Vibration issues after installation of new center driveshaft bearing

[Fairlaniac]

My 1991 2.9/5 spd 4x4 Ranger - I'm thinking the anchor 6062 Center bearing is an example of the fine Chinese junk available these days. Last week I began to notice a slight vibration in my driveline. I noticed the old center bearing was worn out and the driveshaft could easily be pushed around. Mind you, I've replaced these bearings on some of my previous Rangers, at least three of them and one on my '05 F250. So I bought an Anchor 6062 bearing from rockauto because it had a heart, meaning many of you and other have bought that one more than any other from Rockauto. I took out the small driveshaft, marked both front and rear locations. I took the nut and washer off, tapped the yoke off and used a puller to yank the bearing. Cleaned it up, put on new bearing shield, new bearing and it is in the correct orientation. Put yoke, nut and washer on and tightened to 140 ft/lb. Reinstalled it while lining up my previously painted marks. Took it for a drive and it vibrates so bad at 45mph to 55 mph and settles out but never goes away. I double checked my marks and all is good. For curiousity I rotted the driveshaft trying other locations. Drove it and same amount of vibration at similar speeds. I put it all back to the original marks again, drove it and still the vibration. All this is are 4 12MM front driveshaft cap screws, 4 8MM cap screws and straps, 2 center support 15mm screws. With the simplicity of the job I'm thinking a bad "new" bearing. Has anyone else ever done this and determine a bad "new" bearing? I can't figure out what else it could be? FYI the current vibration is probably 50 times worse than the vibration I set out to fix.

Thanks!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Dad had a new rear wheel bearing that had next to no grease in his 2002 Explorer.

 

[black_demon69]

U JOINTS COULD BE THE SOURCE OF THE VIBRATION.

sorry about the caps lock

 

[Andy D]

I guess I got lucky with the CSB I bought from O'Reilly. When I R+Red the clutch, I pried back the dust cover and repacked the bearing. That worked for a while. I wouldn't buy a bearing, these days without checking it out for noise or roughness.

 

[91stranger]

As mentioned above I would check the u-joints for sure. Those carrier bearings never seem to last long. I replaced one on my 96 ranger and bought it from napa, for some reason it didn't have any kind of dust cover and dust would obviously easily get into the bear, poor design. I had to replace that bearing maybe 1 year later if that. Probably only had 8000-12000 miles on it. Bought a new one from o'reillys and it had a dust cover. truck died before that failed so cant tell the quality of that bearing. I've heard lots of bad stuff from rock auto. I don't ever buy from there myself, never found a deal good enough or better than ebay. I would imagine that there's always a chance a brand new part is bad.

 

[Andy D]

Did you lube the splines on the slip joint? I read about them binding from old grease, and fixed that while the shaft was out. Amazingly, only the rear U-joint was bad.

 

[Fairlaniac]

The odd thing is...

... there was very little vibration from the worn out bearing. A simple swap out an a new bearing in is all that happened. Slip joint was dealt with last year when I replaced the u-joints on the rear section of driveshaft.

this is a beater truck so I only replace what goes bad.

 

[91stranger]

Can you give more details on the shaking? like does it occur all the time? certain speeds? go away with accelerating or decelerating? the more precise info you could give may help narrow it down. I would get the truck up off the ground, all tires off the ground and start shaking things by hand to see if something is loose, next I would start it and put it in drive to see if there is anything noticeable.

 

[Fairlaniac]

bearing

For shits and giggles I put the old bearing back on and ran the truck. All of the vibration went away, just that little hint that originally made me replace it. The Timekin bearing is on the way. I'll put it on when it gets here. Looks like the anchor was a POS.

Thanks,

 

[91stranger]

For shits and giggles I put the old bearing back on and ran the truck. All of the vibration went away, just that little hint that originally made me replace it. The Timekin bearing is on the way. I'll put it on when it gets here. Looks like the anchor was a POS.

Thanks,

That sucks the new part was junk. Good thing you found out what the issue was though. that's why I don't replace stuff until the bitter end lol.

 

[adsm08]

Yeah, I don't trust Anchor bearings. Their engine/trans mounts seem to hold up ok, as far as I have seen, but their bearings are junk.

If they don't wear out quickly or aren't bad out of the box, then they are usually sized wrong and don't fit.