help, pressed in new bearings, rear wheel won't reassemble

Ok, here's the story...me n a buddy just did new rear wheel bearings on his 1982 XJ750. We bought the AllBalls brand bearings and seals. Bearings came out and went in with no problems, but we have a question about whether a spacer is required.

Is there a metal cylinder that serves as a spacer that goes in between the collar pressed into the drive housing and the outer spline-side bearing? We are thinking there must be one because otherwise that bearing would not be supported at it center. Instead it would simply rub against the inside of the housing.

Trouble is, we do have this spacer, but with it installed the wheel does not center properly when it's installed. Also, we cannot install the brake plate. If we remove the spacer, everything goes together perfectly. Any advice? Thanks!!

 

Did you use RS bearings? If so then did you remove the inner seals. You only need the outer seal on the outer most bearing. There is a spacer just where you indicated. There is also one inbetween the bearings. Could you have mixed these up? The longer one goes inbetween the bearings.

 

Re: help, pressed in new bearings, rear wheel won't reassemb

I had the same problem yesterday on my turbo. I just held the wheel in place and rotated it back and forth till I hit the sweet spot. You might try slipping the axle through it all to hold the spacer centered properly inside the drive gear housing, otherwise, it is sitting on the bottom of the bore ever so slightly. You shouldn't need to remove any seals, as all of mine are in place.

I did manage to lose the small piece of metal that the rear brake shaft slides through. Must have taken all of 10 seconds for it to disappear. Took me about an hour to make a new one. I hate those little problems that make simple jobs a multi-hour affair! :evil:

 

Just to clairfy the seals I refered to are on the bearings. An RS seal is a double sided bearing seal made from a rubber like material. They just peel out of the bearing so that you don't have a seal against a seal. This will eventually tear the seals and leave some debris in the bearing field. Shouldn't hurt the axel though.