59 front wheel bearings

[Madandy]

59 Bonneville 2dr sport coupe, looking to replace front wheel ball bearings to a tapered roller bearing style. Any info floating around?

[mobileparts]

The company that experimented with them is OOB (Out of Business)

 

I have N.O.S. U.S.A. made Front Wheel Bearings (NOT the Chineseum garbage....) They will be the only ones you will need for the rest of your lifetime.  I have nice U.S.A. made Front Wheel Seals, also.....

 

Always best to simply call me --- Craig --- 516 - 485 - 1935....

[Guest]

The properly serviced and adjusted ball bearings on my 1930 Pontiac have lasted 80 years and 500,000 miles.  When I worked in a GM parts department in the 60's and 70's we had many people changing from balls to rollers.  I resisted and have never regretted my choice.  Because I was driving around a thousand miles a month I just repacked mine spring and fall.  Normal usage for that era would probably mean repack once a year.

[Pfeil]

21 hours ago, Tinindian said:

The properly serviced and adjusted ball bearings on my 1930 Pontiac have lasted 80 years and 500,000 miles.  When I worked in a GM parts department in the 60's and 70's we had many people changing from balls to rollers.  I resisted and have never regretted my choice.  Because I was driving around a thousand miles a month I just repacked mine spring and fall.  Normal usage for that era would probably mean repack once a year.

Yes, many manufacturers replacement parts switched to rollers. Sometimes you had no choice but to switch which is easy to do. 

 

 Most of todays cars wheel bearings are not serviceable/cannot be cleaned and repacked with grease or adjustable. Many people don't realize this and the recommended replacement is 40K per service manuals.

[Bloo]

A ball bearing and it's associated cups and cones are a different physical shape than a tapered roller bearing. As such, the spindles and the hubs are configured a little differently. In plain terms, standard tapered roller bearing sets for automotive wheels are too wide and not tall enough, and the center race does not stick out far enough. Conversions that use the factory hubs and brakes usually involve special bearings designed for the purpose. They are expensive because they are nonstandard, and usually only available through specialty retailers. In the case of GM cars, they don't quite fit either, and the last I heard you had to put the seal over a big socket and hammer on it to put an outward curve in and get it to clear everything and not rub.

 

None of that is confidence inspiring in my opinion. I do believe that tapered roller bearings can take a lot more abuse, at least in hubs that were designed for tapered roller bearings. However, I would trust some smooth, undamaged ball bearings, even the Chinese ones everyone complains about, a lot further than something that almost fits. Just follow Tinindian's advice and repack them fairly often. Use a high-quality wheel bearing grease. I like RedLine CV-2.

 

That said, if you must have the special tapered roller bearings, the ball-type front wheel bearings were just in a few sizes in GM cars for decades. Figure out what year/model Chevrolets take the same ball bearing sets your Pontiac does, and then check with The Filling Station, Chevs of the 40s, etc. I'll bet you can still get some tapered roller conversion bearings. If you change one front wheel bearing to roller you have to do all of them. Tapered rollers adjust a little differently so it is an all or nothing thing. Good luck whatever you do.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Bloo (see edit history)

[mobileparts]

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