Technical 1955 Chevy front Wheel Bearing issues

Hey guys!
I have been driving my trusty 55 Chevy daily for a year now , a little over 10000 miles. When I got it, it still had the old, I guess stock, wheel bearings in it. After a couple of thousand miles I had to replace the right one, and after a few thousnd more the left one. From then on I went through 6 or 7 Federal Mogul/National B40 Inner wheel bearings. The outer ones are always fine, but the inner ones start separating after as short as 500miles, sometimes 1000 miles. The shop manual says to torque the hub to 33ft-lbs while turning the wheel, then back of the nut just enough to get a cotter pin in, and that should be it... should...
I´m using a good wheel bearing grease from a name brand over here... maybe one of you guys have a hint what I´m missing.

I have noticed that the new National B40 wheel bearings have black plastic inner ball separators, where the old ones had steel cages ... I think the plastic cages crack and fall apart after a short while , so the balls all aggregate in the upper area of the bearing and grind themselves and the races to death....here´s a bearing I replaced last weekend after only 500 miles...
Also the inner race had some serious pitting,do you think it is possible, that the race surface was not hardened enough?
Needless to say the box says "made in China"...
Maybe you guys have a vision of what I´m doing wrong, or can guide me to a better brand wheel bearing, if that should be the reasons for the failures. But it looks like only National has the B40 bearings right now...
Thanks for your help! Chris

 

That inner race should be free to spin on the spindle. That's the way bearings on a spindle work. They need to slowly rotate on the spindle to even out wear. that's why there is grease on the spindle where the race rides. Looks to me like that inner was frozen to the spindle and concentrated wear on the lower surface.

 

Can't speak to your specific issues but, I've heard of quite a few wheel bearing failures lately. Could be inferior quality parts on the market.

 

Nothing should spin on the spindle. Race is a snug fit to the spindle and balls ride on the race. Sounds like your tightening the bearings too much.

 

i have some 40yearold ones new in the box somewhere....
the outside washer should move ever so slightly after tight
and back off...

 

You could change over to tapered bearings.
Actually I've got these for sale, if you're interested.

OK, just noticed your location. You can convert your set up over to tapered bearings using hubs from a little newer (61-68, I think) car. You can use your original spindles. I think every thing else is interchangeable.

 

I don't think I want you working on my stuff

 

55 foot pounds? I was always of the thought that ya snug them up, and then back off to the first cotter pin hole. (but maybe the ball bearings are different.) I like the above idea of switching to roller bearings if you can find them.

 

The old trick is to upgrade the stock wheel bearings to tapered roller bearings. (the tapered style bearing are pictured on the right side of your bearing box)
I did this to my 55 when I was in High School in the 70's and there is a world of difference. IIRC, it was late 60's-early 70's mid-full size (4 3/4" bolt pattern) Chevy hubs/bearings. You can utilize the stock 55 drums by drilling out the rivets that hold the drum to the hub. Then slide the drum over the 70's hub/lug bolt affair. No re-riveting needed as the wheel lugs hold it all together when tightened.

I did this as a poor kid using stock/used parts off a wrecked car before there were aftermarket kits such as this;

https://www.danchuk.com/ItemForm.aspx?Item=138

You could go cheaper by sourcing a pr. of original hubs and picking up a bearing/race set pretty reasonably, probably under $100.

The beauty of this is that it upgrades a stock car w/o any visible difference.

With the price of this kit, now would be the time to just step up and invest in a disc brake an possible dropped spindle conversion if your car is Hot Rodded. Stock 55 drums are pretty scary with a hi-po engine or when they get wet.

 

Back in the 70's when we were still working on quite a few older cars, we'd grease the wheel bearings, snug the spindle nut down, spin the hub, back the nut off/retighten finger tight, and adjust it to the nearest spot where the cotter pin fit.
Then we'd drive the car and double check everything. Seems like the roller bearings tended to loosen up on the initial drive. After they were reset, they didn't change anymore.

 

61-68 full size hubs will fit, like Larry said.

