Hopefully this is in the right place. My wife has a 1950 Chevy 3600 we've been working on getting roadworthy. It has been fighting us at every turn. We got burned bad buying this truck... anyway. Were running the stock drums front and rear. She had a front outer wheel bearing go out on her on its maiden voyage. Oreillys had everything in stock... no... no they didn't. Not for this truck, nothing worked and its all too small. I'm wanting to replace the inner and outer on both sides plus seals. Do it once do it right until the next thing comes up. I've done a lot of reading and see there are tapered roller bearings available. Does anyone have the numbers I would be looking for? I've read quite a few threads but no conclusions. Heres the info I was able to pull off of what came out. It looks like we have a mix of things going on here. Drivers side. Inner bearing. 909526 races, bearing 909726, seal 5756. Outer bearing. B-25 and B45. I cannot read the bearing p/n its shredded. Passengers side. Inner bearing. B26 and B46 races, no number on bearing. Seal 5756. Outer bearing. B-45 and B25 races, no number on the bearing.
The parts book shows B25 and B26 are the ones you need. 909025 and 909026 are the GM part numbers. Just to double check, does it have Huck brakes? they changed to the Bendix style in 51.
Thank you for the info., that number is for the factory bearings correct? Any idea what tapered roller bearing numbers would be? Never having heard of Huck brakes i had to Google it. It appears to me that she does. They work well enough as long as she doesn't do anything crazy. Ive added a picture to be sure. The rear end is a 14 bolt with factory 14 bolt drums. The truck was supposedly built by a hot rod shop way back in the day (according to the previous owner).
You do still have the 8 lug hubs on the 3600 that left the factory as a 3/4 ton? This page gives a lot of factory specs and info on 50 Chevy trucks. 1950-Chevrolet-Truck.pdf Back to wheel bearings for a 1950 Chevrolet 3600 3/4 ton truck. Rock auto only shows them for a 3100 1/2 ton. The Filling station only shows front wheel bearings for 3100 trucks. Chevs of the 40's lists this as the correct front inner wheel bearing for a 50 3600 Detail: Chevy Parts » Chevrolet Truck Wheel Bearing, Front Inner For 1935-42 Utility, 1946-5 Chevs of the 40s shows this one as correct for the 1950 3/4 ton outer wheel bearing. Detail: Chevy Parts » Chevrolet Truck Wheel Bearing, Front Outer Fits 1935-42 1-1/2 Ton and This page from the pfd that I posted the link to gives the spindle od where inner and outer wheel bearings ride. Note that the measurements that I underlined jive with what Chevs of the 40's say that the bearings fit. It also shows 1/2 ton spindle diameter next to that.
The only inner and outer wheel bearings that O'Reilly's lists are for a 3100 1/2 ton. That is according to the ID of the race.
Yes they're 8x6.5 hubs. Someone previous to us redid the front brakes so I****ume they're original. I redid the rear brakes. I****ume Oreilly gave me the parts for a 3100. They're the correct original stylebut way too small. Thank you for the link and info. Ill see if I can cross reference those numbers for what I'm looking for.
B01 and B52 are the bearings oreilly provided me with along with 6064 seals. They couldnt cross reference anything from the numbers I listed above either
Those are for a 3100 1/2 ton like mine and are the wrong wheel bearings for your 3600. I'd call or Email Chevs of the 40's to make sure of the measurments but normally those guys are spot on with their info.
I went through this when I did my '53 one ton panel. After going around and around trying to source them through the normal places, I ended up taking the old bearings to Brown Bearing in Seattle. They fixed me up with the correct tapered bearings to replace the original ball type. You may have to walk them into a bearing supply place to find what you need. Good luck!
Just an FYI, I have a Marmon Herrington Ford 4WD. Some of the bearings and seals are branded with names that have been swallowed up by other companies. I have found some cross reference charts online that allow you to find replacement numbers. You can find bargains if you look. Time consuming, for sure. I did the same thing for my Farmall A, when I didn’t feel like paying $30-40 for a seal when I could get one for $10.
The only problem with ball bearings is that new ones are expensive. I still have them on my 59 half ton, that I've been driving for almost 50 years. They need to be maintained...every 10k miles, take them out and clean them, inspect, and if there are no pits, grease and reinstall. Adjust according to the owners or service manual. If they are pitted, replace. I think I've replaced two outers and one inner in all that time. 1/2 ton parts don't fit the 3/4 ton trucks. 3100 is 1/2 ton, 3600 is 3/4 ton. I bought some NOS inner bearings for the half ton years ago, just to have. You can find them on ebay. I'd much rather have a new old bearing, than a new new bearing.
If you are not using the truck as a 3/4 ton and do not care if original the 1/2 ton axle bolts to the 3/4 ton springs, they use the same front springs. This allows you to either use the original 1/2 ton brakes- hint ger Bendix style, or any of the multitude of disc brake kits available for 1/2 ton spindles. You can often find the whole****embly for $100 from someone doing either a s-10 frame swap or a mustang two install. I once got one for $10.
The only problem with that (swapping front axles) is that they will have to swap the rear axle too. That might come with a more comfortable gear ratio though. Stock 50 3600 rear axle rato is 4.57 with an optional 5.14 if you really want to pull stumps.
I put a ton of miles on old ball bearings. Had one go out once, found one with a good cage but bad bearings, swapped them from one with a bad cage, used races from 2 different sets. Looked like one of those third world rebuilds. drove the***** out of that mess.
The truck will not be used to its full 3/4 ton capacity. I have a newer 2500HD truck for that, we pretty much have a vehiclefor every mood. The 50 has a stock/mild 400/400 setup in it and a 14 bolt with 3:73s and a truetrac i recently installed with a flatbed that will come in handy quite often. In the year we have had the truck, she has put less than 10 miles on it because it's one thing after another. We were working through it all one thing at a time. That 10 miles was to and from 1 car show. Even though I repacked the bearing they were too far gone. This is not my truck it is my wife, and I have given her these options in the past. She wants to stay with an 8 lug. She would also like to go disc brakes in the front one day. Unfortunately, we just purchased a brand new set of tires for her 15" rims. Some gratification for the amount of money and time we've spent working on this truck would be nice finally. The smoked wheel bearing has the truck in pieces currently and unable to move. The bearings were never maintained by the previous owner or the trans, motor, rear end, electrical... basically the whole truck. The new plan is get a set of whatever bearing and get it on the road. I appreciate all the help and info you guys have provided
I have found this site that seems to have the B25 and B26 bearings new. They're a pretty penny but at this point I don't care. Anyone ever order from them? I'll measure my bearings tomorrow just to verify. https://store.fillingstation.com/shop/?search=B25&year=All&vehtype=All&searchtype=FT
The Filling Station has been around for a long time...never used them, but never heard anything bad about them, either.
Just an update. The filling station has them, they're expensive. I found everything on ebay including seals for $200. Since i did a lot of digging i figure i may as well post some of my findings for the guy who comes across this thread looking for bearings in the future. According to rockauto there are 4 bearings that match the B25. 909025, 909525, 909725 and Y909025. Rockauto again for the B26. 909026, 909526, 909726 and Y909026. All of which they were sold out of. I was not able to come across the numbers for the elusive so called upgraded bearings. Maybe if someone comes across those they can update this. Hopefully it helps someone one day.
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