Why do my 9" carrier bearings look like this?

[Rick Parker]

Gatorac:

When you Road Race with a live rear axle you must take preventative measures to keep the lubricant in the pumpkin. What happens is the oil gets forced into the axle tubes in sweeping turns and the bearings (and gears) run dry. The cure are special seals that are fit into the axle tubes to prevent the oil from being forced into the tubes by centrifical force. Circle Track racers know about this all to well.

[venum14]

Gatorac:

Rick makes a good point about keeping the oil in the center section not the axle tubes (solid axle only). Seals-It and Speedway Motors carry the seals for the inside of the axle tubes. There are many other factors that could cause your race and bearing pitting/delaminating. Is there another wear spot in the race 180 degrees from the one pictured? If so, it could be an out-of- round bore for the race caused by a burr, chip, etc. When the caps are torqued, the race becomes egg shaped and then the rollers have extra preload across the smaller diameter. Look at the country of origin on the bearings, it is getting difficult to find "Made in USA" but the top differential guys sell them. In addition, not all gear oils are created equal, great reading at http://www.synthetic-oil-tech.com/Ge...te%20Paper.pdf.

[RICK LAKE]

Gatorac Jim, are there any names on the bearing race or rooler race? If not they are made in China. GM used the same cheap bearing in their trucks and they look just like yours in the 1/2 and 3/4 ton light duty trucks. You need to get Green or Timpken bearings for starters. China doesn't know how to harden surfaces yet without failures like this.
If you are going to road race the car you need to look at installing a rear end cooler and pump. I am not a big fan of the inner seals in the rearend because the axle bearings need lube too.
Your gear set may be OK but I wouldnot use them again. The hardness takes a beating when the carrier starts to wobble around in the pumpkin.
Hi temp rearend oil should also be added. Your trans may be facing the same issues of being overheated when racing. You might want to look at Morris photos for ideas if you keep racing, rearend and trans. Niether system is hard to install, just use relays on the pumps. Rick L. Ps doing this to my car too.

[Gatorac]

Originally Posted by Rick Parker

Gatorac:

When you Road Race with a live rear axle you must take preventative measures to keep the lubricant in the pumpkin. What happens is the oil gets forced into the axle tubes in sweeping turns and the bearings (and gears) run dry. The cure are special seals that are fit into the axle tubes to prevent the oil from being forced into the tubes by centrifical force. Circle Track racers know about this all to well.

This axle is set up like a circle track car. The seals are in the pumpkin and no oil is in the axle tubes. The wheel bearings are grease packed.