[GHoray]

Recently bought 67 lemans conv. car is restored but my wife was following me and said it looked like the rear wheel was wobbling. You do not feel anything while driving. I had her drive and yep, both rear wheel are wobbling. Took to garage. Has wheel pulled and onto balancer. straight & true. put car in gear while on lift with tire off and appears that the axle is slightly bent. Here is my question;
. What other years and / or makes have axles that will fit the 67 lemans??

Thanx for any info, Glen

[b-man]

Late '66 thru '69 BOP (Buick/Olds/Pontiac) will fit.

By 1970 they went to a different axle with a more durable tapered roller bearing as opposed to the more failure-prone ball bearings used on the earlier axles.

When the ball bearing axle bearings failed they usually spun the inner race on the axle, turning it into unusable junk so used axles in good shape are getting hard to find.

That said, I'd save myself the hunt and buy a new pair of replacement axles from Moser Engineering.

[GHoray]

Thanx. That's probably good advise considering what used axles would cost and then the unknown about quality on top of that. Mosser is showing for 1965-67 Chevelle, 1968-76 Nova. Are these compatible with 67 lemans?? Does the wobble sound like something that would be from as bent axle? curious why both wheels wobble.

[b-man]

Probably slapped a curb, bent axles.

Call Moser to find the proper ones, the Chevy axles are C-clip axles and yours are different bolt-in axles.

[fyrffytr1]

I got the replacement axle I needed for my 67 GTO from Rock Auto. Part number ZAG82BOP. according to their catalog they only have two left.

[george kujanski]

I also got one thru Rock Auto, a Yukon Gear part. worked fine.

George

['ol Pinion head]

Anyone that is attempting to drive their prized Pontiac on 44+ year old original sealed axle bearings deserves the results of a seized axle bearing, spun on the axle, along with resulting damage often to the wheel house outer lip area when the axle decides to walk out. Have personally examined the resulting damage many many times. Nothing is worse than hearing how a really nice solid 1/4 panel old BOP A-body now needs expensive bodywork because the owner did not realize the need to replace what amounts to $20 sealed axle bearing.

For those who have pressed their sealed axle bearings off & the axle is chewed, one has choices, one can either go halfway affordable new import axles, or buy hand picked select used axles which are avail from several longtime Pontiac parts sources with new quality axle bearings & new studs installed. Mosers can also be ordered, but as expensive as they are ready to instal in bolt-in axle form, if the rear getting the new axles is a gray iron 8.2 Pontiac 10 bolt, it may be a great time to assess the lack of pinion support of the gray iron 10 bolt rear & upgrade to a stronger rearend.

On the original Hyatt (GM) sealed axle bearings RW507CR's, one can easily pull the axles out of their housing & examine them. If the sealed axle bearing on an early Pontiac A-body or early F-body axle has a green phenolic type embedded side, & considering this style bearing has long been hard to find as Hyatts with the green sides, its a darn good chance they are original & well past time to be replaced.

If the vehicle has wide tires, handling upgrades, & is being subject to high cornering loads, it's time to assess what one has under the rear of their car & go to a far superior rearend design that has bolt-in axles with tapered axle bearings.

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by 'ol Pinion head

Anyone that is attempting to drive their prized Pontiac on 44+ year old original sealed axle bearings deserves the results of a seized axle bearing, spun on the axle, along with resulting damage often to the wheel house outer lip area when the axle decides to walk out. Have personally examined the resulting damage many many times. Nothing is worse than hearing how a really nice solid 1/4 panel old BOP A-body now needs expensive bodywork because the owner did not realize the need to replace what amounts to $20 sealed axle bearing.

For those who have pressed their sealed axle bearings off & the axle is chewed, one has choices, one can either go halfway affordable new import axles, or buy hand picked select used axles which are avail from several longtime Pontiac parts sources with new quality axle bearings & new studs installed. Mosers can also be ordered, but as expensive as they are ready to instal in bolt-in axle form, if the rear getting the new axles is a gray iron 8.2 Pontiac 10 bolt, it may be a great time to assess the lack of pinion support of the gray iron 10 bolt rear & upgrade to a stronger rearend.

On the original Hyatt (GM) sealed axle bearings RW507CR's, one can easily pull the axles out of their housing & examine them. If the sealed axle bearing on an early Pontiac A-body or early F-body axle has a green phenolic type embedded side, & considering this style bearing has long been hard to find as Hyatts with the green sides, its a darn good chance they are original & well past time to be replaced.

