The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Front Wheel bearings

Members:
Replace all brake parts,including lines etc. while I had the wheels off I took out the ball bearings and races to clean hub. I was going to replace with roller bearings...but a thread convinced me to stick with ball bearings..
Ok, anyone have a step by step instructions with pics on how to replace races and ball bearings ? and how much and what kind of bearing grease?
I read in the operators Manual "Do not pack the hub between the inner and outer bearing assemblies,or the hub cap,as this excessive lubrication results in the lubricant working out into the brake drum and lining." So how much ? and where ?
Thanks

Jimmi,

Have you read the Bearing races - replacement section in the Hubs and Drums section of the Shop Manual? The step-by-step procedure is described there.

There are a variety of wheel bearing greases that would be satisfactory.

Just don't over tighten when you re-install.

I'm curious to know what the reason would be to stay with ball bearings. I wish my original bearings were still good - they looked like real quality steel. The replacements from OCP are made in China - roller bearings, and go on the old spindles. I like the tip not to over tighten when re-installing. Any other tips on putting the fronts back together ?

Gentlemen, my wife worked for the Sealmaster division of Emerson Power Transmission, about 20 years ago as their accounting manager. She traveled to their different locations around the globe several times during the year and often got the tour of the plants. Although the races and the assembly was done here in the US, the ground and un-ground balls for most of the bearing manufacturers come from China. And they have been supplying inexpensive yet reliable balls for bearing for many decades.
To say that you won’t use ball bearings because they are made in China is like saying that you won’t use ball bearings at all. This goes for all of these products made by Timken, Fafner, McGill, Browning, Morse, Rollway, Sealmaster.
As to the comparison between the ball bearing and the roller bearing for the front of the Advance Design trucks, we’ve been thru this numerous times, the original ball bearings are still in use in the vast majority of these 50-60-70 and in some cases, 80 year old trucks and just about every one has seen about all the neglect and abuse that you could possibly subject a machine to.
So, just buy the original style ball bearings and don’t worry about where they come from, keep them greased and adjusted according to the shop manual and enjoy your ride for as many years as you will be alive.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Something else to keep in mind concerning ball bearings, virtually all late model cars and light trucks use ball bearings in the front spindles, most cars also use them in the rear as well.

A roller bearing is used where there is a need to support higher loads than a ball because it has a larger contact area. Tapered roller bearings can support large radial and large thrust loads.
The ball in a ball bearing contacts at one small point on the inner and one small point on the outer race. This contact area is adequate as long as you don’t exceed the designed load bearing ability. Overloading leads to distortion of the balls causing early bearing failure. Also the single row angular contact ball bearings used in the front hubs are sufficient for the radial loads that the AD encounters. The fact that we see so little failure in the AD and as Bill points out, in modern ball bearings, is proof that they are more than capable of handling the loads imposed on them under normal use.
I doubt that these front ball bearings would last very long on a high-speed road course or oval track or in a gravel truck. I would bet that ball bearing failure was rather common in any of the ½, ¾ and 1-ton trucks that carried heavy construction materials over their design limits.

DG

We used 3/4 tons to deliver gasoline and lubricants on unpaved roads during the 50's and 60's. 6 55 gallon drums weigh around 2500# We rarely replaced bearings, but we repacked them regularly.

Ok Boys, I read the Truck Operators Manual...
" Do not pack the hub between the inner and outer bearing assemblies, or hub cap "....So can some one please talk to me in baby talk and use crayons in explaining how to pack the bearings....What might be easy to you may not be for me.

Thanks Alot

Jimmi - get one of these, or similar, from your FLAPS - make sure the bearing itself is full of grease - put the bearing in place, screwdriver a bit more grease around the bearing to fill the seating area - put things back together - easy

Bill

OK, Jimmi,

It is a little hard to describe. You have to push/press the bearing grease into/between the bearings until you know there is no air space between the bearings - there is only grease. After you know the bearings are full of grease, put a little grease around the bearings and on the surface of the race. Do not overdo it.

I could only find videos for roller bearings, but the packing of ball bearings is basically the same.

This shows the packing of the bearings.

Here is a video of an interesting technique for packing bearings.

Here is a bearing packer tool. I have this tool but have never used it.

Here is a video showing how to use the packing "tool"

Or, as I've always done, just place your inner bearing in your left hand and scoop up a LIBERAL amount of any wheel bearing grease from your Farm supply or FLAPS and with your right hand work it into the bearing in your left hand making sure that you force it thru the cage or seperator and into the bearing. Note: It is not nessasary to absolutely fill every air space in the bearing as the grease will thin out as soon as it get hot and evenly distribute it self in the bearing. Place the heavily loaded bearing into it's inner race in the hub and work the grease from both of your hands into your left hand then with your right index and middle fingers wipe the access grease from your left hand into the cavity around the bearing face. Set the inner bearing, outer race in place and drive the new seal into the counter bore at the back of the hub. Now slide the hub onto the spindle all the way till you feel the race seat against the back of the spindle. Repeat the operation for greasing the outer bearing and slide it and it's outer race and washer over the spindle. Tighten the nut in accordance with the torque specs in the service manual while rotating the hub then back it off for the proper free play described in the service manual. From the top, insert a new correct length cotter pin in place bending the longest leg upward across the nose of the spindle and bending the short leg back against the washer. Replace your dust cover, replace your wheel and lug nuts and torque them according to the specs in the manual.
And that’s all there is to it, now your good to go another 10,000 miles or 5years, which ever comes first.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Guy's, Thanks for the very thorough explaination/Videos etc. I will watch the videos and print this and read it as I do it.
Thanks Again

The way my father taught me (who was taught by his father) is first clean the bearings using solvent and a small brush to get out any fine particles of dirt or grime. Then dry the bearings with a rag and air. Take a generous amount of good wheel bearing grease and put it in the palm of your hand. Push the outer diameter of the bearing into the grease and with a wiping motion move it against the pad of your palm and push firmly. Turn the bearing slightly and repeat. Keep doing this until the whole bearing is packed. That’s all the grease we use; none in the race and none anywhere else. The bearings are designed to be lubricated, not “floating” like you find with your rear bearings where they ride in oil. If we don’t get 250,000 miles out of a set of bearings we consider it premature failure.

Jimmi what those instructions are talking about is the large area inside the hub between where the inner and outer bearings are located. There is no reason to fill or even part fill that area with wheel bearing grease. If the bearing is fully packed and you slather a generous amount of grease around and slightly over the bearing races you are good. I worked in a gas station (they were actually called service stations back then) as a kid and wheel bearing packs and brake adjustments were as common as oil changes. For some reason many people filled that entire cavity and sometimes even the dust cap full of grease. Made for a fun job cleaning it all out. That's probably why they have the instruction not to do that. That is basically what "bearing buddies" do on boats. They use a grease fitting to completely fill the hub with grease keeping out the water. Fine for hubs going underwater but not necessary on our old trucks.

Chuck

other than my truck, I haven't packed a wheel bearing in 20 years. All my new cars have come with sealed bearings and when I get rid of them at 150,000-200,000 miles. they have all been fine. True I have only had 3 cars in those 20 years, (well 5 if you count my wifes cars) Personally I would kind of like to use roller bearings, but that is just me. Besides the fact the ball bearings in the ole truck are just fine for what I am doing with it right now, but if I ever start using it for any highway driving of any consequence I will need to replace them with something...