The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun Front Wheel Bearings

Has anyone considered, or successfully converted their front wheel bearings from the angular contact ball bearings to taper roller bearings? Lots of 1/2" conversion kits out there but not much for 1 tons. These front bearings are WAY expensive and was hoping there would be a current taper bearing that may be more cost effective.

I have found the part number for the National Bearing front inner and outer as B45 and B46 but am not having any luck sourcing a cost effective solution or a cross reference to a taper bearing number. Its looking like it could be a $350.00 set of parts here in Canada which seems pretty steep for a set of front wheel bearings.

Most bearing catalogs include dimensions, so you could spend some time matching up ID and OD as well as width to see what would fit. Or maybe you could just query the bearing manufacturers to see if they could cross them over from the ball to tapered roller type. But that would be the easy way out.

hi TrevorC
are your wheel bearings bad? i was under the impression these old front wheel bearings would outlive us all, no need to change them unless they are bad, just clean and re-grease and tighten to spec.
but anyway i'll go research it, i know i found reasonable replacements for the 1950 1Ton fronts, about $11 for the inner, and the outer is a bit pricier at $40 it has fewer modern interchanges
i'll let you know what i find for your truck
-s

sorry TrevorC, i only found that your bearings for 1953-57 1Ton front are more difficult to source than the 1950-52 1Ton fronts.

INNER bearings OEM was a New Departure 909046, it is listed as 38 x 80 x 22 mm , ID/OD/Width, however many places like rounding the numbers, so if you are off by 0.1 mm on a replacement you won't be able to pound it in
from Delco New Departure ball bearing interchange guide jan 1 1956
AHLBERG 46
B.C.A. 909046
FAFNIR 10046
SKF 909046
from SKF Bearings Master Interchange oct 2006
SKF / Timken B46 replace DELCO, AC 909046
@ rockauto - SKF / Timken is interchanged with National B46 $74


OUTER bearing OEM was a New Departures 909045, size ID 23.03 mm,0.9065 in. OD 57.16 mm,2.2503 in. Wd 20.32 mm, 0.800 in. also called a ID 23 mm / OD 57mm / Wd 18mm
again, being off by a tiny amount going by listed rounded dimensions could be an issue if you don't have a perfect fit.
from Delco New Departure ball bearing interchange guide jan 1 1956
AHLBERG 45
B.C.A. 909045
FAFNIR 10045
SKF 909045
from SKF Bearings Master Interchange oct 2006
SKF / Timken B46 replace DELCO, AC 909045
@ rockauto - SKF / Timken is interchanged with National B45 $53

yup it's gonna cost a lot to replace all 4 bearings,
like i said before, do you need new bearings? that's a lot of beer money, i have many of these trucks and they all have good front bearings still and i do not anticipate needing to replace any soon.

these are all ball bearings like original
i was only able to find a roller drop in replacement for the OUTER front on the 1950-52 1Ton, National A37 is a roller replacement for a ND 909525, this roller bearing shouldn't fit the 53 and newer tho as the pasts lists do not show compatibility
-s

Thanks 2ManyTrucks. I was hoping to be able to clean, regrease and reuse but unfortunately there is some small chatter marks on one race and small grooves on two other races around the inside edge.

Thanks for all the research and cross reference numbers. I may try to see if timken or skf can cross reference a fit for taper roller bearings. If not then replacements will have to be ordered.

Yeah a bearing shop would be better suited to cross it to a roller type

You can probably find NOS for less that rockauto prices
And even if the originals are not perfect there is a chance they would still last a lifetime
I’d have to see how bad they are in person but if you have them out already may as well put in a new one

Make sure you bring the old one with you when you go shopping for a replacement
All the data I found is for USA trucks, this kind of detail is the sort of thing that could be different on a Canadian truck.
-s

Those old bearings should be measured in good ol' American units, not metric. Catalogs I have seen indicate both, so you SHOULD be able to get an exact match. Bearings nowadays are produced in metric. Not good for matching up to old stuff in the inch system.