If the vehicle has wide tires, handling upgrades, & is being subject to high cornering loads, it's time to assess what one has under the rear of their car & go to a far superior rearend design that has bolt-in axles with tapered axle bearings.

First comment would suggest you are recommending a used axle while the second would suggest that you do not. Did I read it wrong?

[Peje]

My experience is that 8-10 inch wide rims causes very much stress on the bearings(8.2 axle).If people drove with correct rims and offset things would be different.

[geeteeohguy]

Many of these axles got a tweaked flange from simply rubbing a curb hard sometime in the past 45-50 years. I have replaced many of them due to bearing failure, and finding one's without a bent flange was tough even 20 years ago. Nothing wrong with these rear ends for stock driving applications on the street, though. They just need to be respected for what they are: very old, not very beefy, stock rear ends. I've been driving 8.2's in my GTO's for decades and have done just fine with them.

['ol Pinion head]

Old Blue 66, my take on sealed axle bearings is with too many owners of '60's era B-O-P's, they view anything rearend wise as out of sight, out of mind. While some of the the larger B-O-P vehicles of the mid to late 60's take some very expensive & hard to find axle bearings (think wagons), the vast majority of '64-69 A-bodys took the RW507CR sealed axle bearing, which are relatively affordable to replace. With so many of the sealed axle bearings seizing & failing since day 1, it only makes sense to ck the axles of any vehicle that has them, & with nearly all of these vehicles, today, having a lot of miles on them, replace the sealed axle bearings for any kind of piece of mind. On a driver-keeper-showcar type deal; IE, the typical 17 to high 13 sec type A-body or F-body in an 8.2 seal bearing rear, I'm going with ck'ed out good used axles with new axle bearings. While the early narrow versions are tough to find, the later '66-69 versions are still out there & a seller worth any salt is going to remove the original bearings, check the axle surface, replace axle studs, & replace the retainer plate & press on a new quality axle bearing. W/o pressing the bearing off, its hard to tell whats under there. Am not sold on the metallurgy of offshore new axles.

In an early sealed bearing bolt-in axle application that the car really needs to have the stock r/e in it for originality sake, & the car is putting down some serious torque to the ground, have to agree its time to step up to a pair of Mosers. W/o any lower tier pricing discount, a new pair of Moser bolt-in axles, bearings, retainer plates, & new studs are going to set one back right under $500 range. That's a pretty good chunk of change, well spent on nodular 8.2 in a factory higher performance Pontiac, but many would have problem with the expenditure in a cruiser type vehicle

At that point, one has to take inventory of what one has. If the car is is anything other than a high point restoration or very desirable original car, & ones performing handling & performance mods to the car, or racing it, why is one stuck on the common gray iron 8.2 rearend? originality in a modified car? There are just too many negatives to the weak housing gray iron, small sealed axle bearing deal. On a budget, if I a had a single track high ratio, say 2.56 or 2.78 sealed axle bearing 8.2 10 bolt & I desired a 3.23 or 3.55 posi rear for my '66-69 Pontiac A-body, what sense does it make to throw $1500-1700 in new parts & reasonable priced set-up labor at a gray iron sealed bearing bolt-in axle 8.2 rear? It doesn't.

As an alternative, in a moderately powered A-body one can watch for a tapered axle bearing '70-72 Pontiac 8.2 10 bolt with 3.08, 3.23, or 3.55 gearing. The tapered bearing axles don't seize, they were also designed for much higher side loading. With more power being put to the ground, one can go to a higher strength rearend platform like a quality built HD posi 12 bolt or a a stock to extreme HD built 8.5 posi A-body rear. The latter, the 8.5 A-body, has far superior pinion support, comes stock with tapered bearing axles, & can be found in an even larger diameter (A10) bearing version (or professionally converted to A10's). Excellent for street/strip, racing or protouring buildups. Versatility is also a big plus due to wide range of quality new parts. The tapered bearing 8.5 rear can retain the stock 28 spline axles (stronger than the 8.2 axles), or be built with new 30 spline axles & a quality clutch posi, or for affordable strip build, can be built with 33 spline axles & a spool.

