Carrier Bearing
 

When I got my truck the carrier bearing was broken and held with about 1/2 roll of bailing wire. Now, about 6-8k miles later, I started hearing a strange noise and I looked and it is partway broken again. Are they supposed to last any longer than that? If not, what would the best way to change it? I am thinking a 3/4 ton driveshaft with the better braring might be a good idea. Also, is it safe to drive it like this? I need to take it on a 3 hour trip and I don't know if it will be ok with the cracked carrier bearing or not.

larry, any tranny swap or anything like that been done to truck ?

there are two differetn styles of carrier bearings, HD and LD, HD mounting bolts are sideways parallell with crossmember and light duty mounting holes are inline with driveline, mostly the 3/4 tons and 4 speed trucks got the HD version, and most all 1/2 ton otherwise got the LD version., whats keeping you from mounting carrier with hardware ? the actual mounting part of the bearing housing is broken ?

what was oriignal drivetrain in truck and what do you have in it currently ?

The truck has the original engine and Transmission. It has the light duty bearing, and both of them were broken where the bearing housing attaches to the the part that bolts to the frame. I was asking about the other kind (hd) because I don't want to have to change the bearings every 5k miles.

Yeah, something isn't right. I just changed all of my U Joints and Carrier Bearing, didn't take long at all. I still had the original Carrier Bearing on there so if yours only lasted 5000 miles something is wrong. Is the Shaft at a weird angle?

Is your truck lowered? Mine was breaking because the pinion angle was off by six or so degrees because of my lowering springs.

No, it isn't at a strange angle, it has 3/4 ton springs that the last owner put in, but other than that it is all just the way it came back in 1970. It had all new u joints put in at the same time the carrier bearring was changed the last time. Could it be that the driveshafts have been damaged or something? Is it dangerous to drive it when it is cracked like that?

I had this problem. About every 6 months or so it would go out. I put a new bearing in it and finally took the driveline in to a driveline shop and got it balanced. I have not had a problem with it in over 10 years now.

No, it isn't lowered. it actually looks like it would be at less of an angle if it was lowered.

sounds like something has been modified in such a way that it is neggatively affecting driveline or driveline has been serviced and either not reasembled exaclty how it was originally, or was damaged, chafts could be oput of phase not bad enough to make shaking happen, but enou hot affect bearing, alot wierder things happen all the time,.,.

good luck

Well, whatever happened to the truck was probably before I got it, because it had a fairly new carrier bearing on it that was already broken. The guy I bought the truck from didn't have it for very long, but everything he did to it could hardly be considered an improvement, so I wouldn't be suprised if the driveshafts got put back in wrong. It there any way to tell how they go when there is no vibration the way they are now? I think I might convert it to the HD braring if I can find the parts, or I saw a place that makes a super heavy duty carrier bearing to replace the light duty kind, but I will still have to find out why they keep breaking.

Also, will anything bad happen if it gets driven for a couple of days (on the freeway) with baling wire wrapped around the bearing? I know they aren't hard to replace, but I need to use it this weekend, and I am not going to have time to work on until next week.

Larry..my HD bearing just went south last weekend...If it goes..you cant drive it..I mean I thought I lost the rear end..its not good, especially if your doing 70 in the middle of no where..it only takes an hour or so to replace..it cost me 40 bucks..22 for the bearing and 18 to install it

If your constantly loosing the C-bearing or ujoints, and your positive the pinion angle is ok (height of the rear end also) It's a good idea to have the drive shaft assembly balanced. With the shaft turning at 2-3k rpm's .5 oz can make the difference if the problem is around the center of the shaft. It will fatigue the metal over time and snap of the base.

Make sure your ujoints are in good shape also. Vibration from a bad ujoint will cause the bearing to fail prematurely.

Well I dont recommend doint this but when mine went out(one of the many times before I fixed it right) I cut up a tire and wrapped it around where the bearing was. I wrapped it around the driveling right where it went through the cross member. It would last about 3 days and then I would re do it. I do not recommend it at all but it does work in a pinch.:D

If I rigged it like Max O. D. said...I don't think I would see the high side of 25 MPH... I've seen a drive shaft pop up through the floor boards before.
:eek:

what Piston said!

Well, I don't have to use it this weekend, so hopefuly it will be fixed before I need it again. I was looking at it today, and I found part of the problem, the rear springs are really front springs!!? Wouldn't you think whoever put them would notice something like that? lol I think I am just going to get one of the heavy duty bearings that will bolt on in place of the one it has, then see if I can find the parts to convert to the HD type with the 3/4 ton driveshafts.

http://www.iedls.com/jpg/pedestal.jpg

I just ordered this bearing. Looks a lot stronger doesn't it?

Make sure the drive shaft sections are indexed when they go back together.

Actually it drove quite well around town. I had the tire looped around the driveline and stuck into the crossmember very tight. More of a risk of catching on fire then anything.:D :D . I did have a one piece driveline on a 69 GMC truck that broke and came up into the truck while doing about 80mph. It snapped the driveline in two, busted the tranny off the motor, busted off the tailshaft of the tranny and sounded like a bomb went off when it came up into the cab. I just about had a movement when that happened.:D Of course I had a 455 Pontic or Olds motor in it at the time.

Is there any way to tell if someone put the driveshaft in wrong before? I will be sure to put it back in the same way I take it out, but the same person that put a new carrier bearing before I got it (that was already broken) was the one that put the front springs on in the back. So, I am not sure if it was put back in right or not.

Hey were did you get that new bearing??? I want one! I have bearing envy.

On a two piece driveline it is wise to mark the shafts in relation with one another. This way when they go back together they should still be balanced. If someone took them off and didnt do this and they just put them back in then that can be the cause of the bearing going out. When a shop balances them they will mark them for you so that they can be put back into the truck in relation to each other. At the speed the driveline and the bearing spins it doesnt take long to screw them up if they are not balanced.

Cobalt - Try www.iedls.com

neonlarry -- Where did you get that new bearing?