Axle play - how much?

[Davie]

half the bearing hanging outside the housing, I think I'd look at putting the required spacer on the wheel side of the bearing.

[demuire]

Originally Posted by Davie

half the bearing hanging outside the housing, I think I'd look at putting the required spacer on the wheel side of the bearing.

Hmm, I wonder if I can buy just the collars by themselves (that hold the bearing in). They are new bearings and it would be a shame to have to replace them just to put the spacer in... But I suppose it would support the bearing better which would be better in the long run...

Hmm.

*edit* Yay, have confirmed that I can get new collars just by themselves. Now I just need to check if the disc is central when the bearing is sitting on the outside, or inside of the spacer. From memory I think it is on the outside (which means spacer should go inside), and I think even in this setup the caliper mount already has a small spacer so shouldn't go too much bigger... Must check maybe tonight.

[demuire]

After speaking to mechanic, I cut the spacers with a hacksaw and spread them to get on the wheel side of the bearing. It sounded like a good idea at the time and I'm sure they still work just as effectively, but I must say, it's made putting the axles in a hello of a lot harder because they aren't quite round anymore (I couldn't seem to bend them back to exactly the same shape as they started out). Trying to get them to line up and slot into the hole was really really hard and time consuming! I hope I never ever have to take the axles out again!

Right axle now appears to have zero play (hmm, is this worrying? Considering the bearing itself has a tiny bit of play), but seems to spin freely, left axle has maybe about 0.5 or 1mm (didn't get a chance to measure properly). Calipers are back on, need to fill the diff back up with oil, put wheels on and see if it all works!