Peje, I agree with you, the sealed axle bearings were designed for the days of narrow tires & 5-6" wheel widths. Once the BIG 3 started installing F60x15's on 15x7's they changed over to tapered bearing axles. Desiring the dependability of tapered bearings & the looks of an original 8.2 Pontiac rear under an early A-body or F-body, one could have the rear taken down to bare housing & cut the sealed bearing ends off with a bandsaw, then in a lineup bar, weld A9 ends off a '70-72 gray iron Pontiac 8.2, or off '70 Olds type "O", or '70 Buick 8.2 rear. For as many gray iron tapered bearing housings are out there cheap, the ends can be trimmed off, chucked in a lathe & prepped & then as replacements welded on to the early housing. Have done this numerous times with A-10 housing ends. End up with a very sanitary looking housing with larger diam tapered axle bearings. For many stock appearing builds, it makes a lot of sense, versus going with the alternative which is expensive aftermarket 45mm housing ends & 45mm tapered bearings & having to deal with brake backing plate fitment issues.

geeteeohguy, I've pulled many multiple hundreds of sealed bearing axles out of core bolt-in axle 8.2 & type "O" rears & have came across very few with bent axle flanges. These core type axles always come home & the sealed axle bearings come off. Then if the bearing mating surface is not chewed & the axle flange looks good I'll remove the old wheel bearing studs & press a new bearing on with no lock collar & put the axle in a test housing on my bench & ck the axle flange for run-out. If it passes, will install new axle studs & carefully press the lock collar on. If it fails, off comes the bearing & I'll often pitch the axle in a barrel in the corner. Eventually, on many rejects I've pressed on 3 wheel studs along with an old bearing, then painted the axle flange orange & then put it in junk 8.2's in parts cars that have to be able to me moved around. Different story on late '70's T/A axles, have come across many of them that were bent or twisted. Similar deal on stock '68-72 12 bolt axles out of 12 sec street/strip cars. When the axles twist, the axle flange seldom stays square. Am not a fan of stock c-clip axles, another topic...

[Satyr1966]

I agree with 'ol pinion head. On my show car, I replaced the bearings on the stock 8.2" & with the limited use it sees I'm sure it will last longer than me. On my Sons car, we waited too long & the bearings had spun & ruined the axles. Because the car isn't stone stock & sees some hard use, we put Moser axles in it. On my mild custom driver I went with an 8.5" out of a '71 Cutlass for extra strength.

[Peje]

To prevent the outer bearing ring to spin in the house I`m using Loctite 641.
And rather buy 2 new driveshafts with bearings than mess with old stuff.A cheap investment and perhaps a lifesaver.Some previous owner had used Cragar S/S 10 inch rear rims.At one time the driveshaft broke and the a-hole welded it!! Just were the bearing sits,impossible to see from the outside.So today I have BIG respect for these items.

[Goatracer1]

Before condeming the axles make sure the wheel flange is actually sitting flush on the axle. I have over the years seen many wheels that bolted on but really didn't fit correctly.

[GT182]

I never had any problems with the rear axles and bearings on any of my former Pontiacs.... posi units or open rears. And I beat the crap out of them at times. I always had more problems with the front wheel bearings.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by GT182

I never had any problems with the rear axles and bearings on any of my former Pontiacs.... posi units or open rears. And I beat the crap out of them at times. I always had more problems with the front wheel bearings.

If they all had unknown used sealed axle bearings & you drove them quite a bit, you're lucky. Just from referrals from one local salvage, I used to sell a dozen to dozen & a half 8.2 Pontiac & type "O" Olds seal bearing axles a year. Prob would haqve sold more, if had been in town more. Mention used to, as Bill finally crushed out & shut down

Have also examined the damage to well over two dozen local GTO's, LeMans,& early Cutlasses where the axle walked its way out. This usually has happened going slow around a corner. Some of the worst damage have run across after the axle snapped under the worn bearing.

[Old Blue 66]

The car is gone now but my last car, a 66 Lemans with an open 3:08 (?) went through two sets of bearings the ten years I had the car. Dunno why. The second time they put a sleeve on IIRC. Before I hit the road next season, Im going to take a close look at what this new car has going on.

[GHoray]

HI guys, I 'm the guy that started this thread. Had new axles, seals and bearings put in yesterday. STILL HAVE WHEEL WOBBLE! Put wheel on machine and spun true with no wobble. Put car in drive (on lift) with no wheel and drum looks like it is wobbling. Pulled drum and put in gear and axle spins true with no wobble. All is clean with no rust anywhere. Snugged lugs. While anything is possible, have you ever seen the drum out of round??? It's a relatively new drum. It's the only thing left.
Thanx, Glen

[b-man]

Are there any balancing weights welded to the drum that are keeping the wheel from seating on the drum correctly?

[GHoray]

Nope. I ordered new drums yesterday. Should be here this morning. It's worth a shot. Hopefully that is the issue otherwise I am out of options unless you have one.