The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Front wheel bearing longevity on the big bolts

I’m looking for some general experience and opinions on front wheel bearing longevity on the larger trucks from this era, rather than troubleshooting a specific problem with mine.

The front wheel bearings for my 54 1 1/2 ton truck are pretty scarce. When they do turn up, the prices seem disproportionately high compared with a lot of other parts. That has me wondering how aggressive I should be about hunting down a spare set while I still can.

What’s interesting is that, browsing through the **Big Bolts** forum, I don’t see nearly as many posts about worn-out or failed front wheel bearings as I would expect given how difficult some of these bearings are to find. There are a few discussions, but not many. If these bearings were commonly wearing out, I would think the scarcity would be a much bigger topic.

The bearings in my truck are in very good shape and appear to have plenty of life left in them. Of course, these trucks also live a very different life today than they did when they were working for a living. Most are probably driven relatively few miles and used for shows, cruises, and general hobby use.

So I’m curious what the collective experience has been:

* Do the original-style front wheel bearings in these trucks tend to have an unusually long service life?
* Is that mostly because our trucks see so few miles today?
* Were the bearings themselves particularly well made because of the manufacturing practices, materials, or design of the time?
* Or have those of us still running good original bearings simply been fortunate?
* Has anyone here actually worn out or had to replace front wheel bearings on a Big Bolt through normal use?

I’m not looking to replace good bearings just because replacements are hard to find. I’m mainly trying to decide whether these are the kind of parts where I should grab a good NOS or quality spare set whenever I see one, even at a premium price, or whether properly maintained bearings are likely to outlast the amount of driving most of us will ever put on these trucks.

I’d be interested to hear how many miles people have put on theirs, whether they’re still running old/original bearings, and what condition they’ve found them in when servicing the hubs.

No persoanl experience but in general bearings when properly maintained last a long-long time. I would watch for good quality NOS parts just because you are concerned with availability but I wouldn't stress about finding them any time soon.

My experience with this style front ball bearing design is if they have been regularly serviced/maintained, they will last just about forever.

Ones that haven't been maintained or were improperly installed/adjusted is the primary cause for failure. That's aside from spindles getting damaged from accidents of course.

NOS and NORS replacements can still be found. The key is to have the correct part number info to be able to search the web for them.

I did a little research and the first thing I found is your standard (not heavy duty) 1-1/2 Ton front wheel bearings are the same ones used for 3/4 and 1 Ton trucks, according to the Chevy and GMC Master Parts Books. Over the years the bearing sets, you could get them by individual pieces (cones, cups, and separator w/balls) or as complete sets (including all 3 components), have had different GM#'s assigned to them.

If you want to spend a little research time, go to GM Partswiki (a searchable database of old Master Parts Books), and search for the following:

909046 - Bearing assembly, front inner*

909045 - Bearing assembly, front outer*

909044 - Bearing assembly, front inner**

909047 - Bearing assembly, front outer**

* Listed in earlier Master Parts Books printings applications list as 1953-57 3/4, 1 and 1-1/2 Ton (non-heavy duty) trucks.

** Listed in later Master Parts Books printings applications lists as 1953-59 3/4, 1 and 1-1/2 Ton (non-heavy duty) trucks + 1960-67 C20-C30 trucks, and even similar rated P-series trucks that used the same chassis.

There are even more "later" replacement part numbers. For example Outer front wheel bearing set, GM# 909047, has 3 different later replacement numbers: GM# 909547, 909673 and 909725. All are the same bearing unit, just with a different number.

One note of caution. GM also assigned some of the same later parts numbers to each of the individual components of the bearing sets too, so sometimes you'll find someone offering a bearing cup by itself with an original box clearly marked with the same part number for the full set. If you dig deep enough in the Master Parts Books you'll see this phenomenon to confirm what I'm providing here.

I would also note that there were many aftermarket replacement/service parts companies offering the same items, but under their own part numbers. For example BCA, an after market bearing supplier, offered a replacement bearing set for GM# 909046 as "BCA B46". Same thing for GM# 909045 as "BCA B45". Aside from BCA, there are probably a dozen or so other brands that offered replacements, so you can often find NORS items under their part number searches.

On one final note, here's a link to just one of the many web ads I found in ebay, using the GM Part Numbers to search: 2- New OEM GM 909044 NDH DELCO 1953 - 1959 CHEVROLET TRUCK FRONT WHEEL BEARING. A pretty decent price for a pair of NOS inner bearing sets IMHO.

Sorry if my answer got a little bit into the "parts hunt" weeds - lol. Hope this mostly answers your questions and provided some help and a resource you can have some fun with in hunting down things for your truck.

Thanks guys for the feedback. Being that mine look good, I’ll put my resources into more pressing needs and hold off a bit on these.

70 years ago we repacked the bearings every 10,000 miles. The grease we had in those days wasn't very good. With today's grease they should last forever.

I know the bearings in my C60 fail due to sitting versus driving. Even with fresh seals and grease, and this time I even made new gaskets for the hub covers, condensation still gets in and I find a rusted out roller every time I crack a hub open.

I don't drive it enough, I know that's the main problem. So I would say, proper grease and install, plus drive it every six months or so at least.