Thanks, RAMVA guys, for your replies.
I have messed with this some more, and here is what I find.
The bearings are undamaged. The axle nut seemed to be fully torqued when I took it off. None of the parts seem to have a huge amount of wear. All the spacers and bearing parts are there. The circlip was in place.
The outboard spacer bears on the inner surface of the grease seal about
2 or 3 mm from the outboard end of the spacer. I can see this from the mark on the spacer and from measuring all the parts. It seems to me that the spacer should project out farther and get the brake drum casting farther from the seal.
The seal kit I bought has two paper gaskets, one for each side of the brake plate. There were no paper gaskets found in there when I took it apart. If I put it together with the gaskets, it will move the seal another 0.4mm outboard. How important are these gaskets? If I used them, I'm sure I will end up with the brake drum casting rubbing on the seal.
If anybody wants to compare my parts to yours parts, these are the measurements, taken with a cheap vernier caliper:
inner bearing 16.0mm spacer sleeve 57.0mm outer bearing 16.0mm outer spacer 12.0mm
total 101.0mm
measurement from outboard side of circlip to seal bearing surface: 98 mm +/- .3 (Parts assembled on workbench without paper gaskets on brake plate.)
The innermost part of the seal is what I'm measuring to. It contacts with spacer with a pretty sharp edge.
With the bearing cap, seal installed, placed flat on the workbench with the inboard side down, it measures 19.5mm from the workbench to the bearing surface of the seal.
The outboard spacer I got from my VW parts guy was used (can you even get them new?), and it had a mark where the seal rode on it about 6 mm from the outboard end, which seems more reasonable to me.
Is there something defective here? What should I do? Mill down the bearing cap? Put in an extra little spacer? Buy new or newer spacers? Put it back together and forget about it?
Mike. Portland, Oregon. '73 Super.