play in IRS drive shafts

I have recently fitted 356B drums to the rear of my car which is IRS. I have noticed that I have slight play in the rear drive shafts in and out. I have stripped the assembly down and checked the bearings,spacers etc to no avail.

From what I can see is that the axial load is taken on the rear ball bearing 6202.c3 and the front 2 piece roller bearing takes the radial only.

Has anybody else come across this and found the solution.
Many thanks Nigel

Are you saying that if you grab the axle and move it towards the CV on the wheel hub then move it towards the CV on the Transaxle flange there is side to side movement? If so, that's normal. That sliding free play allows the axle to move up and down without binding.

Nigel,
Larry's advice is correct, of course. You should be able to freely slap the driveshaft end to end between the axle and trans CVs. There is almost no such thing as too much end thrust free-play, it will naturally be limited by the distance between the axle and trans drive flanges. You should be real concerned if there is no free-play, and this must be corrected.

Mark

Nigel, What did you change? Was it there with the old set-up?
If the answer is no then you caused the issue. If you swapped
wide fives in place of 4 bolt drums(not saying you did)they require a spacer because the "thickness" of the shaft casting area is narrower. Another question...are you saying when you tug on the axle there is movement in and out and the drum is able to "walk" back and forth? Then the above is your issue. Measure it.

Hey Nigel, I'll assume for the moment that your rear wheel assembly is like this:

Outboard end of Axle-> ---Nut-0.75"Spacer-356bDrum-Spacer-Bearing-BigSpacer-Bearing-Spacer--{ <-CV joint end of Axle. (The 0.75" spacer is in their because the nose length of the 356b drum 1.875"+/- is shorter than a IRS drum 2.5").

---Nut-IRS Drum-Spacer-Bearing-Big Spacer-Bearing-Spacer--{ (Stock VW Type1 IRS 1969-78).

Also try these Links: http://www.1800vw.bizhosting.com/0.suspension_rear.irs.htm or http://www.1800vw.bizhosting.com/irsstubAxle.htm

If all else fails http://rides.webshots.com and do a search for VW REAR SECTION VIEW by dd-ardvark.
Also a search here at SO for, 356 disc brake conversion . . . in reverse . . .

David

Thanks David,Bruce,Mark and Larry for your replies. David and Bruce you are correct in saying that the play is in the stub axle, I have all the spacers as described excellently by david including an extra 4mm spacer behind the 356 drum due to the fact that the oil captivating ring on the back face of the drum catches the seal housing bolts.
The play seems to be eminating from the rear bearing race in the housing (6206.C3), I purchased 2 new bearings today and will change tommorrow. I will post my findings Thanks again for your help.
Nigel

Nigel, sorry I misunderstood you were referring to the stub axles when you said "drive shafts". I was interpreting drive shaft to mean the free-floading axle between the CV joints (I think, so was Larry). I understand now you are referring to the stub axles, which do indeed require a very close thrust tolerance.

I think all your problems will be solved if you just put the car back together like it was -- and give your 356 drum setup to me.

I don't think it's a bearing issue. When you torque the axle nut it should bear down on the drum, draw the axle snug. If you have reached your torque and you still have slop then
your "stacking" is short. If all your changed was the drums how could bearings be an issue.
Measure what you had and what you have and I think you;ll find a difference.
The drum have to be torqued to spec or you will wipe out the splines in your new drums.

Nigel, call them "stub axles"

As was mentioned, check your spacers. Another problem is that the drums may have been made for a swing axle and have less sufrace area for the axle nut to push against.

Re-check your spacers and make sure they are installed correctly.

I have stub axles in my car, and they're two-and-a-half inches shorter than my old IRS setup. I needed a two-sidecover transaxle and some funky spider gears to make them work.
I also had to hack my entire IRS setup out, but it can be done.

Thanks for all your comments, have been through the whole set up again having replaced the rear roller race 6206.c3 and still have a small amount of play, which is from the clearance between the roller bearing parts. I have checked out with a bearing supplier a C3 bearing is a loose fit bearing and is as specified by VW so I was being far to critical I guess.

Hey Nigel, I can tell you all kind of things to fix this,... but.

Simply put an additional spacer under the nut, if the slop is gone.., you solved it.


Cory, Cory, Cory..., your ride is nice, but it has a swing axle rear, with probably..., RLR 3" shortened aftermarket standard spoon axles, but not stub axles..., those are inherent to an IRS.

David