All the gear swaps I've done thus far were done using dana gears in place of dana gears on axles previously setup with all the necessary shims in place. Using the tolerance marks on the gears and a handy dandy table, it's a no brainer to get the mapping and backlash in one try.

I'm now looking at setting up a couple of axles that came to me as bare housings with no shims in place. I know it's gonna' take me several tries to get everything set properly (read: I know I'll have to take bearings in and out a few/several times).

How exactly have you guys made your "setup bearings"? Is it as simple as taking a stone drum to the inner and outer i.d.'s along with a healthy dose of patience and a gentle touch? Or is there another trick to it.

I'd hate to ruin $50 worth of bearings.

cm "cheap skate" k

Some of my friends did this and it seems like a good idea.
They took some old bearing and a dremil and hogged it out a little bit so the "press" fit was gone, this would allow you take a hammer and tap the bearing off, saving tons of time of pressing it on and off.
once you got the shims right, press on the new bearing

One vote for a dremel and a stone wheel.

Any other ideas?

cm "thanx dude" k

thats what i did too, worked great.

Dallas

Similar answer: I used a drill-mounted honing wheel. Basically, three sandstone "arms" that pivot. Keep 'em lubed w/ WD40 and take your time. Took about an hour to hone out the carrier bearings and makes doing the setup MUCH nicer.
Dion

Yes, the three stone honer used for honeing cylinder bores should work, WD-40 also is a good way to keep the stones from cloging up. The Shop that rebuilt my engine used their Sunnen Honer that they size Rod ends with, to hone out the ID of a set of old carrier bearings for a D-60 to use for set-up.

Saved them a lot of time.


Eric

I'm diggin' the idea of the 3 arm hone. What type of hone did you use; brake caliper, engine cylinder, etc?

I would think that would give you a more even "material removal" versus trying to "hone" evenly with a drum in a dremel.

I'm sure it will take a heck of a lot longer, but once I make these things, they'll probbaly get a lot of use so I don't mind putting in the time up front.

cmk

Edit: Alpo beat me by a few seconds with the cylinder hone dealio. Thanx dude.

Originally posted by Blatant
Similar answer: I used a drill-mounted honing wheel. Basically, three sandstone "arms" that pivot. Keep 'em lubed w/ WD40 and take your time. Took about an hour to hone out the carrier bearings and makes doing the setup MUCH nicer.
Dion

Is that how long it takes? damn... after 15 minutes on one bearing, I just gave up. LOL

to get backlash set on my bare housing , I pressed the bearings on, put them without shims in to the housing. put a feeler gauge between the housing and the race to get an idea where to start. worked pretty good.

I have dummy bearings made by DANA. Perhaps they are still available??

They make these cool little "flapper wheels" for die grinders. its a whole bunch of little pieces of emery cloth mounted radially.
They make short work of making setup bearings. Only takes a minute or two.

Here's the five minutes per bearing way:
Pick up a rotary bit from Snap-On for an air cutoff tool or similar. Put the bearing sideways on the floor, on a rag of course. Go round and round for about, well, five minutes. :flipoff2:
I also like to take off the OD of an old inner pinion race so you don't have to beat on the shims to change them out.
And better yet, all diffs should be 9"'s and 14 bolts! They kick the shit out of Danas to set up.

Zags' solution is a good one, too, though I like the precision of the hone and knowing I was getting equal surface removal around the entire face of the bearing.
Dion

i did some with cylinder hones, buts zags way is much faster, they make those flappers in different sizes, last time i opened a bearing i took it down to the local tool shop and got me a flapper thats fit snug inside the bearing, it turned out nice and just as precise.

I was told by a mechanic that I know, that you can get Dana set up bearings.
He had heard of getting them from a Ford dealer.
(I'm sure you can get them elsewhere.

$$$???
Using the flexable flapper wheel gets my vote...some sort of hone would be my next choice.

HTH

MJ

I just tried both today, and the flapper beats the hone hands down. BTW, after checking the race with a 1/10,000ths inch inside mic, I don't believe the hone would have been "more even" or "precise"...Mike

I used a master cylinder hone to make mine......

and I've used it a time or two to open up the journal on bearings to get them to go onto "precision" gears....

precision is the ONLY brand I have EVER had to do that with, 2 different sets of D35 gears for rangers (no, one set was not replacing the first set cause of fuckered up bearings, they were in 2 trucks).