The shims are there to prevent "overloading" the bearing.
Most likely were removed from years ago, or that axle just
happened to have a dead on clearance (rare, but not impossible).
tom the shims where left over from the truck/sedan axles where they had
tapered roller bearings instead of ball bearing that the roadster has. The
tapered rollers have a preload to them and that is what the shims where for.
on the roadster it didn't need the load careering of the tapered rollers, so
they used ball bearings instead , a simpler and cheaper way to go. the
shims do act as a kind of gasket .
Mike Kerr
Roadster Restoration
3730 Todrob LN.
Placerville CA. 95667
Ph.# 530-644-6777
Fax# 530-644-7252
E-mail: mikekerr@innercite.com
Web page : http://www.innercite.com/~wolfgang
Visa & master card
-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Walter <walter@omni.sps.mot.com>
To: datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Date: Friday, May 14, 1999 1:32 PM
Subject: Re: it doesn't look right
>Stephen,
>
>On the "spacer" there is a little tiny one between the bearing
>and the axle flange. Since the flange has an radius on it, where
>it meats the hub, that spacer is used (inside edge is radiused
>to clear the axle flange radius.
>
>Since it is "under" the bearing, I doubt you could see the
>space.
>
>The shims are there to prevent "overloading" the bearing.
>Most likely were removed from years ago, or that axle just
>happened to have a dead on clearance (rare, but not impossible).
>
>Hard to determine, unless you have a depth micrometer to measure
>the bearing recess into the axle. Then another micrometer to
>measure the thickness of the bearing.
>
>Having said that, I can not recall the proper about of "crush"
>that is imposed on the SIDE of the bearing in the housing. You
>do not want the bearing to slide back and forth in the, hence a
>little bit of negative clearance. 0.005 seems like it would be
>fine.
>
>There are TWO seals. One stays inside the axle housing when you
>remove the shaft.
>
>The Second is on the OTHER side (brake side) of the backing plate.
>Early designes used seperate pieces, later design as a "single"
>retainer/seal/grease catcher. Most likely there, but you didn't
>realize it.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Tom Walter
>Austin, TX.
>
>
>
> >I just pulled my rear axles to replace the seals to fix my greasy/oily
brake
>>situation. Thanks to Tom's tech tip, it was very easy. Surprisingly, the
>>axles came out without applying any force (they basically popped out) as
>>soon as the four nuts on the back plate were removed. There were no shims
>>either. In the shop manual, there are a packing grease catcher, a seal
>>grease and a spacer that fit between axle case and the bearing. From what
i
>>could tell, they are missing. Is it possible ? There is roughly a 1mm gap
>>between the bearing and the back plate. Check out the axle pics at
>>http://beta.homestead.com/ssochoux/axle.html and let me know what you
>>think..
>
>
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