[qiutong]

Hi everyone,

I'm brand new to this forum and hoping that you all can maybe give me some insight on my question. I have a 1969 Road Runner that I've owned for many years. It has an 8 3/4 inch rear end and recently I noticed that some grease was oozing past the right wheel grease seal. As I started investigating replacing it, I realized that my car has no end play adjuster. The right side axle retainer plate is the same as the left side and giving the axles the push/pull, the shafts appear to have no end play at all. As I've mentioned, I've owned the car many years and driven it many thousands of miles. This leak is the only problem I've had with it after all this time.

My question is; how important is it to have this end play? Should I just replace the seal and reassemble it just as it currently is, without the adjuster, or should I track down the missing adjuster parts and reassemble it as Mopar had designed it. Who, in the past, might have removed this adjuster and why? I think that the car was drag raced sometime before my purchasing it because the wheels were drilled for screws to hold the beads of the slicks. Would this have been some modification someone might do to a car they were drag racing?

Any and all answers are appreciated.

Brad

 

[dana44]

Hey Brad, welcome to the forum. End play is important, but there is a set of bearings that have been out for quite a while called "green bearings", which replace the adjustment hardware and keeps end play in both axles. It is important in the ability to prevent heat expansion from damaging the bearings and seals, and like I said, the green bearings pre-set the amount needed, but I don't know if you have them in the rear end or not, it is just the only thing I can think of that would not have an adjustment in it.

 

[qiutong]

Thanks for the reply Dana44,
I think you hit the nail on the head with the green bearings. I found an article in Mopar Muscle magazine that covered changing to the green bearings. It had several photo's of the factory bearing set up, and I definitely don't have those, on the left or the right, so I'm guessing I have the green bearings. Looking at how they are installed, do you think maybe my inner oil seal could be seeping gear lube and it's now oozing out past the green bearings or do the green bearings have their own oil seal that is leaking? I guessing that buying a factory style seal will not work with the green bearings. Maybe I'll continue taking it apart and investigate a little further where the leak is occurring.

I read that the green bearings are good for drag racing and only so-so for street use. That would go along with my suspicion that the car spent some time at the drag strip some time before I bought it. I'll let you know what I find out from my dis-assembly investigation.

As far as end play is concerned, are you saying, that even though I can't get any in/out motion of my axles that the green bearings take care of that?

Brad

 

[dana44]

The end play is only about .008-.012 if memory serves me right, so it isn't very much. Put two green bearings in there and that could possibly reduce it to .004 per side, which is pretty hard to really feel. I really don't know about the seals, whether they are part of the green bearing setup or whether they are regular seals with the non-adjustable green bearins. Hopefully the article said something about that.

 

[qiutong]

Oops, I didn't read the article, I just looked at the pictures...I guess I'm just a big kid. That's a good idea, I'll go back and read it now.

Brad

 

[MoparDanno]

FWIW,

The green bearings still use the factory style inner seal typically. They were not designed to be a "sealed" unit. The few conversions that I did, I always put new factory inner seals in.

Danno