Drive axle bearing behind disc brake

[NOS-PRO]

I have to bring this up because I am seeing more and more of this happening.

I change my sled over to asphalt which I get to check my stuff out more than the next Viper owner. When I took mine apart the very first time, I noticed that the drive axle showed signs of wear or marks from where the bearing race was spinning on the drive axle. I thought, "ok, I will just keep more tension on the track".

Shagman and I took his apart a month ago and when we took his chaincase apart, there were marks from his drive axle rubbing his chaincase. I thought to myslef, "I wonder if the clip came off of the left side by the brake rotor" Nope, it was still on. But, the drive axle was worn down to the point where the drive axle was moving back and forth, the diameter is so worn down the drive axle will need to get replaced or built up with weld and remachined. The bearing race is harder material and if it spins will wear down the softer material on the driveaxle.

When I took mine apart to replace my asphalt track this past week, my drive axle is showing lots of wear also....this is something that needs to be watched.

 

[STAIN]

Pictures?

 

[TD Max]

Does the bearing need to slide off the axle for disassembly or could you Loctite/sleeve seal it to the axle and heat to remove if necessary down the road?

 

[shagman]

Bearing slides off for axle dis-assembly.

 

[yamadoo]

Short of dissembly is their anyway to check? Could you feel slop in the bearing/ drive shaft?

 

[cannondale27]

Should be able to see wear by taking disc/caliper/bearing assembly off.

 

[RTX]

Theres been Some discussion about this on the different cat forums.
it seems to be a known issue by some of the catguys.
If i remember correctly the cat guys thought the tolerances between the bearings and shaft were not tight enough and allowed the shaft to spin in the bearing causing wear on the shaft.
Ive read about guys using loctite between the shaft and bearing to lock them together, but if you do this the bearing needs to be heated to be removed.
Others have peened or dimpled the shaft to make a tighter fit with the bearing.

 

[cannondale27]

I like the idea of peening the shaft for tighter fit. Sounds like it needs to be a slip fit. Just enough to keep bearing spinning since Shagman also saw wear on shaft on other side from chaincase. That's got to be from chassis flex. Do we want shaft locked in tight? Or maybe it would be fine since in past the brake side bearing always had a set screw in it?

 

[NOS-PRO]

Shag's axle was the worst and before I took the brake disc off, I could feel a lot of play from grabbing the drive axle and moving it up and down. I thought the bearing was toast with no bearings left in the races, that's how much his moved around. (Remember, we were taking his track out so the track was all the way loosened up).

I would say you could loosen your track and let it sag, grab your drive axle and see if it moves around closest to the disc brake.

Shag, can you take a pic of the difference in wear?

I agree with RTX, there is way too much play between the bearing and the drive axle, should be a much tighter fit to prevent it from spinning on the drive axle

 

[shagman]

I will take pics tonight when I get home.

 

[hibshman25]

What mileages are on these sleds with work shafts? I have yet to pull my viper apart to go over it yet for next season.

I have not pulled apart and saw the set up yet, but is it possible to run a bearing with set screws on inner race?

 

[shagman]

Mine has just under 6000. I don't think there be room for a bearing with a set screw. I would check any sled over 3000 miles. Keep in mind I believe mine would have gone for a while yet, but would eventually had real problems. I will look for a fix in the fall when I switch for asphalt back to snow.

 

[cannondale27]

Here is some pics from cats
http://www.hardcoresledder.com/forums/493-procross-2012/1174433-another-drive-shaft-ate-up.html

 

[STAIN]

ouch---wish I paid more attention to mine when it was out......

 

[cannondale27]

I never looked either.