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'57 front wheel ball bearings vs roller bearings

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#22 ·
Pops and Rick beat me to it...Speedway does offer many options for certain issues, but they don't have anything for this particular one.

vich57 said:
I'm keeping the car as original as possible.
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Thanks - it clarifies your intent a little. If I were in your shoes...I would consider two options: (1) A brand new set of front ball bearings/races/seals - remember that these cars ran for thousands of miles with them originally. I doubt the bearings available now are as good as back then, but you probably won't be putting 40-50K miles on it anyway. If you were driving it that much you wouldn't likely be as concerned about its originality anyway. (2) Find a pair of early-mid 60's hubs as mentioned, put new bearings and seals in them, and keep the originals for posterity - no one will be the wiser. Then begin to worry about what you'll do when the rear bearings give out.
vich57 said:
After I get new hubs with tapered roller bearings, if I ever need to replace the bearings, do I just order bearings for a '61 Chevy?
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Buy bearings for whatever year hub you source...they should all be the same. It would be nice to hear from someone with a Hollander Interchange from the 70's to see the applicability of, for example, '65 Impala front hub, and see what other years interchange. I use '65 because I know that was the car I took the hubs from when I last did this. If I were to guess, I would say '59 through '66 Chevrolet passenger are the same (excluding Chevy II, Nova, etc - just full size).

I'm sending you a PM.
 
#23 ·
55Madman said:
Buy bearings for whatever year hub you source...they should all be the same. It would be nice to hear from someone with a Hollander Interchange from the 70's to see the applicability of, for example, '65 Impala front hub, and see what other years interchange. I use '65 because I know that was the car I took the hubs from when I last did this. If I were to guess, I would say '59 through '66 Chevrolet passenger are the same (excluding Chevy II, Nova, etc - just full size).
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'61-'68 full size are the same....You actually can go through the Rock Auto parts listings and compare part numbers from year to year.
 
#25 ·
Pops @ Tri-5.com said:
'61-'68 full size are the same....You actually can go through the Rock Auto parts listings and compare part numbers from year to year.
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That sounds very familiar, Pops! Were you comparing bearings only or hubs? I would keep in mind a proviso that somewhere around '67 or so they started offering disc as an option. So you'd have to allow for that in spec - i.e. ''67-'68 w/o disc brake' or whatever when you do a search (that's the old parts counterman coming out in me). :geek:
 
#26 ·
55Madman said:
Buy bearings for whatever year hub you source...they should all be the same. It would be nice to hear from someone with a Hollander Interchange from the 70's to see the applicability of, for example, '65 Impala front hub, and see what other years interchange. I use '65 because I know that was the car I took the hubs from when I last did this. If I were to guess, I would say '59 through '66 Chevrolet passenger are the same (excluding Chevy II, Nova, etc - just full size).

I'm sending you a PM.
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I found these in mine, hope it helps:


Image
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#27 ·
55Madman said:
That sounds very familiar, Pops! Were you comparing bearings only or hubs? I would keep in mind a proviso that somewhere around '67 or so they started offering disc as an option. So you'd have to allow for that in spec - i.e. ''67-'68 w/o disc brake' or whatever when you do a search (that's the old parts counterman coming out in me). :geek:
Click to expand...

1961-1968 Chevy full size cars ie Impala
Drum brake cars had hubs
Bearings are set2 outer set6 inner seals from same car 7934S
Quit trying to make this more difficult than it really is
 
#32 ·
zookpr said:
1969 and up Impala DO NOT INTERCHANGE.
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We can make this harder, if you want...55-60 will interchange...However, they are all ball bearing :D
 
#35 ·
Rick_L said:
I don't think they were that common back then.
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In 1972 I bought mine at the local auto parts store because these Bower rollers were cheaper than the original Delco ball bearings, around 28 bucks for all 4 bearing a corresponding races.
 
#37 ·
SLIM said:
They leave out one car that does interchange, 1963-1968 corvette uses the same hubs, 63/64 drums, 65-68 disc brakes all use same hub
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Yeah but those cost 2-4 times as much! Rumored that those were individually blessed by Zora himself.

I guess the '68 application is the basis for the one year 15x7 special offset ralley rims that accept the wider/deeper trim rings used on the 15x8 rims.
 
#38 ·
FWIW when replacing the std. 55 front spindles with 2" dropped units... soon found the original outer bearings would not fit on the end of the new spindle. Inners were fine but I had to come up with a bearing set with the same OD for disc brake hubs (installed by prev. owner) but with a larger ID to fit spindle, found these on line , all good.
Image
 
#39 ·
uncle Don said:
FWIW when replacing the std. 55 front spindles with 2" dropped units... soon found the original outer bearings would not fit on the end of the new spindle. Inners were fine but I had to come up with a bearing set with the same OD for disc brake hubs (installed by prev. owner) but with a larger ID to fit spindle, found these on line , all good.
View attachment 357100
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A6 and A2 will fit stock spindles, most all drop spindles take A6 and A3. A3 is a little larger then A2
Now those bearings in your example are A34 which have the same ID as the A3 but the outer is the same as A2 which tells me you used the Chevelle rotor on drop spindles. Big problem. We all know the Chevelle rotor moves wheels outward about 3/4" using that rotor on a drop spindle moved it outward about an additional 1/2" so well over an inch outward movement.
What did you use for caliper brackets to get the caliper to fit on the rotor?
 
#40 · (Edited)
I have had the same ball bearings on my car for like 25 years (Update 1.30.22 I just checked my records, it’s longer. I installed them in June of 89 just before a super chevy Sunday show at maple grove. Man, how time flies. So over 30 years.). I keep them clean, adjusted and properly greased. That being said, replacement ball bearings are not as good today as they once were when they were made in the USA. When its time to renew the bearings, I will not be going with the ball bearings but swaping to the later hubs and tapered bearings. Ease of getting replacement bearings and much less cost wise to get good tapered bearings as opposed to ball bearings.

If you are going to go with the later model hubs with the tapered roller bearings, you will be grinding off the rivets on the stock set up to remove the drum. With that drum at .040 over I think you may be engaging in some penny wise dollar foolishness. New drums are $33 from rock auto. Save the aggravation and use new drums and shoes, probably less then 100. One reason, with the new drums and shoes, the arcs are matched and the full shoe will contact the drum and the car will stop better.
 
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