Issue with bearing retainer of Wilwood 140-11403 brake kit with drum e-brake

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Madison, WI
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1971 Mach 1 w/408C stroker
I am installing the Wilwood 140-11403 disc brake kit for the rear. This one has a drum e-brake that doubles as a backing plate. The drum brake backing plate goes flush against the axle flange and then there is a bearing retainer that has an inside folded lip that should retain the bearing. The problem is that this folded lip is about 0.025" short of contacting the bearing. I have new axles/bearings from Strange. Called Wilwood and they say that it should work, but it doesn't. Strange says that this are standard bearings. I found one thread online where the person was having a similar issue. As a background, I did make sure the backing plate and flange are clean and flushed. I did measurements before the installation because I was suspicious of the problem and then confirmed the problem after installation.

In any case, i need to move forward and find a solution. The easiest would be to find a shim or washer that I could fit in that opening. It would have to have a diameter larger than 2.64" ID and less than 2.95" OD. The thickness is not that critical because if it is thicker I could shim the bearing retainer plate. Needless to say I can't find anything for that application. I am hoping someone has an idea of a shim/washer for another application that has similar dimensions that I can make work. Even if the OD is larger I could grind it down. It doesn't need to have a perfect OD as long as the thickness is constant. Heck, I even looked at a 67mm camera filter adapter that I may be able to make work. Looking for ideas. Thanks.

Here is the diagram from Wilwood:



Picture of gap between bearing retainer and bearing:



 
On my car I had to get rid of some powder coating.  Before I did that I was using air cooled 1600CC VW flywheel shims.  Worked pretty good for a small bearing Ford 9"
Interesting. Do you know the ID and OD of these shims?
I do not know, but I could measure one Friday
I found some in ebay and the seller said 53-70mm. That would be too small of a bore. I need 67-75mm. However, if you can, please measure them in case there are other sizes.

 
Interesting. Do you know the ID and OD of these shims?
I do not know, but I could measure one Friday
I found some in ebay and the seller said 53-70mm. That would be too small of a bore. I need 67-75mm. However, if you can, please measure them in case there are other sizes.
An idea would be to use piston rings, but they would need to be 67ish mm when fully open. There has to be something out there that I could use as a shim.

 
Bump again. Ideas any one? I need a shim that is approximately 67mm ID x 75mm OD x 0.6mm (2.64x2.95x0.025"), or something that I can make work as a shim? The closest I found was a shim for a Kobelco excavator that is 67x100x0.5 mm. I would be able to make it work if I can cut the OD.

 
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I would use stainless steel on those, which is probably a little hard for scissors. A hand or powered nibbler would probably be needed. I have a hand nibbler that works well for things like that, a little tedious and tiring, but on relatively small things like that they're not bad. Tin snips would work for the outside, but nibblers or a small cutoff wheel would be best on the inside. You could also use a narrow cold chisel to rough out the inside diameter.

 
Good news. Thank you D0n. Since I had to pay a small order fee and shipping, I ended up buying several shim sizes from Huyett. The 2.912 x 2.598 fit great. Even though they have a slightly smaller ID, since I am cutting about 45 degrees of the shim to fit over the axle, they easily expand the 5 thou needed. I purchased the 0.023" and the 0.007" thick ones. Now I have to find the time to install the axles and test for backlash.

Here is the link for whoever has this issue in the future:

https://www.huyett.com/Search?searchtext=shim&searchmode=exactphrase&fs_insidediameternominal=2.598%22

 
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So I was installing the passenger side axle yesterday and I misread the shop manual as to tighten the axle bearing flange to 70 ft-lbs. As I was doing it I felt it was way too much. Today I have been searching around to find 35-40 ft-lbs. The maximum recommended for 3/8-24s is 35 ft-lbs for Grade 5 and 49 ft-lbs for Grade 8. I guess I should have trusted my instinct that something was wrong and stopped. I am glad my bolts didn't break. I will undo them and retighten them to 35-40 ft-lbs. Today while checking the manual I realized I looked at the wrong data. I feel like a moron :shootself: :mad: :chin:.



 
You might want to replace those bolts. Even though they didn't break, the over-torqueing may have damaged the bolts, which could lead to failure due to live loads.

 
Thank you guys. I removed the bolts and the threads are like new. I still got new lock nuts just in case. Nuts are softer than the bolts so they should get damaged first. My T-Bolts are Currie Grade 8 that i bought new last year.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 
The section of the bolt that would be stressed is the portion between the head of the bolt and the nut. The strength of the nuts should match the bolt strength.

 
The section of the bolt that would be stressed is the portion between the head of the bolt and the nut. The strength of the nuts should match the bolt strength.
You are correct about the strength being the same. It was a quick response with not much thought. I meant that the lock nuts are meant to get damaged slightly so they lock in place. I still don't know how this works but somehow that portion has to have less stiffness than the bolt thread. That said, the bolt is black and the nut is bare metal so it was easy to see there was no damage of the bolt threads. I also checked the neck. In my readings I found out that bolts are typically designed to break off before damaging the threads. Although I read this, I have seen damaged threads before breaking off the bolt.

 
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