- Joined
- Mar 20, 2005
- Location
- Hendersonville, NC
I started this thread: Let's play a game! to see if anyone could guess what my homemade tool was used for. Some of you guys were close, some were perverse 
but only one was pretty dang close to nailing it down.
On page 3, @Bhudgins replied " I am going to guess it is a tool to help seat bearings "
He was right! Congratulations Brandon!
So what is so special about it? Sometimes when you are replacing pinion bearings, you have to drive the outer bearing onto the pinion shaft. When the axle is on stands, you simply flip it upside down so gravity holds it on the pinion and tap it down with a piece of tube or even with the yoke. When the axle is still in the vehicle, many times you need either an assistant to hold the pinion gear in place so you have 2 hands free. One for a hammer and one for the driver. If you don't seat the bearing far enough, there won't be enough threads exposed to start the nut once the yoke is installed.
With this tool, I hold the pinion in the housing with one hand, slide the outer bearing own the pinion shaft, place the appropriate end of the tool on the exposed pinion and then use the nut to seat the bearing so i have enough threads when seated to install the yoke and nut. No more asking someone to hold my shaft while I beat it.
The pieces of tube are 2 lengths. One is short enough to start the nut when the bearing hasn't been seated at all and the other one is long enough to fully seat the bearing without bottoming out the threads of the pinion.
This tool is especially handy on short pinion applications.
but only one was pretty dang close to nailing it down.On page 3, @Bhudgins replied " I am going to guess it is a tool to help seat bearings "
He was right! Congratulations Brandon!
So what is so special about it? Sometimes when you are replacing pinion bearings, you have to drive the outer bearing onto the pinion shaft. When the axle is on stands, you simply flip it upside down so gravity holds it on the pinion and tap it down with a piece of tube or even with the yoke. When the axle is still in the vehicle, many times you need either an assistant to hold the pinion gear in place so you have 2 hands free. One for a hammer and one for the driver. If you don't seat the bearing far enough, there won't be enough threads exposed to start the nut once the yoke is installed.
With this tool, I hold the pinion in the housing with one hand, slide the outer bearing own the pinion shaft, place the appropriate end of the tool on the exposed pinion and then use the nut to seat the bearing so i have enough threads when seated to install the yoke and nut. No more asking someone to hold my shaft while I beat it.
The pieces of tube are 2 lengths. One is short enough to start the nut when the bearing hasn't been seated at all and the other one is long enough to fully seat the bearing without bottoming out the threads of the pinion.
This tool is especially handy on short pinion applications.
