Greg Rogers

I bought a 70 Vista Cruiser that I found out the rear end was full of water... really.. I opened it up and it was so full that you would have believed it was on purpose-right to the top!!! The gears looked OK not rusty at all, so I changed the wheel bearings and looked at the old bearings and they were all pitted - I'm sure from the water. After getting all the water and sludge out of it I refilled w/80w90 and took for a maiden voyage. Sure enough it roars- sounds like bearings. I am pretty sure the pinion and carrier bearings are bad. I wonder if I could replace them with out having to do the whole backlash/preload jazz. Can anyone advise me if I was really carefull and record the amount of threads or turns, etc could I just replace the bearings? Thanks, Greg.

507OLDS

As long as you put all of the shims back where they came from,it will be fine.

Carrier bearings: LM501349 = bearing,LM501314 = race
Pinion bearings(inner): M802048 = bearing,M802011 = race
Pinion bearing(outer): M86649 = bearing,M86610 = race
Seal = 2043

Greg Rogers

Thanks very much Brian. I will do it. Greg

belairbob

when you reassemble the rear as long as you use the same ring & pinion you can use the old shims the pinion depth will stay the same. you will however need to use a new crush sleeve & set the pinion drag to specs. you will also need to reset the backlash to specs.

507OLDS

The backlash would be the same as when it came out,since it is the same ring gear,same carrier,and same shims.You can check the existing backlash before you remove everything,and recheck when it is back together.

monzaz

You might want to get some carrier shims as they will be very week cast with a thin inside to outside diameter thickness.
So super shims will help here.

Reason this is - Factory set-up rear use a case spreader to install these shims so there is NO pressure on them when they are installed as we normally have to tap them in in a back yard install.

other than that issue you will be good just replacing the bearings and check the backlash before and after the rebearing to get the backlash the same or close with in .001-.002 up or down.

on the wider side will give you the quieter running gear like .009 .010
.005 .006 will tend to sometimes give you a whine on accelerate to decelerate ...SOMETIMES...not always.

Good luck...we are all here to help if you need it.

Jim
JD

jfb

dude 1 more thing to consider also is the crush sleeve it could affect the pinion to ring gear spacing be careful or you might have to do this twice with more expense. the whole contact area could be off.

Dave Siltman

Or you could turn up the radio!!! Naw, just jabbin' Listen to these guys and take their advice. I don't personally know Brian, but I am friends with some people who do and done business with him----he never steered them wrong. I can't imagine how THAT much water got IN there unless the car was a tow vehicle for a boat and the rear axle was submerged often and never serviced. If needed, Brian has replacements and I have a spare O-type 12 bolt, too. You never know what to expect with these old cars.

monzaz

Crush sleeve will only affect the pattern if you did not crush it all the way.

If the crush sleeve is not crushed all the way you WILL have in and out play... If you do not have any play and crush it too far then you will kill the inner and outer bearing with TOO much heat and again the pinion will have play sooner or later.

Pinion shim affect the pattern - crush sleeve only controls the preload of the inner and outer opinion bearing set-up. Just trying to make sure everyone knows everything about what everyone is saying.

Jim
J D

Greg Rogers

Thanks for your replies. This is a great site and a lot of great people!! Yeah I was very surprised to find the rear full of h2o. The vent was gone and there was oil all over on the bottom of the floor we noticed when we put it on trailer. Trans was toasted when I bought it, so fixed tranny and was checking out brakes,etc and saw a rear wheel seal was leaking so better check rear oil and what a gloppy mess. I asked the previous owner if it was in a flood in rear only,he said no. But then later I cut off the original air shock lines and there was water in them! Weird. Thanks again. Greg

Rickman48

Check the trunk drop - offs for fish! haha
Seriously - feel around in there - you never know what you'll find!

Greg Rogers

Found out the car was in a flood in May 2010- found out about it on you tube of all places!! Im thinking the seller wasn't honest w/me. Live and learn.....

Greg Rogers

Kinda bringing this old thread back. I have driven the old girl about 2000 miles without doing anything else to the rear end. When you drive it you can hear a whizzing noise which I am pretty sure is the bearings. It really does sound like bearings spun by compressed air like we used to do in High School Auto class.. I had since bought another Vista for parts and I was going to just change the whole rear end until I just found out this 2nd rear end has 2.56 gears in it. Mine is 3.08. I really don't want to change the ratio, so I'm going to change the bearings. I am interested in purchasing the bearings/ seals from you guys who have given great advice- if that is what you do... What I mean is I believe monzaz and maybe Brian (507OLDS) sell parts and are in the business? If so I would like to purchase from one of you. Otherwise I'll get them locally. Again it is a 1970 Vista Cruiser w/ a 10 bolt ring gear- 12 bolt cover (O Type?) I need the carrier and pinion bearings and races and pinion seal. Thanks. Greg