Alec

I think it was well worth it, and I didn't notice any real drop in mpg

Norm Peterson

Based on your original post and the difficulty that you apparently knowingly let yourself in for, I'd say their concerns were entirely justified. I'll give you partial credit for doing enough checks to isolate the problem and correcting it BEFORE you developed a bad wear pattern. Not full credit because we both know it shouldn't have gone down that way. Going back to post #1 it was not at all clear that you'd have that much patience and presence of mind, or even that you might have realized that mixing and matching bearing components was a rather bad idea. I trust you won't make that mistake again.

There are many situations where "it looks identical" isn't nearly good enough, and tapered bearings are high up on the list where assuming that they are will get you in trouble. I'm glad that things seem to have worked out well for you this time. At the same time I hope you've learned to pay attention when concerns are raised. They don't have to scare you away from trying, but don't take this experience having turned out for the better as basis for ignoring them either.

FWIW, I've done a couple of DIY gear installations and a couple of transaxle rebuilds involving tapered bearings, and they all turned out better than just OK. The level of difficulty isn't bad, it's the precision and the patience and the willingness to check things as many times as it takes. Not everybody passes that test.

I hope you take this constructively, the criticism along with the (somewhat subtle) praise.


Norm