Question about front wheel bearings

[Craig E. Luton]

I am restoring a 1914 Ford and wondering if I can install Timken roller bearings into the front hubs or do I need to use ball bearings. If I go with Temkin's, what problems will I run into?
Thank you
Craig

[A Whiteman]

Replace the ball bearing with the roller bearing. The tapered roller allows better adjustment.

As to the things to do when making the change, I will let more knowledgable here advise on the steps, but my understanding is that it is pretty straight forward.

[John kuehn]

Here’s an earlier forum post on doing the change. But you need to replace the race along with the bearing.
https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/1 ... 1287156126

[Scott_Conger]

If you still have the original hubs with ball bearing races, the corner transition from ID to "bottom" of the area in which each race seats will have a generous fillet as machined. This is where folks get it wrong: the ball bearing race has an even more generously relieved corner and it will seat in the hub with no problem. New races will have nearly square corner transition from it's OD to "bottom" and will almost certainly seat prematurely, and forever stick out too far and even risk getting permanently installed cockeyed. You will almost certainly have to carefully grind a similar generous radius on the corner of all races so that they may fully seat with no interference. Even then, you will likely find that the outer race sticks proud of the hub by something like 1/16". That's OK. Because of this slight extra length between bearings, the vendors sell a hardened "thin" keyed washer to go over the threaded bearing and under the nut. It is a little spendy, but works nicely and allows the original nut to sock down at the correct depth and let the castellation(s) align with the cotter hole in the axle shaft. If you were/are a machinist, you will have radius gauges and can check the hub fillet and easily know that you have ground the race sufficiently to clear. If you're not so equipped with radius gauges and I realize most are not, just go by the radius on the back of the old race and try to emulate it. Obviously, go easy and don't overheat the race. I find that an endless belt sander does a very nice job of it.

[Allan]

Scott's method is extremely informative. Not only how to do it, but giving clear reasons for doing so. Excellent support.
Both my early cars have Hayes wire wheels, so I have never encountered the problem.
Regarding lining up the split pin hole and the nut castellations, might the same result be achieved by grinding a little off the back of the nut. I can do this on my linishing belt on my bench grinder. Otherwise it may be difficult to keep the back surface flat and square.

Allan from down under.

[Steve Jelf]

Unless you are extremely lucky in a parts search, Timkens are practically mandatory. Some ball bearing parts seem to be made of unobtainium. There's no problem with Timkens until you have to remove the cups from a hub made for ball bearings. The ball bearing cups have a higher profile and you can easily drive them out from the other side with a drift. A drift can't reach the lower-profiles Timken cup in an earlier hub without notches.

When I had new front wheels made for my 1915 I used 1917-18 hubs because they had the machined flange and three holes for a speedometer gear and were more substantial than earlier hubs so I had no qualms about adding notches.

Timken cup low profile.

[MichaelPawelek]

Be sure to have all your new roller bearing parts on hand before you start to disassemble the ball bearing assemblies. Timken bearings for the Model T can be hard to find. For the front they are threaded differently on each side.

[TXGOAT2]

Timken now MADE IN CHINA. (Or ANYWHERE BUT HERE).

[speedytinc]

Timkin races have a large radius that fits the T hubs. Modern replacements have near none & wont seat as deep as they should. Non timkin races can be machined/ground to fit, but its a pain. Even with timkin races the outer race typically sits proud slightly above the threads. Thats not generally a problem unless you are using repo hubcaps that are a little shorter than original ones. Check the hubcap to spindle end clearance.

[Steve Jelf]

The problematic bearing is the left outer (09075). It has been out of stock at Rock Auto (best prices) for a long time. You might get lucky and find it still in stock somewhere else.

The Timken bearings in my wheel parts drawer are Canadian, but they have been there for several years. That they, or some of them, are now made in China is not a surprise. While I wish more of our products were still made here, when it comes to quality I don't worry about the country of origin by itself. A good example would be Model T clincher tires. All of them are made in Vietnam. Vietnamese tyres from one company are of superior quality and Vietnamese tires from other companies are inferior. Some go so far as to call the inferior tires rubbish. Canada, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and other countries have factories perfectly capable of producing high quality goods if the suits who order those goods require it. If Timken executives demand products that meet their traditional standards, I don't worry about the country where the products are made. If they have lowered their standards to raise their profits, I do.

[John kuehn]

As far as quality is concerned if it’s to specification and made with quality materials that’s fine.
The other side is they could be made in the USA and we’re becoming more dependent on a country who knows what their doing to eventually take over the suits who make the decisions about where we’re going.