The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Wheel Bearings

55 1st .... looking at replacement roller type to replace the ball bearings ....from what I read they are a direct replacement ....anybody have any input....

Balls are more than adequate, used for decades in this trucks
with little to no difficulties, no advantage to switching to
a roller bearing.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I agree with Denny, but when you service your ball type bearings you should check manual for tightening. The preload on them is different that roller bearings.

From what I've read the rollers are designed for the stress of radial tires ..seems like Balls are antiquated (been around for many years) does any auto makers still use rollers ????
anyway has anybody replaced theirs ????

All of the new vehicles that have a sealed bearing hub assembly are of the ball bearing type.

About the only trouble the ball bearings give is if you are trying to run wide tires on the front. Then they usually put more stress on the outer bearings.....

John

I replaced the ball bearings in my '55 2nd 3100 with a complete roller set I got off ebay. I am more than happy, the set was about $78 and included seals. I am running radial tires on my truck. I remember back in my hotrod days in the 60's I would have given my right one for a set of rollers for the front of my '55 chev sedan. I had reversed rims and wide oval tires, they tore up the front bearings.

Did it come with new races or did the old ones work?

The set was complete with races, bearings and seals. Fit perfectly.

Cool deal. I was just curious. Would've been cruddy to have new bearings and shot out races. I've seen dumber things happen.

Still running ball bearings on my 58 with radial tires and no problems.

On E-bay $55 & free shipping , 2 inner 2 outer & 2 grease seals.
I'm going that way ....

How in the world could you use a ball bearing race with a roller bearing?????


Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Square peg in a round hole? Thats the same set that I got, I guess the guy lowered the price. He shipped to me really fast. A real bargain for the money!

I bought them last night after your post ....Thanks for the input ....

Just changed the bearings on a 57 1/2 ton. Front and rear. Used NAPA for the bearings and seals. There is a big difference in how the bearings on the front are "pre-loaded". Roller bearing needs to be loaded until all clearance is taken up. Ball just needs to be seated into the race. The advantage of a roller has to do with surface area and load. More area, better distribution of load. However there is a trade off. Ball bearing offers less resistance and less heat. With a radial tire and ball bearing you will see less resistance to rolling. With a roller you might, just might get a higher load capacity...might be good for the big bolts that are still used to haul heavy loads. So to my mind (opinion coming) the real issue comes down to cost and availability. The ball bearings we got were expensive compared to what has been posted. The bearings in my 52 1/2 ton appear to be if not original then old any way. How old? I don't know for sure. But have original PN on the race. And when they were cleaned and inspected they were like new. The truck was designed for work. No luxo liners in the bunch. Modern grease is better than what there was in 1950 so that is a plus. Use what you want I don't see any harm in the upgrade so to speak. But I will keep the originals until some thing better is shown to work. Felt seals were still good but I think neoprene is better. Even that has a trade off. Neoprene will wear in a much smaller area and can scar the spindle. So what are you gonna do? Your truck your choice. Do the routine stuff, grease and clean. Keep adjusted and drive happy.

What type of grease do you fellows use to pack the ball bearings?? Seems I read somewhere they recommended a fibered grease. if so is fibered grease even available anymore.
I had thought about changing to roller bearings, then reading some of the post on here, seemed some didn't get very good mileage (last-ability) out of them. I guess some of these were coming from China..... So I figure I'll just stick to the ball bearings in the truck.

John

I'll take that as a no on fibered grease being used in the ball bearings.....

John

John,

It also looks like "no" to me - with a specific "no" for the larger trucks' wheel bearings.

The old grease had asbestos in it . that's no longer used .
I've had no pro. with the new high temp grease . I've packed lots of bearings just about every old car I bought that was first thing I did . Only time any pro . was on a 1976 Ford I took to the dealer , after around 5000 miles they wiped out . never again will that happen as long as I'm able to do my own work ,....

I was on the the NTN Bower bearing site and they recommend a Lithium complex.

I have used the "new" high temp for disk brake applications with no issues. Should I change? That should cause as much on here as the thread on additives did.

Well, if you are referring to "a high melting point front bearing lubricant" (that seems to be a broad specification), you and your bearings should be quite safe.

Yes. I still wonder why a bearing inside a brake drum that gets hot and has no vents would be considered as a lower temp environment than a bearing that is behind a disk that is in the air? But hey it is the modern stuff that is what driving the sellers and manufactures out there. I don't spend a lot of time looking at specifications. Maybe a bit but not a lot. I might need to change my habits...maybe.