Doug1964

I know the C1 bearing replacement topic has been beat to death on this forum. I am not trying to reopen all the bearing replacement issues, I think I have that covered. I simply am looking for an exploded diagram of the C1 corvette rear axle housing with all internal parts. I seem to find one for every vehicle online except for an early chevy or c1 corvette. Any help locating a diagram would be appreciated. I have some vendors telling me about an originally installed extra seal and I want to see diagrams for myself. Thanks.

DZAUTO

Doug,
SOME sellers do advertise an additional, or replacement seal.

WHEN THE CARS WERE BUILT (ANY 55-64 pass car or 56-62 Vette), the ONLY seals were those INSIDE the bearing and the big O-rings around the bearing. That's all there was.
Unfortunately, I have no GM diagrams. But for over 45yrs, I've worked on more of these type rears than I can possibly count, and NONE of them had more seals than I've described above.
Now, with that said, I just recently bought some RW607 bearings in Ziplock bags which contained bearing-lock ring-EXTRA seal-gasket--------------------a first for me. The extra seal APPEARED to be a replacement seal for the bearing. And, as I have pointed out before, to replace a seal inside the bearing would be an exercise in futility. FIRST, the bearing has to be removed from the axle shaft. To do this, the lock ring has to be destroyed----------------------LOCK RINGS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE SEPARATELY! Last, if the seal in the bearing needs replacing, MOST LIKELY the bearing is beginning to go bad, thus the bearing should just be replaced.
Also, IF a seal were to be purchased separately, it MAY or MAY NOT fit the bearing you have because there were multiple manufactures of these bearings, and a seal for one bearing may be different from another bearing.
Hope this helps.

Oh ya, and I personally have 3 different cars which have this style rear.

JFM58

sounds like I didn't need to buy these.

DZAUTO

In my opinion (and it's often not worth much), buying that seal is a waste of money because of my comments above.
Also, It's questionable whether or not to buy extra O-rings.
GENERALLY, there are different size O-rings-----------thick and thin.
SOME bearings are made with a thin-shallow groove for the O-ring and some are made with a deep-wide groove. Also, SOME bearings have two O-rings and some have only one. SOOOOOOOOOO, before ordering extra O-rings, it is important to know if the thick or thin style is needed.

Doug1964

Thank you so much for the reply. My problem is I have a leak between the o rings and the axle housing because prior owners dogged up the housing digging old bearings and axles out. If there was another seal that prevented the gear lube from ever reaching the bearing and o rings it would be of help. That is why I was looking for a schematic to confirm if there was a separate seal. The vendors advertise that "the seals went into the housing first and prevent the lube from reaching the o rings which will eventually weep" I have seen such a seal in similar axle diagrams for other manufacturers so the concept is not completely out there. But I wanted to confirm for my self. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate an early chevy or c1 axle exploded diagram. Any help in finding one would be appreciated.

DZAUTO

OK Doug, here is the bearing to fit these early cars, RW607BR (or NR), as well as the replacement seal in question.


When placed on each side of the bearing, it could only be used on the INSIDE of the bearing. The outside seal has a larger diameter.






As I mentioned earlier, the bearing would have to be removed from the axle (or at the VERY LEAST, remove the lock ring) which requires destroying the lock ring and separate lock rings are no longer available.

SOME unknowledgeable people claim that this seal fits OVER the lock ring. NO, IT DOES NOT!!!!!



And last, additionally, the OD of the seal can NOT IN ANY WAY fit into the end of the axle housing (even it it could fit, notice that it could not fit/seal where the welded seams are inside the axle tube)!



SOOOOOOOOOOO, if the ends of your housing, where the bearing fits, are gouged or damaged in some way, about all I could recommend to make a good seal, is to THOROUGHLY clean and dry the surface. Maybe try to clean up any sharp gouges or scratches with a FINE grit paper. Then, apply a heavy coat of RTV around the outside of the new bearing/O-rings Before installing the bearing in the housing. Once it's installed, DO NOT DISTURB it for at least 48hrs to assure the RTV has cured.

Doug1964

Thanks that is informative. That's what mine looks like as I can recall from the last time I changed them. Thanks again. What is hilarious is that I asked the vendor on three occasions to explain to me how the extra seal would fit and upon what surface it would ride. He first answer was it goes in the housing behind the bearing. When I pressed further for clarification such as asking exactly what surface it sealed against, his reply was the axle itself. I thought to myself, heck my axle shaft is about as smooth as a course steel file or rasp.

DZAUTO

THAT IS WHY many of us, have said many times, come here for good information before stepping off the edge of the world spending unnecessary dollars!!!!!
NOT all of us here know everything, BUT, collectively, there is enough knowledge and experience to probably cover all bases!

