Natedawg

I have a couple questions regarding making this happen. I noticed in this great thread (EDIT: reference posts #68, #79, and #80)where cdrod used rear brakes off a Blazer and needed to use a 1/4" spacer for rotor alignment and 9/16" bearing spacer to fill in the gap inside the backing plate so that the retainer plate could support the axle seal and retain the axle.

1. Why the 9/16" bearing spacer? Couldn't the 1/4" spacer be sized to double as the retainer plate then install the brake backing plate on the outboard side of the retainer plate?

2. I have noticed aftermarket retainer plates that are open on one side to allow the removal of the plate without have to removing the axle bearings. Thoughts on the safety/functionality of this?

My idea is if the retainer plate was open and could double as the spacer, then the brake backing plate could be removed without having to remove the bearings and lock ring in the odd event this was necessary.

cdrod

Nate:
You are referencing my posts about the Blazer rear disc install. I used a separate bearing spacer so I could set the correct end play of the axle bearings. The original Olds bearings were a barrel-type roller, with no taper; all of the replacement bearings are a tapered roller. I was told by Jim (Mozaz on classicolds) that no more than .010" end play of the axle is critical for bearing life when using the tapered roller bearings. In my installation, the bearings are held in place by the stock axle retainers - just like GM designed and the end play can be adjusted by using a thicker or thinner bearing spacer.

Your idea may work fine if the spacer/retainer kept the axle end play within .010" but you could not adjust the end play if it wasn't within the recommended .010" tolerance.

Rodney