2 Piece Driveshaft - Carrier Bearing Mounting

[adamk]

So I’m currently building a buggy and I’m at the point where I need to get the mid shaft carrier bearing in place. As I look around, I see various versions of carrier bearings and then stumbled upon a build thread claiming that, if the drivetrain is bushing mounted, the carrier bearing should also be bushing mounted.

I was planning to use the WOD kit which hard mounts the mid shaft and carrier bearing. Would this cause any issues since I have poly motor and atlas mounts?

 

[adamk]

Here’s the kit I was planning to use and the buggy for reference.

1350 Carrier Bearing Shaft Kit

Wide Open Design's carrier bearing kits provide all the components you need to build at home. This is the exact parts we use in buggies rolling out of the shop here! Includes:Wide Open Design Single Ended Carrier BearingCarrier Bearing MountSpicer 1350 YokeSpicer 1350 Weld YokeSpicer 1350...

www.wideopendesign.com

 

[tobaccoroad4wd]

That’s the same carrier bearing I have.

Edit, mine is WOD according to the buggy’s PO. But that’s a different kit than is on mine.
Either way, mine is hard mounted. Trans, engine and atlas are bushing mounted.

 

[Mac5005]

My engine trans and case are all poly bushing mounted but I plan to hard mount my WOD carrier bearing.

My personal perspective is that there is a ujoint at the case, and that can handle any angularity change due to deflection differences between the frame/drivetrain.

My dad’s buggy has the same setup (bushings on drivetrain, hard mount bearing) but with different brand bearing, and it’s been fine for years.

 

[Curtis_H]

On my old rig I used that same kit and had it hard mounted. Drivetrain was poly mounted. Worked well but would eat the bearings every few years. I’m no expert but from what I read after the fact that style carrier bearing needs to be mounted inline with no left to right offset from transfer case yoke or at least very minimal. I believe this was my issue. Busted knuckle has a video explaining the different style carrier bearings and uses. They use poly bushings on theirs.

 

[adamk]

On my old rig I used that same kit and had it hard mounted. Drivetrain was poly mounted. Worked well but would eat the bearings every few years. I’m no expert but from what I read after the fact that style carrier bearing needs to be mounted inline with no left to right offset from transfer case yoke or at least very minimal. I believe this was my issue. Busted knuckle has a video explaining the different style carrier bearings and uses. They use poly bushings on theirs.

Your experience is what I thought I would have to expect. Mounting the carrier bearing in line isn’t an issue since i purposely shifted the drivetrain to the passenger side for that purpose.

My engine trans and case are all poly bushing mounted but I plan to hard mount my WOD carrier bearing.

My personal perspective is that there is a ujoint at the case, and that can handle any angularity change due to deflection differences between the frame/drivetrain.

My dad’s buggy has the same setup (bushings on drivetrain, hard mount bearing) but with different brand bearing, and it’s been fine for years.

If there was a ujoint at the tcase and before the carrier bearing, I would completely agree that it would take up any angular change. The concern I was thinking about was that the bearings would resist the drivetrain movement and could cause an issue. But, worst case, as Curt described, I’ll just be replacing the bearings a little more frequently. I can live with this outcome.

 

[Mac5005]

Unless the poly bushings are destroyed I expect less than 1/8” deflection. Probably more in the frame/chassis itself.

I agree with what Curtis said completely, I think getting the bearing inline with tcase output is more important than bushing or no bushings.

what I meant by th u joint comment is that the joint at the case can accommodate for an angular difference while still having centerline of midshaft pointed at output. Meaning get the mid shaft aligned, but that doesn’t mean the ujoint has to run @ zero angle in any plane.

 

[Scottal]

No issues in poly mount drivetrain and solid mount carrier AS LONG AS you put a slip yoke in the carrier shaft. Its 100% necessary or it will eat the joint at the transfer case unless you are completely accurate when welding everything which is never the case. Also, pop the seals off the bearings and pack them full of grease. Ive replaced the bearings twice in my wod carrier since the buggy was finished in fall 2021.

 

[CasterTroy]

Have you picked Dave's brain on this? I've always understood the same thing. Hard/hard or poly/poly or rubber/rubber and no mix and match.

I wish I had a better pic, but Milano's buggy had a very interesting carrier mount. This is the only pic I have, but I'm sure if you reach out to him he would share better pics and some experience with his mounts on the rental buggy

 

[Bebop]

Remember that everything flexes.

 

[WARRIORWELDING]

No issues in poly mount drivetrain and solid mount carrier AS LONG AS you put a slip yoke in the carrier shaft. Its 100% necessary or it will eat the joint at the transfer case unless you are completely accurate when welding everything which is never the case. Also, pop the seals off the bearings and pack them full of grease. Ive replaced the bearings twice in my wod carrier since the buggy was finished in fall 2021.

This. Any deflection will strain the carrier bearing. A short slip and hard mount, poly or any sort should work. As for angle....the trunnions will not turn the needle bearing over well in a straight angle. The small amount of loading at angle are what drives the bearing around in the caps. Dead zero will net no roller movement or minimal. Once it dries out some are gets tacky you'll be eating joints.
I think it was two maybe 3 degrees minimum. A lot of rear joints get pointed straight in line on the diff side with the correct transfer case joint design. The reason they survive is the cyclic nature of the rear end so the joint isn't staying straight all it's life.

 

[Pennsylvaniaboy]

what did you end up doing?

 

[adamk]

what did you end up doing?

Bought the WOD kit and hard mounted it. Put the rig at ride height and ran a fishing line (because I had it readily available) from yoke on the diff to yoke on the transfer case. Then placed the carrier bearing in line with it. When tacked in, I went full bump to full droop and measured angles to ensure no ujoint binding throughout travel.