Good evening, an odd one for you.
The rear hub grease seal on my 79' Sprint failed so I removed the hub to replace both grease and oil seals. However, when I removed the hub I found the bearing cage had been rubbing on the axle to the point where the cage had nearly worn away and it has scored the edge of the axle - See pictures.
The issue appears to be the half-shaft moving too far into the axle - See picture. It is the nearside hub so on a right-hand bend it is pushing the bearing against the axle.
Adjusting the hub shims will not reduce inward movement of the half-shaft. The collar the bearing is pressed against is in the correct position (I have compared it to another half-shaft) and before removing the hub I checked the end float - It was 0.2mm. Ideal is 0.1 to 0.15 but 0.2 is still within spec. There are no signs of bearing wear (smooth and not noisy) and the cup is smooth. It is the correct bearing - Confirmed by Timkin part number. There has been some muck in the grease at some point as I can see scoring but that shouldn't effect the movement of the half-shaft.
I thought there might be a thrust bearing or similar to limit half-shaft movement in the diff but there is nothing on the parts diagram.
Has anyone experienced this before as I can not see what is causing it. I cant believe the bearing was designed to make contact with the axle but it seems to be the only logical answer. Have I missed something obvious?
Any help will be gratefully received.
Gavin