Do it Yourself Wheel Bearings?

[Brian_Heil]

OK, a number of us have tried to find the front ball bearing type wheel bearings for 1920's Buicks with little or no success, me included. If someone is sitting on a pile of them, they aren't giving in. These same people have bought up all the good cheap cigars and bourbon too.

In my case, the inner and outer cups are in good shape, it's just my balls that have a few chips and cracks (Mark Shaw will have a Field Day with that comment)but the retainer or sometimes called 'race' that holds the balls is fine too.

The engineer in me says I should be able to purchase new, loose, ball bearings of the correct diameter (after measuring several of my good ones) and carefully remove the old worn balls from the race and install the new ones. The assumption is I don't mangle the race in the process.

What say yee fellow Buick-ites?

A brief comment on the rear wheel bearings for at least a 1923 while I'm at it. They are a standard double row ball bearing off-the-shelf at the local machine/bearing supply house. Early ball bearings where all German and hence metric and still that way today and these early bearing sizes are still the main family / size of bearings in use. I got mine at wholesale cost by giving the counter clerks at the bearing supply house a ride in the Buick, noisy bearings and all. They thought they had gone to old car heaven. Don't pay triple the cost for these bearings from 'an old car bearing source'. He just buys them from the corner just like you can for 1/3rd his price.

Reminder, that big honkin' nut that holds the rear bearing on is left-hand thread on the left side of the car. And no need to pull the wheel hub off the axle shaft inside the hub cap on a '23 (that;s a lefty too on the left side), just remove the six acorn nuts on the outside of the hub and pull the whole hub and shaft out as an assembly. Ah, the joy of free floating axles and no retainer clips inside the differential.

[Restorer32]

You can purchase high precision bearing balls from McMaster Carr Supply in sizes from 1/16" to 1".

[Mark Shaw]

Brian,

Years ago, my dad had new bearings machined to fit my 1913 Buick. The races were very hard to machine, so I think they were "re-ground" to fit. I have a coffee can of bearing balls from old bearings that I have pulled from several cars. Tell me what size you need & I will try to match.

Obviously, my balls may be bigger than yours.....

[Bhigdog]

Most any bearing distributor has loose balls hanging around.......Bob

[Rooster]

Does your ball race have a manufacturer and a number stamped on it.

Ken. ( aka Rooster )

1929

(1954 I)

[Brian_Heil]

The inner cones and outer races are perfect and must be hard as heck. I'll opt for new balls (thanks any way Mark)and see if I can keep from messing up the retainers/keepers that hold them. Will keep you all posted.

[Guest rlbleeker]

My 1916 has standard tapered roller bearings in the front. Should be a fairly simple conversion I'd think. Is that frowned upon?

[Guest Taco]

Is the axle of the '28 Buick the same as the '23 Buick?

Maybe you can sent a picture of the axle if you have one. (pulled out)

I think you can't just put new balls in an old bearing. Everything in the bearing has become bad i think.

Can we replace the old ball bearings for roller bearings?

Gr.

Taco.

[mlander]

Quote from Taco;

I think you can't just put new balls in an old bearing. Everything in the bearing has become bad I think.

Can we replace the old ball bearings for roller bearings?

Gr.

Taco.

I spent several hours yesterday trying to do the very thing you seem to propose, that is replacing ball bearing with tapered roller bearing but have failed to come to a good or even a bad decision. Since Hyatt of the old GM is now in the hand of the Chinese it leaves a quandary of decisions. Of just how to find the proper bearing number transposing using SWENSKA KUGELLAGER FABRIK numbers to old American numbers or possibly have a catalog and some good help from the Swedish factory engineers. Let us hope that SKF is not in the hands of the Chinese!!!

One must have either or both of the following;

# 1, The numbers off the old bearings.

# 2, The sizes of, Width of the race, the Inside Diameter, the Outside Diameter. A picture of the bearing might help.

A least that might be a very good start. I didn’t go Fifnir, Timken or any other, why I don’t know! Probably the best choice is Timken.

http://www.skf.com/portal/skf/home/products

M. L. Anderson

[Brian_Heil]

Well, here it is Spring of '08 and time replace the bad ball bearings in my front wheel bearings.

The smaller diameter outboard balls and races were/are perfect so they got re-packed.

The larger diameter (0.750 in) inner balls were/are the problem with a number of them spalled with sub-surface fatigue areas.

Ordering the 0.750 dia. balls from McMaster was easy and not bad for a bag of 25, only a few dollars.

