Center carrier bearing

[towtruckerfour]

Hi guys. On my 70 F250 2wd, the carrier bearing is making a humming noise with that changes with speed. I looked and could not see any way to grease it or add lubrication. I sprayed lubricant everywhere I thought it could get in and that helped. Is there supposed to be a grease zerk someplace that I am missing maybe? After looking in my catalogs, I could only find new bearings in the LMC catalog but there are two sizes. Thanks for any help.

[Montana71-F100]

It's a sealed bearing so can't be greased. I got mine at my local parts store.

[towtruckerfour]

Thanks Montana71-F100. That was what I figured but thought I would ask.

[robroy]

Good evening Troy,

I remember taking my driveshaft to a driveshaft shop to get it balanced, and have the bearing replaced. If I remember correctly it's pressed on the shaft so it may not be easy to replace on your own.

The shop told me that the bearing was stuck on there so badly that they damaged the shaft trying to get it off, so that's when I began asking lots of questions here on FORDification about driveshaft upgrades. They wound up building me a far heftier driveshaft than the stock one, with 1350-sized U-joints and a larger diameter shaft, made of thicker tubing.

The reason I'm mentioning this, is that I have a feeling this bearing might be sufficiently tough to replace, to warrant having a driveshaft shop replace it. And that kind of rules out buying from LMC. These bearings are super common parts anyways, as far as I know, and can be bought through any auto parts; I suspect that the LMC part may be an unfavorable gamble quality-wise (possibly made in China).

It has been a while now and I don't choose to remember very many things, so please don't take action based solely on what I'm saying here. I think you know what I mean.

Happy Saturday Troy,
Robroy

[PhantomoftheBumpside]

Make sure you mark your shafts for orientation before you separate them.

Clean before you remover, it can help.

Heat can be your friend. Drive line carrier bearings can be directional. Cut off tools work (especially to cut off the casing to remover rubber components before you use the 'hot wrench'). Additional persuasion can be achieved through use of a appropriately sized wrench (or plate with a 'U' cut in it) and a hammer, if you don't feel you can safely cut reliefs in or even all the way through the bearing.

Clean really good before you install new carrier.

A close fitting pipe works for the install. Make sure you are contacting the inner part of the bearing and not the outside when you are pushing the new one on.

Re-install drive line with new u-joints while you are at it.


Robroy, beefier drive-lines and u-joints aren't always your friend.

[harrysnyder]

Yes it's pressed on and that particular bearing is not directional. I would recommend taking it to a driveline shop primarily because they will generally stock better bearings (Dana, Neapco) than the parts stores, and they are well versed in replacing them.