Salisbury Rear Axle

Hello

My 110 td5 with Salisbury axle, had 220,000 miles and needed bearing etc, no surprise after 20 years and that mileage.

Since then I have changed the bearing's twice now, fitted a complete good axle from a reputable supplier.
Each time, the same result, within a few miles noisy bearings.
One mistake I did was semi-synthetic oil as this is what I was advised to get at the retailer also when I replaced the bearings I overtightened the pinion.
The second-hand axle is strange because it was just, remove and replace.

I have just rebuilt the axle (with Timken bearings), checked all the clearances and backlash, filled up with normal gear oil sae90.

A lovely quiet axle for not even 5 miles then the noise has just started.
The front bearing casing area is hot, oil is cool, right level, there was nothing left inside to block the flow of oil around the housing.

On removing the prop-shaft, the pinion nut was tight but not over tight, enough to give no backlash and rotate the pinion with 5nm, which is the figure I found in an old manual for a salisbury axle used in a dumper although it is the same axle.
In case anyone is thinking, the crown wheel to pinion is perfect.

For some reason, the front bearing is being starved of oil.
Has anyone else had these issues ?
Or ideas ?

Has anyone got an original manual for the Salisbury axle ?

Tomorrow I will be stripping the axle out and looking at the bearings, I so hope to find something.


Thanks for reading and any ideas welcome.

Alan

I may have been lucky but I have 330k and 30 years on my Salisbury axle and have never had to touch the diff. It is the same with the front axle as well, I have had several gearbox and transfer box rebuilds but the axles have not been a problem. Something I would say (although not directly relevant to your current situation) is that even good quality new bearings are not as good as the originals from my experiences with gearboxes. My original gearbox and transfer box lasted nearly 200k. I have had three rebuilds on them since then (last one fitted 310k) so a rebuild unit seems to last about 60k ish compared to the original which lasted three times that. Although is sounds like you have had the same problem with several different axles and rebuilds and they definitely sound like they are failing prematurely it is something to bear in mind when comparing a rebuilt unit to an original one.
Unfortunately I cannot help with your specific problem but I am sure a grownup with more knowledge will be along shortly.