Pushing the old balls out of the race/cage was not too bad but be careful, the cages are razor sharp after a few million revolutions of the balls rubbing on them.

The hardest part was pulling out the felt grease seal retainer without damaging it so it could be re-used.

$12 and an hour labor and I'm back on the road. This should work well since I've been running on these bad balls since I bought the car and have been 'watching' them and 'packing' them each year because of my concern. (there was no change in their condition as in getting worse in 12 years and 20,000 mile, but now I feel better.) As easy as it was, I should have done it sooner.

The inner and outer races must be really hard because they are still perfect. I also cleaned everything really well since the spalled ball material had to be in there.

[R Walling]

Brian, Is the .750 a typo? 3/4" balls are realy big!

Did you try and purchace something at a bearing specialty store? I have found that you can almost always get something to fit most anything there.

[jbbuick22]

A note on the rear wheel brgs. there are two different sizes used ont early 6cyl models. the long wheelbase ones

(48,49,50,54,and 55 use a larger bearing than the short wheelbase, also the brake drums are larger as well.

I have heard of many cars using modern roller brgs on the

front, I don't know if machining is necessary.

If just replacing the balls works great,but check them often

for any signs of wear.

JB

22-6-55 Sport Touring

[Dandy Dave]

Right, wrong, or indifferent? This is one modification I just finished on my 1915 C-36. I have converted the front end to tapered roller bearings. I found bearings that fit the axles and from there I sleeved the front wheel hubs so that they would accept the bearing cone. Also, while in the process, I installed modern grease seals.

I did this because could not keep the front wheels tight as the Ball bearings were trusting outward and did a job on one of the axle nuts. It was that way when I got it and has been riding on a prayer in my opinion.

With tapered rollers, there is less pressure outward on the nuts and more pressure downward. The wheels fit much tighter now.

I am not sorry I did it as it took the shake out of the front end. I also machined new tie rod pins and rebushed them as they were badly worn.

It could be put back to the balls at any point in time but I do not know why anyone would want to.

Lost my balls, but rolling like a dream, Dandy Dave!

[Brian_Heil]

3/4 in. balls is not a typo.

(Outer race has 5/8 in.)

Tapered is the way to go Dave, I've seen this done often and if my races/cones were messed up, I would have done the same.

They way I see it, if the spalled balls didn't tear up the races in 20,000 miles of being bad, these new balls won't. I'll still keep an eye on them.

[Brian_Heil]

Follow-up to the front wheel bearing ball bearing replacement I performed.

All is well upon inspection after a Summer of touring and ~1500 miles.

Again, if you read this whole thread, the inner and outer cones were in perfect shape, as were the cages (or races as some call them), just the balls were spalled and had been for years. Everything looks perfect with the new balls.

Replacement complete bearing sets could not be found and making spacers to install modern tappered bearings was more work than I wanted to take on.

A reminder, the cages are as sharp as razors on the edges where the balls have rubbed for years, be very careful as you pry them apart just enough to remove the old balls and install the new ones.

Reminder also the rear wheel bearings are off-the-shelf from the local bearing supply house, don't spend and arm-and-a-leg buying them from an 'old car bearing source'.

18 inches of snow on the ground here 20 miles south of Flint and two weeks of sub zero nights as has been the case with much of the mid west. A Summer Tour with the top down and the windshield cracked open sure sounds good. Cabin fever nearly epidemic.

Edited December 27, 2018 by Brian_Heil (see edit history)

[Brian_Heil]

Mounted new front tires this past weekend and gave the front wheel bearings I replaced in the Spring of '08 a good inspection. 3 years and ~5000 miles and smooth as silk. Read the whole post for details. The interesting part is I replaced just the bad balls by prying open the retainers and kept the races which were fine. Many of the balls had sub-surface fatigue and spalled (picture little craters on the balls). Best $12 I've spent in a long time.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Brian_Heil (see edit history)

[Dandy Dave]

Hey Brian, Happy touring this year. Dandy Dave!

[Brian_Heil]

Spring has Sprung!

(Dandy Dave and Brian have crawled out of their Winter burrows, the ice is off the lake and the grass already needs to be cut!)

To quote my wife: "Oh, how nice Honey, you cleaned out the garage, and look, you found your old car in there"

[Seldenguy]

Brian, I love it! You solved your problem and didn't listen to all the naysayers and doomsmen. Congratulations and enjoy your ride. --Bob