replaced the seal, torqued on the yoke with a new nut, topped off the gear oil, and set out bobtailing to the supermarket.

I got about two miles away and heard a clunk. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a trail of oil. I pulled over to take a look.

I had about a 3" diameter hole in the top of the helical gear cover. One of the pieces lay there on top of the chunk. I turned the truck around and drove home. The truck drove fine.


¿Something lying in the bottom of the cover that came up with the oil and jammed between the gear and the cover?

 

I haven't had a chance to pull the cover off yet.

Would the truck have driven without making any kind of noise, clunking, or vibration, for two miles, if a tooth had split off one of the helical gears?

 

The last guy who worked on it did a bum job of bolting the ring gear onto the carrier. Two of the 5/8" bolts came out and were surfin' around the inside of the banjo on gear oil. One of them finally jammed between the upper helical gear and the case.


Wipe out!