Okay, I haven't done a lot of googling on this so if there's obvious references gentle pointers would be appreciated. What I need is a reference to tapered roller bearing sets by ID, an inner bearing set to fit a 1 3/16in spindle diameter and an outer bearing to fit a 0.75in spindle diameter. This is a '30s Chevy Dubonnet IFS pod, factory configuration is a ball-bearing setup; there's roller-bearing conversions out there for this but they're targeted at using the stock hub and I'm looking to do something a little different. I want to keep the OD as small as possible. It looks like I'll be drafting up (or having some vendor draft up) a custom hub and I need to accommodate one of the standard Rudge 52/62/whatever spline configurations.
Why not make an adapter out of steel that has a press fit to the ID of the hub and have a not-so-heavy press fit with the OD of the outer race of the bearing you want to use? then you don't have to make an entire new hub.
The adapter thing is how ECI used to do it. There isn't a commonly available wheel bearing with 1-3/16" id, which is why they make special conversion bearings for the old Chevys.
squirrel - thanks tons, that'll be a big help. It won't be a big problem to adapt the 1 3/16ID up to something a little larger, that'll make sure the radius of the inner race/seat matches the spindle as well. (edit - it's possible what I need is 1.1895 ID, need to dig out the better micrometer and order up a couple bearing cones for trial-fitting, thanks again.) The issue here is that the stock Chevy hub is quite large in diameter - larger than would be typical for a roller-bearing setup for the spindle diameter I've noted. A splined adapter to bolt on over the hub is going to be vastly bigger than I really want - and I'm sure the cost of an an adapter for a 6x5.5 BC with a 3.5in or whatever pilot diameter isn't going to be a whole lot less than just doing a hub.
Thanks again squirrel, a little more measuring and pulled the trigger on 09067/09196 outers and 15118/15244 inners via Amazon, we'll see if they're the right bits.
I downloaded catalogues from Timken's website: huge wealth of info there. http://www.timken.com/en-us/products/Pages/Catalogs.aspx It sounds like an interesting project. Tell us more!
This is the sorta-Brooklands-ish roadster that started out in the brain as '93%-scale Napier-Railton', it's gone through a few conceptual revisions from that idea (retains the very thick-section underslung frame but the side rails end up with a couple subtle bends to widen out the rear just a bit, '30s Chevy Dubonnet IFS pods hung on a fabricated tube instead of a semi-elliptic for the front end, a body wide enough for two seats - even if staggered - means the rear suspension loses the upper pair of springs, so it's now a pair of long externally-hung floating cantilever springs along the frame rails and a torque arm underneath for axle location, all of this is documented '30s practice even if not necessarily used together on any one notable period car...) One of the advantages of this sort of slightly brutal ironmongery is that the frame can be welded up on a flat table. The frame rails are 2x6x.125 steel (it'll be covered or skirted everywhere that it's not appropriate to reveal it's not channel), I just spent an hour and a half of quality time on the waterjet cutting the plasma-cutter templates for the front and rear horns and various crossmember and suspension-bracket locating holes. The front suspension is largely done (I've got a complete axle tube with fittings and a couple shelves full of spare Dubonnet pods, and one complete set cleaned up and ready at least for prototyping, the pods will accommodate a 2.5in coilover spring of suitably massive rate if/when I get to that point), and the rear suspension bits are - well, the springs are a couple 2x2 beams with mounts on the ends, but that'll work until I've got a frame. I'll start a build thread once I've got something cut that looks like a reasonable frame rail. I've put far less thought into what the body needs to look like, I'll get a running frame first and then worry about that. It'll probably come out a little closer to Hassan-Bentley, Alfa, or junk-formula Indycar than Cobb's beast, but it'll definitely be period. The bearings I ordered fit the spindle OD nicely, there were a couple forging flaws on one of the spindles that made the inner bearing a little too snug but those were easily knocked down with a sanding disc. The spindle has a much fatter inner seating radius than even the largest-radius bearing cone available, so I'll probably have to cut down some of the OE ball-bearing inner races to adapt the radii.
The Jalopy Journal
