Birfield Re-Assembly Help (1 Viewer)

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Ok, so my day is not going well. The mini-truck birf that I got for my disk brak swap were running in bad birf soup, and the retaining clip broke when I took it apart. So I figured I ought to take it apart to make sure it was thoroughly cleaned and all the bits of the clip were out.

It disassembled much harder then my 80 series birf - I had to use light taps on a drift to move the center cage assembly around to get the balls out. Which should have been warning enough I guess - now I can't get the damn thing back together!

I've gotten the star back into the cage with some significant persuasion, and it's oriented the right way according to the manual (flange on star toward the thick side of the cage). But it's not free in there at all. Basically I have to stick the axle stub in there and put the cage in a vice to move it around. I tried various clockings of the star WRT to cage, thinking it might fit one way better then the other, but no change.

I got it back into the bell, but with it that stiff there's no way I can shift the star and cage around relative to each other to get the balls back in. I've tried it with and without grease on the bits - doesn't seem to matter.

Anybody ever run into this before? Suggestions?
 
Here's some pics in the vice - it doesn't move to bad with the short side axle shaft in it - but not great, and I can't move it much without that. I tried moving it around in there for a few minutes to see if it got better, or if there was a certain clocking of the star within the cage that worked better. Nothing - except the cage was noticeably warmer after just a few minutes of moving it by hand.
stiffbirf1.jpg
stiffbirf2.jpg
 
hiya,

I just re-read your post. FSM says there's a specific side that goes in first and should not be a problem. I don't recall any problems putting the inner race & cage together. They should slide in if the orientation is right. You may want to check to see if they are in the way they're supposed to. It says he protrusion end of the race (star) should be oriented towards the wide side of the cage. You might have put the cage in backwards.


After getting the balls in, put the axle in. Here's a link to how I did it.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/335136-birf-inner-axle-got-done.html

Regards, ty

:beer:
 
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Some are tighter than others, particularly when they are new. You can't reassemble it with the shaft in. Use a brass drift or a wooden dowel to move the star to get the balls in.
 
Some are tighter than others, particularly when they are new. You can't reassemble it with the shaft in. Use a brass drift or a wooden dowel to move the star to get the balls in.

Thanks - I think this was the problem. I don't think the donor truck spent much time in 4WD, so they were like new. Got them together yesterday using a drift, as you suggested, to move things around.

Probably more my expectation then anything - when I rebuilt my 80 series, they just popped back in and everything moved around easily. But that was a full time 4WD truck with 160K on the clock, so a little more wear.
 
put some grease on it to help out with metal on metal friction also.
 

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