JFM58

Tom, how does the bearing get lubrication?

DZAUTO

James,
The EARLY bearings did NOT have an inner seal, and were lubricated by the rearend oil.
Then later (about 57-58), the bearing was packed with lubricant and the inner seal was added.
Today, SOMETIMES you receive replacement bearings with or without the internal seal. But USUALLY the replacement bearings have a seal on each side.

Now, your question brings us to one other issue.
Cars which were FACTORY DELIVERED with positraction, had baffles welded inside the axle housing as well as ROLLER bearings. The baffles that were welded inside were simply BIG washers welded in the tubes next to the center section. During hard turning, this restricted oil from sloshing away from the differential. Also, posi axle housings had what I call a deflector (for lack of a more correct term) welded to the upper part of the center section of the housing. I'm sure it's purpose was for additional oil control. Unfortunately, I've never seen a GM drawing which shows the parts welded to the interior of a posi axle housing, nor have I talked to a GM engineer who was involved in having these parts welded to the inside of a posi axle housing, nor do I know when these additions were first welded into the axle housings (I don't think 57 housings had the extra internals added for posi).
The roller axle bearings which were used ONLY in posi rears were discontinued MANY years ago. But for the way these cars are driven today, the ball bearings which are readily available are more than adequate.
And very last. It seems the added welded-in parts for posi axle housings were unique only to Corvettes. I have NEVER seen the extra welded-in parts in pass car housings.

Now, with all that said, does ANYONE have good pictures of the welded-in baffles in the tubes and the welded-in deflector in the center of the housing???

Doug1964

Well I know why my rear axle housing was leaking and it was not the dings in the axle housing surface to bearing seal. Look at this bearing



The bearing outer race is cracked through and gear lube was leaking right through the bearing. This was a new bearing (2,000 miles on it.) The bearing showed no signs of heat or other damage other than just the crack in the outrace. Everything else in the axle and housing looked fine. (it was the other axle end that had the dings in the housing. This side looked relatively smooth and problem free.) The axle was nice and straight. Just the broken outer race. The crack was at the top of the bearing which I presume would carry most of the axle load. I assume it is just the result of a cheap foreign made bearing. I will replace and see how it does.

DZAUTO

For sure, that will cause a leak!!!
Did you press the bearing onto the axle, or did someone else press it on?
If the bearing was pressed on by pressing againse the outer race (which may have caused the crack), that is the WRONG way to press it on. It needs to be pressed against the inner bearing race.

Doug1964

I pressed the bearing on but only on the inner race.

DZAUTO

Then I guess it's another mystery to be solved.

Frankie the Fink

On many areas on these cars Tom, you pretty much do

Doug1964

I think I solved the mystery. Prior owner had installed a frame bracket end radius control arm stud at the back control arm connection instead of the plain bolt and nut. This left the stud protruding out three inches back toward the differential. At heavy spring action, hitting a bump or hard accelerating while making a right turn, the spring would compress on the passenger side and its upward travel would be prematurely and suddenly stopped as the protruding end of the stud struck the underside of the frame. This would cause a sudden stop to the suspension that had to put undue and abnormal pressure on the bearing. With the axle coming up and being suddenly stopped, the bearing would take a hard jolt instead of just going through the normal spring compression and release phase. Just found the stud in there two days ago. I replaced the stud with the standard control arm rear bolt and nut and now it clears the frame. Hopefully, I will not have any more broken bearings on that side. The driver's side had a regular bolt and did not hit the frame and never had a failure at that bearing. It's nice to find the cause for something rather than just put it back together and cross your fingers. Gives you more confidence.

6D2148

Here you go Tom

DZAUTO

Chip,
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
Is it OK if I save your pictures to my file?

6D2148

YES, YES, YES, Tom are you kidding? I'm happy to offer something other than a question. Need more pics, different angle, what ever if I can heip I'm here. Thanks Chip

DZAUTO

Nope, those picture are excellent. I've seen the inside of MANY of the posi axle housings. It just never occurred to me to take pictures.
I never take it for granted that it's OK to use someone else pictures without asking first.
The deflector at the upper part of the center section may be a little difficult to fabricate and weld in, but the baffles on each side would be TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy for anyone to fabricate and weld in.

I did not pay attention to such things when I installed the 60 housing into the 56 (1974), and it was a non-posi housing. Had I known about the added pieces that are welded into a posi housing, that is what i would have used. Back in those days, used solid axle parts from wrecked/parted out Vettes were dirt cheap. I got the entire housing, axles, sway bar, radius rods, misc hardware, and frame brackets (the guy cut them off with a torch) for $50!