Hyatt Bearing Replacement Options

[dr1960]

Looking for recommendations on replacement options for the rear axle outer Hyatt bearings. Anyone have experience with the cartridge type timken bearing options? I see a couple of different options that don’t require modifying the axle housing. Expensive but seem like an easy install and pretty maintenance free. Thoughts?

Thanks, David

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

The best option I'm aware of are the floating style hubs.

[John.Zibell]

Or find good used original bearings. They are out there.

[Oldav8tor]

I installed floating safety hubs. Sure, you have to trim a little off the axle tube but I think it's worth it. It transfers some of the weight off the axle and has the added advantage that if your axle should break, the wheel stays on the car.

I also replaced my axles when I installed the safety hubs - they were scored in a couple of places by the Hyatt bearing's cage and I thought the scoring could be a point of failure later on.

[Will]

I also installed floating safety hubs, Or should I say Gater Gould in Alabama did, I like them. The only issue for me is I have to use shims on my axles so you have to make sure your lined up perfect when putting the hub back on or your going to have to fish out the shim from inside the bearing. In 15 years I have replaced both the inside and the outside seals once which very easy to do.

[Kevin Pharis]

I ran a set of ball bearing replacement cartridges years ago. They were great, slipped right in and didn’t have to grease em. The ones I had required trimming of the axle tube ends, same as safety hubs. After a few years I pulled the rear to build into a Ruckstell, but couldn’t get the bearing cartridges out. After much effort I had found that the axles had deformed at the contact point with the outer bearings, causing a raised lip to form under the radius of the bearing. With no way to remove the raised material, I was forced to cut the end of the axle tube off just inside of the bearing cartridge to disassemble. I currently run safety hubs in both my cars

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

I ran a set of ball bearing replacement cartridges years ago. They were great, slipped right in and didn’t have to grease em. The ones I had required trimming of the axle tube ends, same as safety hubs. After a few years I pulled the rear to build into a Ruckstell, but couldn’t get the bearing cartridges out. After much effort I had found that the axles had deformed at the contact point with the outer bearings, causing a raised lip to form under the radius of the bearing. With no way to remove the raised material, I was forced to cut the end of the axle tube off just inside of the bearing cartridge to disassemble. I currently run safety hubs in both my cars

A friend of mine had a similar experience, however, in his case, the deformation of the axle shaft eventually lead to a fracture.