Well, installed my 8.5 10 bolt tonight, and Houston we have a problem. Everything went smoothley until I slid the axles in and bolted them down. Endplay was .080 on one side and .093 on the other. Upon inspecting the axle bearing and seal combined thickness, and comparing it to the axle bearings and seal of my original 8.2 axle, we noticed that the there was a difference and it was in the thickness of the 2146 seal. The ones on my new Moser axles are thinner, and there is my endplay. Had to leave the car at the shop and I'll try and rectify the problem tomorrow. Searched around and found that there were a batch of thinner 2146 seals out there, at least according to Roger (Oph) Anybody else run into this?
Larry, On my 10 bolt posi rear end I noticed quite a bit of end play. I haven't measured how much. It is probably at least as much as what you have. It bothers me to have that much movement.
Carl, It's definitely not a good thing. Searching around the board on this topic, I came across several threads discussing this. The problem is the bearing/seal overall dimension. The seal seems to be the problem. Some of the 712146 seals are thinner than others creating the endplay. You can't run it like that, it will beat itself to death. I'll link the posts I am talking about. Here we go: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=102219&highlight=A9+axle+bearings http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=109552&highlight=A9+axle+bearings Here's the picture of the thickness difference http://www.v8buick.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=72989&stc=1
AWWWW SH!T!!!! I have all faith in Jim but its one of those driving things..Like leaving all your windows down and going for a 20 minute ride to only go through a torrential downpour of rain. Maybe not a worry,but till you look,you can't stop thinking about it.
OK, found the problem. I had the wrong axle seals. They were too narrow and that caused the end play. Picked up a set of Timken 712146 seals from Autozone, and had another set of A9 bearings pressed on. Bolted the axles in and what a difference. Car feels different with the 3.73's, it definitely wants to go. Gonna go easy for 150 miles, change the fluid, then lay into it some.
Hey Larry Good luck with the rear it's always somthing.Did you put the 1000hp on?If weather is good see you at Oyster Bay tues.
Hi guys! My name's Blaine and I wanted to let you know this thread saved my sanity! I built a new motor over the winter, and thought it would be a good time to replace the axle bearings and seals (in my '73 Buick rear end). Of course, as I came to find out, the seals were too thin and there was a ton of play. I was banging my head against the wall until I found this site, and this thread in particular. Now I can go see how good the new mill runs :grin: ! BTW, how much end-play is ok? I have just under .010 on each side. I hope you guys dont mind an Olds guy popping in here, but at least I'm 455 powered!:beers2:
There should be a small amount. Sounds like you are OK. Mine was about .080-.090 and that is definitely too much.
What should I have done without you guys. You rock. On the way home from holiday (1700miles), the bearings started talking really bad. When I came home I pulled the axles and yes the bearings was finished. I searched the forum for this topic and found this thread. The seals on the axels was the thin model and the only one my local supplier had in stock was the thin model. If I hadn't searched this forum, I had made the same mistake as the previous owner did. I got the correct seal, and yes it works great. THANK YOU FOR THE HELP.:grin:
