Hey i was looking at some front wheel bearings for my 1955 chevy truck 2nd series and i have been finding upgrades from the original ball bearing type to a roller bearing type. Can you tell me if these fit right in the same hub without modifing or does it take some type of other hub.
I would not call them upgrades, but merely options. You can still get new for whatever you have now, so I would question the reason to change?
I'd imagine that he doesn't cotton to paying nine prices for the ball bearings and then being told that either the parts house doesn't have them or has to order them. I just checked on the O'Reilly website and it's 263.08 for four new ball bearing wheel bearing for my 48. That's reason enough to want to change. 60 Chief, the outer bearing shouldn't be a problem to find but the inner may be difficult due to the way the inner bearing fits up to the spindle. I did find one kit and I'll pm you the info on that but it isn't inexpensive and the price may have changed since I got this catalog.
I can get them any time I want them for around $35 a bearing, inners, including new races, and less than that for outers, by shopping around. In a hurry? Olcar Bearing Co, 135 James Creek, Southern Pines, NC 28387, 910-693-3324
Better yet Chief, see post four in this link. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=306494 I'm not sure how easy that inner bearing is to find though.
Conjecture; I have eyeballed, repacked, and installed, ball bearing type on a few hundred Chivvy front hubs all the way up to when they quit using them and have never seen one fail except where it was apparent that the bearing had overheated from improper preload or lack of grease. Properly installed and maintained they last a long, long time. I'll continue to recommend keeping the originals until it becomes practical to convert. I am not saying that anybody that wants to convert shouldn't, it's no skin off my *** either way.
It would be nice to see some data that shows why a tappered bearing vs a ball roller is so much superior.If you look at the data their both rated for close to the same amount of weight.I have asked our bearing supplier a couple of times with no real data to back it up.Is this just a myth or what.
60 chief i just installed a (CPP)6 lug disc front conversion with that bearing "upgrade" into a customers 59 chevy truck. The inner/outer went in with no mods to the hub. Not sure if anything would be different between the years but i think 55-59 should be the same. As far as the debate on if it even necessary? I inspected the ball bearings n races that came out and didn't see anything to be worried about...a little bit of wear on the inner but i think that was from a lack of grease.
Tapered roller bearings can carry a greater radial and thrust load than roller bearings. Pretty simple when you look at each, on a ball bearing the point of contact is minute compared to the contact area on a tapered roller bearing. The question isn't 'IF' it's an upgrade, the question is 'is it necessary?' I'd say properly greased and adjusted ball bearings will work just fine in their intended applications. Same thing with drum brakes, properly adjusted and maintained they're 'sufficient' - disc brakes are just more better. Start adding heavier loads, larger, heavier engines, wider, larger, and/or radial tires, disc brakes (more heat) etc. etc. and it these 'upgrades' makes more sense. My '55 Chevy truck has been upgraded to modern roller bearings and disc brakes, did the same thing with my '51 Caddy.
I just thought I would reply by saying thanks for the info, I talked to the napa owner in edmond oklahoma which is an old hamber and has a 48 he led me to chevs of the 40s for the conversion kit which was a complete kit for $183.00 over $100.00 dollars cheaper than anything I could find on the ball bearings.
huh? a ball type wheel bearing has a line of contact, just like a tapered roller bearing. For the same size bearing, a tapered bearing could have more load carrying ability...but notice that the ball bearings are pretty big compared to rollers used in similar applications. If your ball bearings are all worn out, and you can't find old stock ones reasonably priced, then the conversion would make sense. I have several NOS new departure inner wheel bearings for these old trucks....I'm set for life.
Look on e-bay, CCP has them on there all the time. I've been told all these roller conversions come from the same supplier no matter who you buy from. Probably all from china, but what isn't these days.
Maybe it's because I'm older than he is? , or smarter? Five minutes searching, I found a pair NOS inners on eBay for $66. Outers are less than that. I already have a lifetime supply anyhow or I'd be buying them................ http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360226764750&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
Yes, but being a cylinder the cross section that makes contact is much wider on each roller. When a tapered roller bearing is loaded, the external load is transformed into three load components: a radial component perpendicular to the bearing axis; a thrust component parallel to the axis; and a smaller roller-seating force. This seating force keeps the large end of each roller in contact with a rib on the large end of the cone, providing positive roller guidance that keeps rollers aligned. Because the tapers of the rollers, cup, and cone meet at a common apex on the bearing centerline, the rollers rotate with true rolling motion with no skidding of rollers over a raceway. Thus, tapered roller bearings perform well during the life of an application.
The rollers roll....except where that large end of the roller contacts that rib on the cone I have several original ball bearings in use on 50 year old chevy trucks, they seem to perform well over the very long life of this application. I'm sure that GM would not have switched to rollers if there were not a good reason. As far as I can tell, the reason was cost.
Hi 60 Chief, You might wish to do a search on "Wheel Bearings". We ran through all this about 6 months back.. Think this set was mentioned a few postings earlier today... Good Luck...duane See Link: http://www.dreamershotrods.com/cpp-4759rbk-u.aspx
rollers have more contact area, and can hold a bigger load. in a perfect world there is no need to swap them. we don't live in a perfect world. ball bearings will fail long before a roller would given the same set of cir***stances.
all i know is my '60 elco with radial tires, i had to re-adjust/re-pack new ball bearings every oil change, converted to rollers (easy swap to '61 and newer hubs) and everything was fine till the next brake job. also the balls where pricey though local auto parts or bearing warehouses (before the internet got big).
I know this a 64 and earlier board, but any fwd bearing ***embly is a sealed unit with 2 rows of ball bearings . They are good bearings to use, if they weren't they wouldn't be used today in brand new cars. But to buy the whole set under $100 is about the price for most inner bearings just alone buy themselves. Kinda makes sense to replace all of them for the cost factor.
Just looked at CPP :http://www.cl***icperform.com/4754chevtrk.html#6 and they were cheap at $119.00 for the kit. I think I will put these on my truck as replacements next time, what a deal!
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