Tiger03447

Last night I started the process of reassembling the rear axle assembly of my '83 944. I started with the outer axle bearing. I opened the *** box, and saw immediately, a plastic cage holding all the rollers in place. I don't recall seeing such a cage when I took it apart, but that was some months ago. Is this cage just for shipping? If I am to use it, I presume that the flat side of the cage should go toward the outside of the axle housing? There is no chamfer per se on the bearing outer race. Both sides of the race are rounded with no distinct chamfering, so I'm stumped. Cage or no cage..???

odonnell

The cage is a permanent part of the bearing, otherwise your rollers would roll into each other.

I don't think it matters if the cage faces in or out. The inner contact point is the tube spacer, which shouldn't touch the cage anyway. The outer contact point is the outer spacer behind the axle nut, which has a convex chamfer to avoid clash between the spacer inner face and the rollers. So probably best bet to put it on the inside, I forgot how I did mine the other week.