> To: Race Fabrication List <racefab@pms706.pms.ford.com>,
> Shop Talk List <shop-talk@autox.team.net>,
> wheel to wheel <wheeltowheel@abingdon.eng.sun.com>
Follow up to 'shop' just to save bw.
> Last night, I went to press off the bearings on the rear axles for
> my RX7, and started to have problems. They wouldn't press off.
Just a quick tid-bit: the pressed on collars are a one time use item,
problem I have seen on the Datsun Roadster's is the axle is only good for
maybe three "press jobs". I've taken to CUTTING off the old collars...
Using a dremel tool with a thin cutting disc at maximum rpm I'll
slice about 2/3rds the way through the collar. Then with the
axle supported on the backside of the collar... I'll use my
handy cold chisel and 4# sledge hammer. Takes a few blows into
the cut I started with the dremel tool, but the collar splits open
and falls off.
No spec in the Datsun manual, but the my Mazda manual specified
that the new collars should be pressed on with a mininum of three
tons of force (I know most do not have a pressure gauge, but if
is feels like it went on too easily... there might be a reason why).
Sigh... Safety first. A fellow roadster owner was killed when his
car flipped on him after loosing the axle on a turn. New wheel
bearings had been installed a few weeks before, and I believe he
decided to save a few bucks and reuse the collars.
Tom Walter
Austin, TX.
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