I just purchased all the components i'm gonna be needing for a rear end rebuild/upgrade, including new pinion bearings. Now when i called the parts store in advance, he gave me different prices for the inner and outer. when i came to the store to pick them up, he rang up two identical bearings. When i got home i trial fitted the bearings onto the pinion, and it won't slide down onto it. IT will go past the threaded portion, and right to where i assume the bearing surface would be, but it won't go on there completely. Do they need to be pressed onto the pinion? The guy i talked to at a machine shop made it sound like the only bearings that should have to be pressed on were the ones for the carrier.

thanks for the help with this situation...

Eric

 

THey usually don't quite slide on by hand, but don't exactly require pressing either... most often you won't be able to put a new one onto a new gear by hand, but it will go right on with no noticeable torque on the nut beyond the nut's locking feature, and it won't just come back apart, you might have to bonk it back out with a piece of wood or something.

A used one will usually slip on & off by hand or at least with very little effort.

THe 2 bearings are definitely different.

Next tim eyou do this, buy a kit from Ratech, it's far cheaper than buying all the pieces separately, and comes with an assortment of shims and all sorts of useful goodies.

The machine shop guy is right, and the parts store guy had his head in his colon at a critical moment.

 

thatnks for the help, i did buya ratech install kit, but i when i ordered it i wasn't even thinking about bearings, so i just went to the local store for them. I'm gonna take them back adn get the right ones this time.

Thanks

Eric

 

The inner one will need to be pressed on along with the spacer (under the bearing) this will set pinion depth, the outer will go on fine with the tightening of the nut, make sure and use a crush sleeve to keep that bearing preload constant.
Perry