well when the dimensions are odd number like "ID 23.03 mm / 0.9065 in" that's not a nice round number in either units system!
the problem i ran into is that too many sources are rounding the decimal places too much no matter what system of measurement is used

besides good old American units are all based on metric since 1958, 25.4mm is exactly an inch
i prefer inch threads over metric any day, love my 6-32 and 1/4-20 etc...
but when i'm measuring steel to cut and form it's easier to cut to metric lengths, not 2' 5" and 13/64... lol i just go absolute 661mm, there only off by 8 thousands, but my awl isn't that good anyway
-s

Within the past ten years I have bought BA 45 and BA 46 from one of the national bearing houses, Applied Industrial Technology. I was appalled at the price then but swallowed hard and ordered them. These apparently were also used on Buicks. The axle rating is 3500 lbs. and I've never been able to get more than that on the front axle so I don't think they are under-sized. How much did the front end of a '50 Buick weigh?

I have searched for tapered rollers in years past and was told by an old (older than me even) NAPA parts man that there was a kit made at one time and he was even able to come up with a part number. BUT he told me it was no longer in the price list. His book did not say NLA just no price. That was t least 30 years ago, so don't get excited.

My truck has two New Departure bearings and two that I replaced. The truck has about 300,000 miles on it that I can account for so the bearings last a long time if cared for. I clean and re-grease them any time I have occasion to pull the front drums. Read the factory book on pre-load and do what it says. Don't guess.

There was a company called MBS out of Japan that used to make tapered wheel bearings for the 3600, 3800, 4100 trucks. I actually bought a set. I don't believe they're available anymore. They were beefy and well made, but I did have some fitment issues.

One of the problems is the seal rides on the inner bearing. The inner sleeve of the bearing is extended. You can find a bearing with the same inner and outer dimensions, but you'll need a machined sleeve for proper spacing and for the seal to ride on.

The next issue is the outer bearing. It's an odd size, .908 ID, if I recall. You'll never find a tapered bearing that diameter. You're only option is to have the spindle machined to accept a more standard size.

Anyhow, you're better off sticking with the B45, B46 ball bearings. They're plenty stout and more than capable of anything you throw at them.

I dont mind sticking with the ball bearing setup. I am not scared of the setup as they lasted many miles before I came along. I am just cringing at the price of them and it doesn't look like many options on price are available. However it is what it is and the cost of doing business as they say

The MBS bearings were about twice the price of the OE ball bearings. Considering they didn't fit well on my truck, and I went a different route. Kind of a hard pill to swallow. Hindsight is 20/20 they say.

Hi TrevorC what did you end up doing for front bearings? Ive checked out rock auto, ya breaks the bank. Also trying to figure out what series of truck i got. local dealer can't help. I got the serial number and guy i bought it off of said its a1956 gmc 1ton, its got a 9400 badge on the grill. once i figure out how to post pics i'll post some.

It would be a relatively simple task for any competent machinist to adapt the hub for a commonly available tapered roller bearing that has a cup with a slightly larger OD than the present bearing, and machine a sleeve to slip over the spindle to accept a compatible bearing cone. The sleeve could also be extended to provide a suitable seal surface at the same time. It would be a one-time modification that would solve the problem forever. Or is that approach too simple?
Jerry

After reading this post I started searching around for bearings by dimension. I found one and ordered it to see how it would fit. I found it on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/182698869588
15590-15520 Tapered Roller Bearing Set Cone & Cup. These are the outer bearings. The race OD shows the same size as the original. The inner race is bigger than the spindle, but the original inner race actually fills that space pretty nicely like a sleeve. Aside from being a bit wide, it looks like it could almost be used as a sleeve as is.
Is it insane to put a sleeve between a bearing race and spindle? Should it be press fit in so you don't have it spinning?

So I've been searching for front bearings, found them on rock auto at a pretty good price. For my 1956 dually part numbers were the seal 40973s, the inner bearing is wbb46, and the outer is a national b45. I paid i believe about 180 Canadian plus shipping. much better then the local bearing shops that wanted 243 Canadian just for the outer. thanks for all your help, next is the clutch.