Technical Ford 9" axle bearing ends: ball vs tapered bearings

So while watching Frieburger's model A video, I noticed that that the aftermarket axles he bought came with the later style tapered bearings, not the more common sealed ball bearings. I've seen these, but never owned a car or truck that had them. The ball bearings have the axle seal in the housing and the bearings are permanently lubed, while the tapered ones have the seal on the axle retainer and are lubed by 'splash' in the housing.

So does anybody know what the pros and cons are between these? The only ones I've seen were in a F150, were these also used in cars? And do both fit into the same type ends, or are the ends different?

 

We just finished a 32 Roadster with tapered bearing ends. By the tiime it got hauled 100 miles to the upholsteery shop grease was running out of bot ends. Jason at P&J's says they've been using that type of rearend with no poblems for several years since John's closed . We ended up doing a little machine work on the axle and pressing on sealed bearings with the o ring. The housing had no provision for an inner seal. We thoroughly cleaned the inner surface of the housing and outer surface of the bearing and along with the o ring used a top grade of heat resistant RTV around the bearing and o ring. Let it dry for several days and so far no leaks. I'm doing another ch***is for a new 3 window and I specified the old style sealed bearing with internal seal ends. We'll see if they supply that type of rear. I asked several builders and they all had a negative opinion of the tapered ball bearing axles. NO GOOD

 

No clue if they interchange, but the sealed bearing I used for my 9inch and the Dana 44 (88128 I think) I thought were a roller bearing, not a ball bearing?
I’ll have to see if I still have the old D44 ones around and pop the seal off.

 

Well, I know the Ford ones are ball bearing because I had one fail bad enough to come partially apart so I could see what was inside.

 

I’ll be darned. I’d ***umed they were roller.

 

Ford went to the tapered rollers with the transition from F-100 to F-150 (and E-150). Gross weight was increased to avoid the EPA requirement for catalytic converters, so the 9" wheel bearings were upgraded. They are better at handling side loads, but some have trouble with leaking seals in old housings. They fit the big bearing housing ends, both old and new bolt pattern. The axle shafts have to be made with a polished seal area outboard of the bearing. Many ball bearing axles are rough machined and won't work with the SET20 tapered roller seal.