<VV> 63 rear bearings

[FrankDuVal]

I suggest lubricating the bearings as well as you can.

You can have either bearing on a 63 so here goes:

Remove axle four mounting nuts and slide axle out of position, but still 
hanging on rear control arm.

60-62 rear axle bearings are a rivited sheet metal housing bearing. 
Inside is the two row barrel shaped inner bearing and two races (all 
years have this). You can drill out the two rivets and separate the 
housings. Now you can partially clean out the old lubricant and replace 
by hand packing a good wheel bearing grease.  The inner bearing is still 
pressed onto the shaft, so it will not move so you cannot see the 
bearing row nearest the wheel.  You do NOT need to install rivets, they 
were just there to hold the bearing together between the time it was 
manufactured at New Departure and when GM worker installed it on an axle 
shaft. After packing the bearing, slide all the parts back into the rear 
control arm and install the four mounting nuts.

63/64 is a cast iron bearing housing, with the inner bearing held by a 
snap ring. There is also a rubber grease seal you can see. I have just 
taken a SMALL screwdriver and popped the seal out, packed more grease 
in, replaced seal, and reassembled everything. Not the best, as no dirt 
or old grease was removed and now you put in possibly a different base 
grease. But, with the bearing still pressed onto the shaft, even taking 
the snap ring out gets you no where good.

Best method? Buy Russell Davis' axle bearing remover, and take the 
bearing off the shaft, clean, inspect and lubricate.

Frank DuVal

On 7/10/2019 7:43 PM, David Foster via VirtualVairs wrote:
> Working on brakes. Rear bearings are dry. Any suggestions?
>
>   
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave Foster
>
> 63 Spyder