need help stat!!!

[p_justin13]

Took apart front drivers side hub to replace bearings all went ok with that but upon reassembly the axle will not come all the way forward into place. The seal on the back side of the hub has 1/4 inch gap between metal ring and hub itself and ideas on how to get the rest of the way back in????? dying here pulling whats left of the hair out!

[VXorado]

Add some grease to the axle shaft/splines and try reinserting the axle at different rotations. If you're still unable to get the axle to fit, I would make sure the bearings are installed correctly. The half shaft can get a little hung up where it mates to the hub but shouldn't require much force when everything is lined up correctly.

[p_justin13]

Is there a bearing inside the hub assembely itself??

[VXorado]

No just the two inner/outer bearings/races

I can't remember if the inner race on the hub mates with the CV. If it does and the inner seal wasn't seated correctly, it could be blocking the CV. I can't tell you for sure because its been a while since I repacked the bearings.

[p_justin13]

i have the entire rotor and bearings back off and i still can't get the spline to come all the way through. It's like something inside the hub itself is holding it up

[Y33TREKker]

If you're positive the rear seal was the correct replacement part, are you saying it's the real seal itself that's preventing the entire hub assembly from sliding all the way onto the spindle?

If that's the case, it could be that the surface area of the spindle that mates to the inside of the rear hub seal just needs to be smoothed over with some emery cloth. A little surface corrosion can sometimes prevent two such surfaces with such tight clearances from sliding together.

[p_justin13]

It's like the spindle portion of the the driveshaft itself is getting caught up on something inside?? If you were to look at the back of the hub where the metal cupped seal is on the back side of the cv joint wont come forward into the proper place to seat up against the hub. trying to post a pic on the main page now.

[Y33TREKker]

Not to sound like a smart *****, but did you add a lot of grease to the inside of the hub as you were installing the bearings? If there is too much grease inside, the hydraulic action of the grease itself will prevent all the pieces from coming together.

Just a quick thought anyway, I'm still looking at the picture you posted and trying to come up with other ideas.

[p_justin13]

in the process of cleaning the hell out of now to even see if will dry fit. Is it possible parts of the splines could have sheered off and that could be holding it out. Had some debris come out but nothing to big or unexpected

[Y33TREKker]

in the process of cleaning the hell out of now to even see if will dry fit. Is it possible parts of the splines could have sheered off and that could be holding it out. Had some debris come out but nothing to big or unexpected

It's possible I guess, but I'd suggest waiting till later to consider that as worst case scenario type stuff. Had you added much/any grease to that cv-joint dust seal that fits to the back of the spindle assembly? A lot of grease in that dust seal could cause the same type of hydraulic lock situation that could prevent those two pieces from fitting together.

Short of that happening, I'd be inclined to go with VXorado and say that it may just be a matter of turning the hub assembly this way or that until the splines on the cv axle line up with the splines on the hub flange. (assuming that the axle is currently coming all the way through the hub assembly that is).

[p_justin13]

got it all cleaned out and there were some small pins that came out but not sure if from the hub or from the spline on the drive shaft they were round and about a little less than a half inch long any ideas

[Triathlete]

Sounds like needle bearings. Do you have factory hubs or manual hubs?

[p_justin13]

factory

[Y33TREKker]

If what you found was needle bearing(s), isn't it most likely they were from the old inner or outer bearings? If everything is now cleaned out, and you were replacing the old bearings with new, there should currently be nothing to stop the cv axle from going all the way through the hub assembly. Have you tried putting everything back together since finding and removing the suspected needle bearing(s)?

[Triathlete]

I think Y33 is on the right track. The factory hubs are just flanges and have no bearings.