The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Quick, Dumb Question about wheel bearings

'54 3100 total rebuild

getting parts list ready to rebuild front axle, drum to drum.

no reason to not upgrade to tappered roller bearings right? price is not too much more (cheaper depending on who you compare with who)

thanks
-LGringo

Keep the ball bearings! The roller bearings that are sold tend to be made of Chineseum. It is reccomended to change to roller bearings with a disc brake upgrade. You can often find the roller bearings on sale for $69 on feebay.

I reccomend converting to disc brakes, as the truck will stop much faster and straighter with the discs. 1954 drum brakes did not have automatic adjusters, so you can expect to readjust the brakes every 1000 miles or so.

no reason to do it except when adding disc brakes, the originals have worked fine for decades, just make sure you keep them properly greased and tightened

Bill

Something else to keep in mind, almost ALL late model cars use ball bearings in their hub assemblies.

You just opened a whole nother can of worms cuz I haven't given that option much thought.

So I guess here is the new question:

Are disc brakes worth upgrading to?
If so, does the conversion effect the braking system only at each wheel, (can I run stock master cylinder, no booster, ect) ?

If I do convert to disc, front only or both front and rear?


thanks
-LGringo

If you want to keep the drum brakes, but really upgrade them, check out Praise Dyno brakes.

Praise Dyno Brake
1061 S. Munson Rd.
Royse City
TX 75189
877-606-7867


They are a Texas company who makes cryogenic brakes primarily for the military vehicles, but they also make a Super Drum brake kit for our trucks and muscle cars....

You will have to call them for your truck application.

Good luck,

Thirdcoast

Disc brakes are a good upgrade but it depends on how and where you plan to drive the truck. No, the stock master will not work. 4 wheel discs are not necessary unless you plan to have 500 HP.
I always use a dual diaphram booster with a dual master cylinder and a proportioning valve on the conversions I do. Expect to pay around $600 to $800 for the conversion parts.
Fred

One other thing to consider is that if you upgrade to Front disc brakes your current wheels may not clear the calipers.

I installed the front disc kit on my 50, with tapered bearings, manual master cylinder in stock location.

If you go with power master cylinder you may have to relocate your stock transmission cross member.

there are alot of threads on this upgrade. The search feature will help.

Good luck

"1954 drum brakes did not have automatic adjusters, so you can expect to readjust the brakes every 1000 miles or so."

You can update to automatic adjusters. Just pirate the adjusters from any 11"x2" drum brake GMC vehicle. For example, 1962 or 63 and up (without disk), chevy truck, front or back. The adjusters fit your brakes with no modifications.

My '54 stops just fine, not all shoes are created equal, some stop a lot better than others, don't remember what brand I put on my truck.

I think I really want to stay with the drums, this aint gunna be a daily driver, it will get driven a lot tho, but I want it to feel like a '54, even if that means adjusting brakes every so often, thats just part of "being in 1954", preserve some of the "nostalgia".

As far as swaping in automatic adjusters, I could go for that, not a change that will effect the "feel" of driving an old truck. I can just pop them in as if they were the originals, no other parts need to be changed?


thanks
-LGringo

P.S. -- what is "cryogenic brakes "??

If you are meticulous about your work and rebuild the brakes correctly your not gonna have any problem with your truck. The guys that have the problems are the ones that re-engineer them thinking they know better than the teams of engineers at GM. If you want your truck to cruse down the hiway at 75 or 80 mph or corner like a Ferrari then you need to consider upgrading the suspension and drive line.
Those ball brgs have rolled along for half a century in many cases, hauled unbelievable load that they weren’t designed to haul and given reliable service so I wouldn‘t worry a lick about cleaning them up packing them in new grease and forgetting about them.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Yep, just pop them in and no one will be the wiser. Same shoes, etc. You may find it easiest to find a vehicle to pirate from because you can easily compare the parts that are different and make the swap. Some of the springs, adjusters, etc. At most, you may need to take a file to the top post where the springs anchor. Sometimes it is just a hair tight for the new parts.

If you get nostalgic about adjusting brakes, just swap the old parts back.