MTFCA Forum

My Oct 11 built Touring came with rebuilt wheels but no wheel bearings. I have read a few past posts about the early hubs being of thinner material and a danger of splitting when roller bearing races are pressed in. Should this be a concern and do you recommend the roller bearings for this application? Ball bearings would be ok but I can not find the inner stationary cones. Thanks, Art

If I may be so bold as to share my video

"Ford Model T - How to Replace Front Wheel Bearings"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMbotPkpqMc

When a newbie 40yrs ago I forced my roller brgs in and split the hubs, which I didn't notice until I tried to fit new hubcaps. You find split hubcaps at swap meets which I suspect have been forced onto split hubs.

Some years ago I read the suggestion that you grind the outside of the race until is a nice sliding fit and use Loctite. Sounds sensible to me. The same chap also did this with spindle bolt bushes - honed them to a nice fit on the bolt, ground the outside, then assembled with Loctite.

Thanks for the replies. Mitch, I watched your video last weekend! I do prefer to keep all things original and have placed a WTB ad in the parts section. Art

What I don't understand is Mitch's 25 T had ball bearings in the front hubs. If ball bearings fit later hubs, how is it that later roller bearings don't fit hubs which had ball bearings? I suspect it is not the bearing fit which may cause split early front hubs, rather the hubs are thinner and weaker regardless of the bearing type used. The 26-7 wire wheel hubs suffer a similar affliction. That is not to say some hubs are not tighter than others.

Jem, the split hubcaps are plentiful. It is likely that they were not stress relieved/annealed after manufacture, much like headlight spinnings on brass lamps. The deeper and more complex the parts, the more attention is needed to anneal them when the work is done.

I could be wrong again.
Allan from down under.

it appears that I have two different front hubs. One is of thicker construction with grooves in the inner and outer race areas. The other is of thinner construction, slightly shorter and no grooves and appears to be slightly egg shaped on the outer edge. Both were rebuilt and painted when I got them. What do I have and what would you recommend? Art

The lower one still has the outer race of the bearing in the hub. Hence the difference.

Thanks fo pointing that out. Art

Art, if by grooves you mean notches for driving out bearing cups, that hub is a later one made for Timken bearings. The ball bearing cups are wider and you don't need a notch to drive them out. When I made the front wheels for my 1915 (had Noah Stutzman make them) I used 1917-1918 hubs because they are heavier duty but still have the machined flange for a speedometer gear. They were made for ball bearings, but I added notches and used Timkens. The heavier hubs did not split. I don't hold out a lot of hope for your WTB ad. Some ball bearing parts are readily available, but others are made of unobtainium. That's the main reason I used the roller bearings.

Cutting notches for Timken bearings.

Checking notch depth. The stick shows that a drift pin will be able to reach a roller bearing cup.

If you have no luck with the ball bearings and want to go with rollers, these are the numbers. The best prices are usually at Rock Auto.

If you have early hubs in good condition, which can be difficult, I would use ball bearings. The inners are hard to find.