Hi all,

It's been 6 months or so since I managed to get anything done on my car - I had been waiting for a friend to turn down my rear flanges to fit the discs for the wilwood kit I got.

In that time I can't remember if I got the diff/half shafts at the same time as the hubs - I am thinking not since when I tried putting it all together, I realised the bearings in the hub don't fit the half shafts. So, when I tighten up the nut over the flange, the axle is off-center. I have measured the appropriate places and taken a photo. Also, the bearing seem to float in and out (parallel to the axle axis) and I don't think that's right - the bearings should fit tightly against the axle and the hub, surely?

If I do have a mismatch, can I just get some appropriately 'fat' bearings so they fit the hub and the axle? Or do I need to get the right hubs?

Cheers,
KEv.


axle mismatch

Are the bearing carriers disc type with the lugs cut off? The disc hubs/shafts are bigger. Looks like you have a drum type shaft and a disc type carrier/bearing. I think (if thats right) you'll need to get some drum type bearing carriers.

That also begs the question, what were the flanges from? If the splines fit the shafts then all you need is carriers.

Thanks for the reply, adithorp.

Yes, they are the disc type carriers with lugs cut off. I'm not sure what type the shafts are - I tried to go back and look at my eBay archive but I bought the diff and shafts so long ago it's no longer on there!

The flanges definitely came with the shafts, so the splines fit. I did a search on the code on the bearings (JXC18437CA) and then managed to find some other bearings with the same outer dimensions/length but with the inner size matching the shaft dimensions.

Do you know if I could just fit the appropriate size bearings or do I need the different bearing carriers you mention?

As far as I know you'll nee the other carriers and bearings. I think the bearing outer dia' is smaller as well so they won't fit what you have... but I may be wrong.

You could always splash out on some ally ones

I'd definitely think about some ally ones, but all the links I can find for them are a few years old and broken.

Do you know of anyone that still makes them?

The ally ones are for the larger bearing ie disc type.

You appear to have push in drive shafts for drum set up. You therefore need bearing carriers for a drum set up. The Wilwood drum to disc conversion will then fit straight on.

The bearing carriers you have cut the ears off aren't really suitable even with the rest of the parts. I used them :-) but....

I used lobro shafts and diff with the same bearing carriers as you have. I wanted 13" wheels so used the Wilwood drum conversion kit. I had to cut off the ears off the bearing carrier, turn down the outer diameter and reduce the mounting flange depth to get it all to fit.

Yes, I do have the push-in ones. The wilwood adapter plates fit on these carriers (now that I've cut the lugs off), so I was hoping it would be as easy as getting the appropriately sized bearings and fitting them in the carriers I have. I have looked for the drum carriers on ebay and google etc., but they seem to be pretty elusive right now

It seems that my idea to get bearings to fit the drum-style shafts in the disc-style bearing carrier is not going to work - I don't seem to be able to find the right size bearings anywhere (probably they don't exist)..

Does anyone know where I could source a pair of the drum-style bearing carriers? I've tried eBay and Googling around but as I noted before, they seem to be pretty rare these days. I'm happy to consider original parts or custom fabricated.

Cheers,
KEv.

I found this company that makes what looks like an alloy replacement for the drum-style bearing carriers:

Berrisford alloy bearing carrier

However, a couple of threads on here make me think these might not fit my hubs/shafts:

Thread
Thread

I'm starting to think I'd be better off buying a full rear driveshaft kit, and then trying to sell the bits I don't need:

eBay Item

Would appreciate people's thoughts on this