Or, if you can find some NOS New Departure bearings, they might last forever? I still have originals on the front of my 59 chevy pickup.

 

or you could update and put disc brakes on the front

 

I converted my 54 Pontiac to tapered roller bearings in the front, and I haven't had to replace a bearing since. Well worth it.

 

33 lbs on a front wheel bearing ????

 

convert to tapered roller bearings. they made a kit for my 59 vette. i feel better with them in there.

 

No kit needed to convert these ones, just find some hubs from a later car.

I torque the ball bearings in my truck like the shop manual says, they last a long time.

 

too tight tends to kill ball bearings quickly, running on the "loose" side doesn't seem to effect them.
i am in the tighten, then loosen crowd, but there is a certain "feel" to it.

 

yup, like the book says...

 

Wheel bearing failure has always been a common problem with tri-fives, especially with aftermarket rims. The common solution, once upon a time, was to get the hubs from a Chevelle (if I remember correctly) in order to use roller bearings. Now days, you can buy roller bearings that directly fit the stock tri-five spindle and hub..

 

Thank you all for your great replys!
I also used to use the " tighten until it turns harder, then loosen it up some"- method for most of my cars , but with ball bearings I wasn´t too sure and decided to check the shop manual. I was surprised myself, but like Jim posted with his scan above, they need to be tightened to 33 ft-lbs and then backed up a minimal amount.
But this didn´t make any difference in my case...
I only have the stock 235 / 3 speed-OD in the car, and the drum brakes are flawless for the speeds I achieve. I did change to dropped spindles and discs in my 56 Chevy with a healthy 327, here it really made sense . But that was in 2001 or 02 or so , and I didn´t have any wheels bearing problems with my 56 on drums back then.
I´m sure I can find 61 and up hubs localy, because lots of people convert to discs here, that´s some great info! Didn´t know that would fit the 55 and up spindles... But maybe I´ll try to find a set of old NOS bearings first and see what they´ll do... I really have a feeling that the plastic cage is to blame. I see how tapered bearings can take higher loads, but I think people back in the 50s and 60s were driving these cars daily without changing wheel bearings every second fill up....

 

If you can't find the 60s hubs, maybe you could find some used original bearings, if someone with a 55-60 converted to disc brakes.

 

Not the same car...but when my 56 Cadillac needed an inner wheel bearing I looked up the number on Ebay and found an ancient NOS, US made bearing that'll probably outlast anything made today. Best part? Guy only wanted $15 buy it now. I'm sure there are way more Chevy bearings out there...incidentally, I would never use one with a plastic cage.

 

That´s possible and very likely, lots of guys do that over here. I have seen the NOS bearings on ebay to, but mostly when the hub is apart and all the balls spread on the floor I needed a fast replacement fast and rockauto sends them in 2,5 days... the 55 is my daily so it was good the get them quick to get it back on the road...No time to check if a ebay seller will ship the old bearings overseas and get a shipping quote. This usually takes longer. I´ll ask around if anyone has something in his stash I can use...

 

I´ll plan ahead in the future, use more old or NOS parts, but I´m in a learning curve, this is part of the fun,

 

if i can find them... ill check the cage most likely there NOT plastic....
being 45 years old NIB new in box...

 

Sounds like good solutions for the Chevy crowd. Any recommendations for the 55-56 Oldsmobile cars?

 

Bearing never to turn on spindle . That is what the bearing race is for : bearings rotate on the race , not race on the spindle . Ball Bearings require some slight "play " to last . Roller Bearings require no "play" to last . That doesn't mean torque down a roller bearing and good to go : tighten , rotate to seat the bearing back off 90 degrees and retighten use to remove any free play .

 

The race is not supposed to turn on the spindle, but it's allowed to turn on the spindle.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1955-1957...Y-PT-909040-GM-CHEVROLET-HOTROD-/181507522694

 

OLD TRICK,, we learned in 1958,, put roller bearings inner and outer. using your stock hubs.. Specially with offset wheels... Check with the oldest clerk in a bearing sales and service retailer. Tell em what you want.
he will guide you thru it, Autozone/O'reilly, probably not..