Aaron65 Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Over the winter, I was planning on replacing the front wheel bearings on my '53, and the rear axle outer bearings and seals as well. A few of the balls in the front bearings are chipped away, so it's time...WOW! These are expensive! Rock Auto is insane, and Bob's doesn't seem to have front outers in the catalog, plus they're still very expensive! Anybody find a bearing house with nice prices? Thanks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 60electra225 Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Take them out and take them to a local bearing shop. They should be able to use the numbers off them to find a suitable replacement, and usually at much less - unless there is something special about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 You might want to consider going with roller bearings. The less expensive bearings available seem to be made out of the country, and I've been through several of them on my 56. If you can find a USA bearing I'd say go for it. But I believe you can find roller bearings and races to convert over and no one would be the wiser. If mine go again that's what I'll do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 909025R outer909062R innerThese are what you need to look for. Notice the numbers are GM numbers for the complete assembly minus the 'R' (for roller). I found some a few years ago, but at $200 per wheel, my frugal nature took over since I had some parts cars and got some drums with bearings from some rodders that converted to disc brakes.Let us know if you find some at reasonable prices.Willie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buick5563 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Frugal nature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 I spent some time trying to find a roller replacement for my '60 Electra and a friend's '58 Cadillac. I found no roller bearings that had the correct dimensions to be a direct replacement.In the end I bought new ball bearings for about $75 for the inner and maybe $50 for the outer. It was part of a major brake job I did so the money just rolled into the total. These are Buicks they were made with good, fairly expensive parts.One of my friends has a '66 Mustang and tells me about how cheap parts are for it all the time, but all he has at the end is a Mustang; kind of a lesser car compared to a Buick.Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron65 Posted October 14, 2011 Author Share Posted October 14, 2011 Thanks for all the replies...I'll take a look at them this winter, after I rebuild my Mustang's automatic transmission that has a lazy 2-3 shift (sorry Bernie--but they DO have inexpensive parts!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripgear Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I've been in the bearing business for 30 years, and here is my two cents:Front wheel ball bearings are very slow moving items and are not used on anything else. That's why the prices are high, especially for anything American made.In the '60's some companies made roller bearings as been mentioned. Everybody stopped making them long ago when the demand fell off. If the Chinese make either the ball or roller bearings then the price will come down, but I don't know if the demand is there. Roller bearings can handle more load than ball bearings which is the reason for the swap in the first place. I'd be a little nervous on using Chinese ball bearings on our cars. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rsd9699 Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 If the races are intact and not chipped or galled you can get some new ball bearings to replace the old chipped ones.The other thing is to machine the spindle and hubs for roller bearings.Cheaper to just buy some old used bearings.My experiences are Olds based.Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NikeAjax Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 This is a fun one: Jaybird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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