Hello all. I was attempting to tow my 1964 Dodge Dart from New Orleans to Houston the other day on a 2-wheel tow dolly. The rear wheels were on the ground. To make a long story as short as possible, the Dart suffered a catastrophic wheel bearing failure on the right rear, and I looked in my rear view mirror to see sparks flying as my tire, wheel, drum, and axle shaft went bounding down the shoulder. I managed to recover the axle-drum-tire from the side of the highway, and after an adventure with a very skilled tow truck driver, managed to bring the Dart back to its place of origin, where it will stay until fixed.

There isn't any other damage to the car, thankfully, but I now have to find some replacement parts and was hoping you gentlemen might be able to help me with that. After calling two dozen junkyards in Houston, I have discovered that no one within 200 miles has any junked Chrysler A-bodies. All the places I talked to farther away will only sell me the complete rear axle, and I don't need to drop 400 bucks on parts for this car right now.

I am not sure of the exact names of some of these parts, so bear with me. I definitely need to replace the lower plate that attaches the axle to the leaf spring via U-bolts. This is also the plate that the shock absorber bolts to. This is what the car dragged on for 200 yards, so it is toast. I also will probably need what I believe is called the brake mounting plate, or back plate. This is the piece all the brake parts attach to, and the one on my Dodge is now missing the bottom 2 inches, which were ground to dust on the Louisiana asphalt. I also need most of the springs, the self-adjuster, and everything else that mounts there which you can't get at Autozone. Finally, I need the rear wheel outer seal, or the piece that holds the wheel bearing in place. I found a kit on ebay for the 8-3/4" rear end that includes this part, but no luck so far on the 7-1/4. I doubt they are the same. Here's the auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... OTORS:1123

That's it, as far as I can tell. I think my axle shaft is intact, but I still need to clean it off and check for heat damage on the wheel side (it got pretty hot) or damage to the splines on the other side. If any of you guys know where I could locate these parts, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

You should carefully inspect the inside of the axle housing tube, where the bearing resides. It is possible the bearing race spun in the housing, and tore it up. If it did, it is time for a replacement housing.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

If you can make it to Kansas I have 2 spare 7.25's with 3.23 gears from 62-63 valiants --- ,Lawrence

Thanks, VDART, but Kansas is a bit of a drive for me. Fortunately, I was able to get all the parts I need for less than a hundred bucks at this place:
http://www.texasacres.com/

My big question now is how to remove the remains of the wheel bearing from the axle tube. About 60% of the outer race (the cone, I think) is stuck in there along with the inner oil seal. I hope the fact that it's stuck means it didn't spin in there, but I still need to get it out. Is there a special tool to use to remove it?

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

the machine shop can press off the old bearing and then press on
the new bearing.