The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk New Wheel Bearings?

I got my new wheel bearings in last night (UPS guy delivered at 8:15PM!). These are the tapered roller bearings to replace the stock ball bearings. Well I'm slightly dissapointed and I'm looking for opinions.

The inner bearings are perfect. However, the outer bearings... well I'm not sure. First of all they are different brands . They look the same size (I don't have a micrometer). Second of all one of them has already been opened, has some light oil applied to it and has what appears to be light rust on it :mad: (on a non bearing surface... the one you tap on to drive the the race out of the hub).

So my question is should I just go ahead and install these and everything will be OK... or should I contact the seller and request a replacement? How typical is this? :confused:

Thanks!

Call me anal (everyone else does), but I would return them for a replacement. You payed good money for them and deserve a good product. I have installed hundreds of bearings and knock on wood none failed right away. I had to install some that didn't look so good when I was in some far away land and didn't have much choice.

Most bearing warehouses (King or such) can cross over your ball bearing package to a good high quality tapered Timken set up and the last one I did ('57 half ton) cost less with seals then I could have got from a truck parts supplier. Just take your old package with you so it can be measured, no trick here.

I dont screw around with bearings. I got some ball type 3 piece units ordered one time and only got the inner race and the bearing. What the hell?? Sent them back and called a bearing store and they had more to me in about 3 days time.

Also they said they american after a few emails and when I got them -made in china. I dont think so. They didnt even fit well in the race, very sloppy.

Cant beat Timkens. The others were Japanese and worked wonderful to. Im picky when it comes to bearings though.

Jeff

My advice would be to call the supplier before you send them back. He may not even want the questionable ones back and will just send you a new set to match the other good one. That way, you could avoid the hassle of sending them back, plus if he lets you keep them you've got an emergency spare.

My personal opinion is to return them and go to a bearing place and get some there.

Just out of curiosity, though...

What's wrong with the ball type bearings?

Those things will last forever if properly maintained.

I was eager to replace those ball bearings in my 3/4 until I made an interesting discovery. Long ago a mechanic told me that the standard bearing grease is to thick for those ball bearings. I understood what he told me but I didn't know exactly which grease to get since they all seemed equally as thick. Sooo, one day I was replacing some bad bearings (this was getting old) and I decided to pack the heck out of them with as much grease as the housing would hold. I ran out of the standard bearing grease and added some white lithium grease. The resulting mix made a more fluid grease. Since then I have not had a bearing go bad!!! That's my suggestion for those of you who don't want to screw around with switching to roller taper bearings.

Thanks for the advice folks. I'll contact the supplier and look for a replacement.

Brendan - It did have ball bearings. They were badly beat up in a few places and needed replacement. I could either replace them with original ball bearings OR upgrade to taper roller bearings. These are a superior bearing for this application and should last longer and provide better bearing support.

Boy, that's a familiar looking truck! (see my sig) On my truck the wheel bearings were just ok, so I replaced them with new ball bearings. They were pricey for what they were, but are going strong still. I decided if they lasted the first 47 years, another set would take em past when I'd be driving! (The truck is the same age as I am)

I would like to know if you just replace the old style ball bearings with new tapered ones? Are there any adaptors/spacers required? If all it takes is just replacing the old ball bearings with tapered bearings and a seal, what are the bearing numbers & the seal number. Thanks.

The reason I asked was the set in my truck are pristine, and as far as I can tell, have never been replaced.

Apparently, not all of the POs were as nice to their trucks as mine were...