anyone upgrade their front wheel bearing on the stock suspension to the roller type? i just purchased them.. the inner bearing seams to be very tight on the spindle.. tight enough that i would have to push it on spindel.. and would have to drive it off once i got it on.. the stock ball type bearing was not like this.. is this normal for these roller type bearings.. seams to tight to me.
Same hub (and I think spindle) used on 52-59 Chevy/GMC. I have rollers on my '57 GMC. They slid on/off like your ball bearings do.
Got mine on eBay a long time ago. Many of the old truck parts suppliers have them, including our web site host here: http://www.classicparts.com/Wheel-Parts/products/62/ The thing that pi$$e$ me off is when the suppliers remove the part numbers from the boxes so you cannot find parts on the open market.
Got the bearings from classic parts of america (our host). is normal fit up.. not tight then... should slide on and off by hand? could hone bearing?
Ran across these this morning on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1947...ies?hash=item2303310126&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245 $111 for both sides delivered with seals. Better price than CP's $120+shipping. I know nothing about the seller.
Thanks, Bill I'm not near ready for bearings, but thanks for the info. I was just wondering if you had purchased yours from our host. I remember a while back there were comments that or host's bearings were cheap quality and burn up in short order. Not to mention that you can't just go to a parts store and pick up a new set because, since they weren't original, there are none that are this size. Your truck rolls along just fine though, right? Thanks again for your help, Bill.
Rollers work fine, but the pre-load is different. If you use the procedure in the Chevy/GMC manual for the standard ball bearings: 1. Tighten to 45-60 ft/lbs while spinning the hub 2. Back off 1 flat on the nut 3. Continue to back off until the first hole (there are two, one vertical and one horizontal) on the spindle lines up so you can stick the cotter pin through you'll end up with the wrong pre-load on the roller bearings. I don't remember where I found the procedure for the rollers, but it was in some slightly newer car shop manual.
No Reason To change , ball bearings are fine and mine are stilltip top after allthese yearsof heavy service... You just need to clean and re-pack them occasionally . For roller bearings you really need to find a different nut , one that has more slots for the cotter pin to facilitate the correct adjustment else they'll either be too tight and burn up or too loose and carry the load on the ends of the rollers and wear out quickly . I suppose you could work up some thin shims and use between the nut and thrust washer... The idea is : roller bearings only want / need .002" of freeplay before things go badly .
Then again~ You DO run radials, and all I've ever heard was how radials will wear out ball bearings... guess there's no need to switch after all! Thanks for the money saved, Nate!
ok i got the roller bearings to fit.. ended up honing the inner of bearing case just a touch so they would slide on spindle.. races pushed into hub by machine shop today.. did a dry run fit on the assembly.. seem to be a good fit.. once i get my front springs i can install the whole rebuilt front suspension and steering.. can wait to take it down the road and see how much it is improved..
