Front wheel bearings

[Mountainrider]

I have the original front wheel bearings on my 15. While I was changing out my front tire today and notice too much play in them. The difference between too much play and too tight seems to be only a 1/4 of a turn of the nut. Is this normal? Lang’s show a cheaper version of the the Timken roller bearing set with a two piece outer bearing part # 2833-38RS , any feed back on it?

[Allan]

Neil, If 1/4 of a turn makes the bearings too tight, "too much play" seems odd to me. However, 1/4 of a turn will occlude the split pin hole, so if you back it off to align the hole, it will loosen the bearing somewhat. Then, you need a smidgeon of play to be safe. It is far better to have a little play than to run a too tight bearing.

Allan from down under.

[Scott_Conger]

Are all of these statements true?

you have ball bearings
you have an outer race which threads onto the spindle
you have a washer which is keyed to the spindle and cannot rotate
you have an outer castellated nut
you use a cotter pin on the outer castellated nut
the driver's side tightens CW and the passenger side bearing and nut tighten CCW

need to know these things before any guess can be made as to what you are seeing

[Mountainrider]

Scott, yes to all. The Races mic. out to be round and they don’t seem to be overly worn.

[speedytinc]

"roller bearing set with a two piece outer bearing part # 2833-38RS , any feed back on it?"
Pain to adjust. No place for a wrench. Not worth the saving$. A new set will last the life of the T if properly maintained. IMO bite the bullet & do it right. Do some research into the problems associated with converting from ball to roller bearings in an early T. There are a few issues.

[Scott_Conger]

The outer nut can be tightened in a whole range of torque. I'm betting that you are adjusting the threaded bearing race "perfectly" and then tightening up the castle nut which now loads up the threaded race and makes things too tight. All you need to do is little by little loosen the inner race, a few degrees and then retighten the nut...eventually you will find the "loose" setting of the threaded race where running the outer nut down will load the threads on the race but not load up the bearing. The ball bearings MUST have a little play and must not be preloaded at all.

If your luck is like mine, you'll find that everything is "perfect" but the castle nut won't line up with the hole in the spindle...remember the nut tightness can be from mild to heavy...the natural rotation of the wheel will want to loosen the bearing so this is not something you need to whop down on. If it really is making you crazy, then take the tabbed washer off and sand it a bit to change it's thickness a couple thousandths and then things will tighten down and line up to boot.

Ball bearings take more care, cleaning and attention than tapered rollers but if kept clean and lubricated (and use some new balls...USE THE CORRECT NUMBER>>>DON'T LOAD THEM LINE TO LINE!) they will outlast you. If you still have 1915 hubs you can fit tapered rollers if you want, but there are some cautions involved. If you want to ultimately go that route, email me.

[Colin Mavins]

My 1912 has had roller bearings in the original front hubs for 60 years the bearings are like the day they were put in ,they are bower made in the USA . Back in 1960 when dad restored the car he could not find bearings for the car but did buy up an apple box full of nos roller bearings so that is what the car had installed.

[Steve Jelf]

Several years ago I looked into ball bearings and found that some parts were available but others were made of unobtainium, so I went with roller bearings. 1915 hubs were made without notches for driving out bearing cups because the ball bearing didn't need them. So for the new wheels for my 1915 I used 17-18 hubs, which are a little sturdier, and cut notches in them.

I use the stock bearings and have no experience with the cheaper substitutes. The best prices I have found are at rockauto.com. Unfortiunately it seems that some parts are currently out of stock. https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/for ... aring,1672
A Google search might find them elsewhere at a reasonable price.

[speedytinc]

My 1912 has had roller bearings in the original front hubs for 60 years the bearings are like the day they were put in ,they are bower made in the USA . Back in 1960 when dad restored the car he could not find bearings for the car but did buy up an apple box full of nos roller bearings so that is what the car had installed.

Warning: Not all races are the same & will work in a T without modification.
Timkin races have a large radius cut into the back. That large relief fits T hubs well.
Many non-Timkin equivalent races have a very small radius & will sit proud when installed. This radius can be added by grinding, But it aint worth it for the small $avings.

[Mountainrider]

Put everything back together today. All went smoothly except reaming a new bushing for the right side tie rod. First one cracked in half for some unknown reason. 2nd try no problem. Cleaned and greased the wheel bearings. Tighten up nicely with just a little play. Went for a test ride with the new tires. Rode really nice. Went with the Wards Riverside, I like the way they look. Used my older tubes because they were nice a thick ones. Ready for some summer driving now.

[speedytinc]

Put everything back together today. All went smoothly except reaming a new bushing for the right side tie rod. First one cracked in half for some unknown reason. 2nd try no problem. Cleaned and greased the wheel bearings. Tighten up nicely with just a little play. Went for a test ride with the new tires. Rode really nice. Went with the Wards Riverside, I like the way they look. Used my older tubes because they were nice a thick ones. Ready for some summer driving now.

What was the adjustment issue?

[Mountainrider]

I guess it wasn’t an issue. After looking at the shape of the races the difference between too loose and too tight is only a little bit of a turn. A friend has a NOS set of races. I compared mine to his and mine showed very little wear.