Was helping my friend Bill (Bilbo) change the rear axle outer seals on the rear axle of his '52 Chevy 3100 (with '50 GMC sheet metal) yesterday and ran into a problem. Both axle shafts show slight pitting in the area where the rollers from bearings ride. This is a GM H033 which uses the surface of the axle as the inner race for the bearing. The rollers in the bearings show an even less amount of pitting, but it is visible. There is evidence of water in the housing such as rust on the unmachined portion of the axle shafts, the side surface the axle seals and bearings that faces the center of the axle as well as on the differential cover. Bill didn't notice rust 6 months ago when he replaced one of the axle seals himself and then took the whole rear axle & driveshaft assembly to a shop to have the okie bushing and seal replaced. When confronted with failed seals and bearings, the shop that supposedly replaced both outer bearings and seals when they did the okie bushing agreed to buy new bearings and seals that Bill and I will install. Questions: 1. I could not feel the pitting on the axle shaft with my fingernail. Is that "good enough"? Are we looking at another failure soon even with new bearings? 2. Are replacement axles available? I haven't found any new, nor have I looked for used. 3. Is there such a thing as a replacement bearing that has an inner race? Maybe with some machine work on the axle? 4. I assume that having a machine shop weld and re-machine the axle to standard size would be $$$$$. Any experience with any of you doing that? If none of this works out Bilbo, there is always Plan B. I'll meet you at Ken's house the next time he is out of town. We'll swap his rear axles for yours. As little as he drives that Garage Queen of his, he'd never notice.
I have several 47-54 rear assemblies which you guys could have at a baby chick price---cheep, cheep, cheep. A cold beverage or two should cover it. It has been my experience that one hard surfacing starts to go for any reason it will just keep flaking off. Fords have a hardened sleeve that you install after turning down the end of the axle tube. I have used them and just used bearing lock rather than leaving an interference fit and then heating/cooling.
That exact pitting on my passenger axle caused me to replace that seal at least four times. Always leaked. Always caused problems with braking. Ultimately, it was a contributing factor to me replacing the rear with a '72 Nova rear instead of doing the 3.55:1 ring and pinion upgrade on the closed driveshaft rear. I got sick of replacing the seal every year. Andy
Bilbo: Below are comments I collected over on OldGMCtrucks.com using the same description of your problem. Both of these guys are very knowledgeable. First is from Kenneth Crenwelge: The bearing setup on GM half tons wasn't a very good idea from the beginning and I can't understand why they used it so long. That is why we used nothing but 3/4 tons for business. I have scrapped a lot of half tons and I'm sure a lot of others have scrapped torque tubes. I would be afraid that machine work would be very expensive and then it might fail like I have seen cam buildups fail on industrial engines. The old barrel bearings are pretty forgiving, but pitting from water is probably fatal. Most of the axles still look pretty good after 100,000 miles, and a lot of pickups were parked or wrecked before 100,000. The wrecking yard at Stonewall had a bunch of 50's Chevs but they crushed them when the tax assessor wanted to appraise them at an outlandish figure for inventory. I would look around for a junked out 1/2 ton. The axles are usually usable unless they were under water. If it were mine, I would put it back together and run it while I was looking around for better axles. The bearings are expensive and I wouldn't ruin a new one on a pitted axle. You are not going to make anything worse by running it. These guys cut a lot of old vehicles. http://rpmclassicparts.com/ I have bought a lot of stuff from them. And they are pretty good at describing the condition of the part. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The second is from Joe posted Sat September 12 2015 12:22 AM If you cannot feel the pits use some fine emery cloth to shine up the bearing surface area. The small lines from the emery cloth will hold some additional axle lube and the axle "may " live for many more miles. I have seen many axles with a groove 1/8 inch deep and the owners never new there was a problem. The housing has to be clean, and make sure that the vent is clear. Go for It. Joe
Hey Bill H. I did, in fact, polish the bearing surfaces before reassembling the axles and they looked fairly good. I told Susan that You and I may need to make a day trip up to Dallas one day.... Didn't get much response I have a '50 chassis down south that has a working rearend in it, too. I'm still in favor of researching the new design theory, too.
Perhaps... A Speedi-Sleeve would work? I spent part of Saturday installing them on the seal surfaces of my S10 front spindles. I haven't had the torque tube rear apart, so I don't know if the design would lend itself to a sleeve. SKF Speedi-Sleeve Hope this helps, or is at least an option.
