I recently pulled my rear axle shafts in order to replace the bearings. I took them to the machine shop and, per the advice of a web site somewhere, I asked him to remove the damn dust shields. I figured I could make something to hold the brake lines myself anyway and since there was already a three hole triangle thing to stick bolts in anyway, what could it hurt?
Now I have my axle shafts in and tightened one side down. Without the dust shield, there appears to be a space between the part that bolts to the housing and the housing itself. It holds tight, but it looks like dirt/dust/grime could get in there and hurt the new bearings.
What do you guys think?
TIA

 

i'd say go to autozone and get some of that gasket in a tube and lay an outline around it, then put it together and you have a custom tailored seal.

 

That's actually a good idea. Maybe I'll put some around it just to be safe. I've been looking at it though and I don't know if there's much opportunity for dust to get in there much more than before. We'll see what other people think.

 

Someone out there must at least contemplated removing the rear dust shields? Anything I'm going to have problems with here?