Is this the A/C bracket? Is this what is causing my axle carrier problem?

[Woodsy0]

My axle bearing carrier has fallen off twice in a month and a half. When my friend dropped the engine to extract the bolts the first time, he took the A/C out while doing so cause it was easy to reach at that point. The consensus on the forum is that if that's out, you need to add spacers to account for the 1/4" of space left w/o the bracket attached. Here's a pic of the mounting location of the axle carrier (2nd picture, 1st picture is just a shot of the axle bearing carrier itself). Is the piece shown the bracket for the A/C? Also, it seems as if the bolt hole on that piece has been worn away in the middle, as in it's not the same height all around. Could this be causing the carrier to be improperly mounted and thus break its bolts easily?

Any help would be greatly apprecatied, I'm going to try to extract the broken bolt and fix it but if I don't know what the problem is I'm sure I'll face this problem for a third time.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[RacethisTSI]

when i tore my AC out i just sawzawed the corner of the AC breacket off to use as a spacer..if your AC bracket is not on...it would make sence why i keeps falling off.

 

[Woodsy0]

I'm confused, does that 2nd picture that I posted show the A/C braket? Or is the bracket off and that piece is simply part of the block? When my buddy dropped the engine he took out the A/C, that's why I'm not sure if he took the bracket off or not. It looks like a bracket, I'm just not sure.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[GSXanimal]

When I removed my ac I did like you said and put a 1/4 nut in as a spacer and have had no problems,

 

[Woodsy0]

So from the pictures, does it look like my A/C bracket is removed? I can't tell. And if so, do I shim up the left or right bolt hole, since the axle carrier bolts on at two places, and I'm confused as tl which one would need shimming?

Thanks for the help,

Scott

 

[BudmannG]

Yes your A/C bracket is still in there. I removed mine and bolted it right back no spacers. And have been runing fine for a year now. Here are a few pictures of the a/c bracket.

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[GSXanimal]

So from the pictures, does it look like my A/C bracket is removed? I can't tell. And if so, do I shim up the left or right bolt hole, since the axle carrier bolts on at two places, and I'm confused as tl which one would need shimming?

Thanks for the help,

Scott

I really can't tell if it is removed from those pics,but if it is you shim the one on the left (drivers side).

 

[Woodsy0]

You're right, from the looks of the pictures you attached, that bracket is definitly still in there...So I guess I can rule that out as being part (or all) of the problem. Thanks for the quick pics.

Now that that's been ruled out, does anyone have any other ideas as to why the carrier would break off its bolts twice in a row? I'm going to try heavier duty (grade 12) bolts and some loctite, but that's about all I can think of to do. Any other ideas/remedies/solutions?

Thanks guys

 

[BudmannG]

Make sure your shaft is straight and not bent. It sounds to me that you may need a new carrier shaft. does it vibrate going down the road?

 

[Woodsy0]

To tell you the truth, my car has enough vibrations in normal operation that it could be, but at the same time it could just be worn suspension components that are vibrating. All my suspension bushings are worn out and I have yet to put in new bushings, coupled with Tein Basics, making for somewhat of a harsh ride. I will note, however, that in the one or two days leading to the bearing falling off, I did happen to notice a slight amount of new vibration coming from the floorboard where my feet were. Makes sense that this would be the carrier bearing working its way out. But when I think about it, besides those last few days before it went, I don't notice any real noticable or seemingly out of place vibrations that were coming from that area. I might as well cover my ass this time around though, and grab new parts. Did you say I might be needing a new carrier bearing? Or is the carrier shaft a different part. I'm not sure what part of the assy the carrier shaft is. I had my axle replaced with another one from a fellow DSMer, I believe it was a 1g axle, but I could be wrong. Is the carrier shaft part of the axle assy or a different part altogether?

Sorry about my relative ignorance about most of the axle components and operation, the first time around I dropped it at my friend's shop to fix, and I didn't have the time to be there while he was doing it to figure it out for myself.

Scott