1928 rear wheel bearing installation

[Oregon Desert model 45]

After a long cold winter it finally warmed up enough to prime the rear wheels last week.   I installed modern lip seals instead of the original felt seals, and added a few dabs of rtv seal to keep them from spinning.  The old seal retainer is reinstalled to keep them seated.   When I looked at the NOS 1310 bearings I purchased earlier, one is New Departure, identical to the old bearings, the other is Federal which has 8 balls instead of 12 as New Departure uses.  As far as I know there is no difference in bearing rating based on number of balls.   They are pretty much overkill for passenger cars anyway.  I cleaned up the 2 old bearings that came out of the wheels and to my surprise, they both appear to be as tight as the NOS ND bearing.   I have reused old bearings in other locations if they are still tight, and am considering reusing one of the old ND bearings and the new one.  There is a a little primer overspray on the old ND bearings that is making them look dark.   Any opinions on 8 ball vs 12 ball bearings, NOS vs good condition old bearings ? 

Kevin 

[JFranklin]

I would be inclined to use both the original bearings and keep the new ones for later.

[DonMicheletti]

Those bearings would be OK for a dump truck - way oversized to accomodate the full floating axle design. About the only thing that will hurt them is lack of grease.

You can find them on E Bay at low cost.

[Hubert_25-25]

I agree with Don.  As long as the old bearings have no spalling or pitting, they are still good.  

[raydurr]

Inspect the surfaces of the inner race, the outer race and the balls. If no pitting or spalling you should be good.