Rear axle bevel spacer question.

[Turbo36]

I have a 69 2000 Roadster, last fall the right rear axle bearing failed. Upon disassembly and inspection I noticed that the previous owner had been pretty rough on the car as the backing plates and axles had numerous hammer marks, I decided to use a spare set I had. After pressing the bearing retainers on I realized that that one of the retainers did not go on as far as the other. Upon inspection, I noticed that the bevel spacer on one of the axles was about .050 wider than the other. This will result in that axle sticking out about .050 and the gap next the the grease retainer to be wider also. Has anyone seen this before?

[redroadster]

Not great. the bevel allows the curve of the Axle to be under the spacer, now its only touching a slim part ,even though the collar secures it. Id guess it may loosen up over time

[david premo]

Yes the spacer belongs there it part of the parts required for the axle. It’s not a good idea to run without one, I don’t know if they are still available but the part number is 43070-01L00. That said I would think that there are lots of good used axles out there and getting a good used one would not be too hard.
Dave

[Turbo36]

Perhaps I did not make myself clear, the axle spacers are in place and they are properly oriented. The axles are identical length, It's just that one of them is .050 (1.25mm) wider than the other. You can see it in the break down photo. I did not catch until assembly because I did one axle first and then a few days later did the other axle. To me it looks like the seal still lines up on the seal rotating area of the axle shaft and the retainer is still pressed on virtually the same as the other one. I'm going to give it a try because in order to fix it I have to cut the retainer off anyway.

[david premo]

So sorry, perhaps one of your axles is an early axle, early 67 and back roadsters had steel brakes drums on them and the axles probably would a little different than the latter version as the aluminum drums have to be thicker so they don’t break off under braking. Not a 100% sure but might be the case of what is going on. Again sorry I misread your question.
Dave

[mikeb]

I'm about to replace my rear bearings (67.5 with aluminum drums). I also have a set of early axles with the two threaded locating holes to attach the steel brake drum to. The spacers are identical in height for both early and late axles, so it's strange that you have that variance. As an aside, the axle length is also identical, however the splines on the later axles are approx 45 mm long vs 40 mm for the early ones. Does anyone know why?

The Nissan part that Dave mentioned is still available for a little over $5 each. I bought two to see what they look like. The design is a little different, but they appear to be functionally identical. It looks like you should be okay, but I would keep an eye on it.

Mike

[Turbo36]

I appreciate everyone’s comments on this. I put everything back together and took it for a test run, everything seems OK but I will keep my eye on it.