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Front wheel Bearing Conversion to Tapers

Started by afeltham, May 24, 2010, 07:47:17 PM

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afeltham

1941 Cadillac: Has any one done a conversion of FRONT wheel ball bearings to taper roller bearings? If so is there any reference brand -store- etc.?
Thanks,
Alan Feltham Member#11926

Otto Skorzeny

Just curious why you want to do this? My '56 has ball bearings and I put thousands of high speed miles on it without issue.
fward

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for YOURSELF

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afeltham


Brett Cottel

There are places online with conversion kit/info but it was pretty expensive so I am keeping the originals.
HTH
Brett
1955 Cadillac Meteor Combination Coach
CLC #27535
Pic's at http://s981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/brettcottel/

The Tassie Devil(le)

Whenever I do these sorts of changes, or anything similar, I take the old bearings to my Bearing supplier, and simply get replacements with the same inner and outer diameter, and if necessary, am prepared to machine where necessary to make things fit.

The Tapered Roller Bearings are for some reason cheaper, and more plentiful than the Ball Bearings, and take a heavier load.

Bruce. >:D

PS.   The day that Judging comes down to testing bearings is the day that I get out of cars, and that will never be.
'72 Eldorado Convertible (LHD)
'70 Ranchero Squire (RHD)
'74 Chris Craft Gull Wing (SH)
'02 VX Series II Holden Commodore SS Sedan
(Past President Modified Chapter)

Past Cars of significance - to me
1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe
1936 Ford 5 Window Coupe
1937 Chevrolet Sports Coupe
1955 Chevrolet Convertible
1959 Ford Fairlane Ranch Wagon
1960 Cadillac CDV
1972 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe

Tom Beaver

I looked into converting the front wheel bearings on my 38 LaSalle and someone in the club, I can't remember who, gave me the following information.
The complete bearing set is:
    Outer bearing and race;  Timken LM11949 and LM11919

    Inner bearing and Race Assembly: Maekawa MBS 909052R

    Inner Oil  seal                       Napa 19940

The problem is the Maekawa bearing (Maekawa Bearing Mfg Co. in Japan).  There appears to be no US distributor for their bearings and I was told that they had been indicted for 'Dumping' on the U.S. market which is probably why I couldn't find anyone who could supply the bearing.  I installed the original ball bearings and they appear to work just fine but are, in general, more expensive than tapered rollers. 

If you can find the inner bearing race assembly I would be interested in how and where.

Tom Beaver

35-709

Have you tried going to a good bearing store and getting the Maekawa number cross-referenced.  If they make someone else probably does too.
Geoff N.
1935 Cadillac Sedan resto-mod "Big Red"
1973 Cadillac Caribou - Sold - but still in the family
1950 Jaguar Mark V Saloon resto-mod - Sold
1942 Cadillac 6269 - Sold
1968 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible - Sold
1950 Packard 2dr. Club Sedan
1935 Glenn Pray - Auburn Boattail Speedster, Gen. 2

Jay Friedman

I agree with Geoff.  In my experience many automotive bearings have the same model number regardless of manufacturer.  You could also try the Olcar Bearing Company, Southern Pines, N. Carolina, telephone: 910-693-3324.  The firm's owner, George Bachleda, is very knowledgable about bearings, very helpful and his prices are reasonable.
1949 Cadillac 6107 Club Coupe
1932 Ford V8 Phaeton (restored, not a rod).  Sold
Decatur, Georgia
CLC # 3210, since 1984
"If it won't work, get a bigger hammer."

Jeff Maltby 4194

#8
My front inner nos bearings have 909662 stamped on the race and made in the USA. I think I bought these from you Jay ?
Jeffo 49er chapter

CLC 1985
Honda Gold Wing GL1500

Tom Beaver

The bearing suppliers I talked with not only did not have a cross reference for Maekawa but could not find any reference to the company at all.  The inner race for the ball bearing is, by current standards, an oddity in that it has an additional flange built into it that the grease seal rides on, rather than having the sealing surface part of the spindle.  The addition of the seal flange makes the bearing application very limited which is why I doubt that anyone else makes a tapered roller for this application.  If you were to machine out a separate seal flange and press it onto the spindle then I assume you could find a standard tapered roller bearing that would fit without much trouble.  When I got to this point however, I thought it wasn't worth the trouble and bought new ball bearings from my local supplier.

Tom Beaver