Worth doing front bearings?

[62lwbc10]

Hey all about to do a complete brake job and wondering if you would also do front wheel bearings. Inners and outers together are kinda pricey for the 58 and just curious how you all feel about replacing them. Would you replace them when doing brakes? Are they tough to install? What are they symptoms when the front wheel bearings are bad? Thanks alot.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Switching from ball bearings to tapered roller bearing? ABSOLUTELY do it. Much more reliable and much safer if the ball bearing have not been maintained absolutely properly.
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[NEWFISHER]

+1,000!
It the best mechanical upgrade I have done to every old rig I have had. Pull them down. And look at the bearings in the cage if they are ball, order a set of tapered. If they are already taper then clean and repack them.
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[mr48chev]

A change over kit for both wheels runs not a lot more than one pair of ball bearings for one wheel so I would for sure do the change over.

As for swapping out ball bearings for new ones if the bearings are just old and show no signs of wear? No, I don't see any reason to swap them out for new ball bearings if they are still good and you pack them right with good wheelbearing grease. The key to having ball bearing wheel bearings live is to pack them on a regular basis which probably means once a year on a truck that only gets driven to "events" and isn't a daily driver.

[62lwbc10]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Newfisher you said replacing the bearings was the "best mechanical upgrade" youve done. DOes it make a big difference with new bearings? what can I expect when upgrading? Still not sure if I should do em, if it aint broke....

[yossarian19]

Tapered bearings dissipate heat better, are less sensitive to load / easier to get right, have a much larger loaded area / are stronger & all of the above makes them last better on todays higher-speed roadways.
Cliff notes:

Ball bearings get repacked every year even when it isn't a daily driver.

Tapered bearings get a 30K service interval, as spec'ed by most manufacturers, and sometimes 30K comes & there isn't any play.

[62lwbc10]

Interesting. It seems all the new bearings I see being sold by the supply houses are made in China. Wheel cylinders too. Does anyone have an issue with this? ANy concern?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Nope.

And "oh by the way" I was once told you should not run radial tires on a car/truck equipped with ball bearings. The lateral loads that radials allow are supposedly too hard on them. I don't know how true that is, but it SOUNDS plausible.

[yossarian19]

Also: I think POL is claiming their tapered bearings are American made.

Made in China doesn't mean much any more. You can find some real crap & some darned good stuff, both with that label. Even a bad tapered roller is going to beat a ball bearing, though, or so I'd think.

[agnes the dog]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Nope.

And "oh by the way" I was once told you should not run radial tires on a car/truck equipped with ball bearings. The lateral loads that radials allow are supposedly too hard on them. I don't know how true that is, but it SOUNDS plausible.

This is what mine looked like when I pulled them out. Notice that portions of the cage are GONE! Those ball bearings were just floating around in there. Made one heck of a racket!



I can't say for sure if radials caused this since it happened within a couple months of purchasing it, but the tapered bearings sure are a lot better. Peace of mind! Seriously, change them if you even have a little concern.

[NEWFISHER]

The tapered bearings eliminated all noise and. Road vibration up the column and felt in the steering wheel, made for a tired hand on a long road trip and that is now gone. They seem to just "feel" better on all older cars/trucks that I have converted from ball to taper. As mentioned the do have a larger surface area and being tapered,take force load a lot better.
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