Last week I roasted the front right wheel bearings on my 58 Belair AGAIN! This time it scored the (stock) spindle pretty good. Seeing as I now have to replace the spindle, I was mulling over going to a disc brake conversion with a 2" drop spindle. It seems all too easy to buy a "kit"...just add credit card! I searched for similar posts but found them dated by several years. Anyone have any sage advice on going down this path? Can I go with drop spindles without having to go to disc brakes? The car is bone stock complete with 4 wheel non power drums, 14" stock rims with wide white radials. Thanks.
I'm curious why you're having so much trouble with the bearings, what kind of bearings are you using? how do you lubricate them? and adjust them? I don't think my brother has touched the wheel bearings on his 58 wagon, it's all old stuff that I probably last worked on 20 years ago.
Up to '60 GM used ball bearings in the front hubs that are prone to failure. In '61 they switched over to the modern roller bearings. There are roller bearings available as a retro-fit for the pre-'61 cars, but they are expensive. Another alternative that uses lower cost bearings would be to swap to the '61-64 parts.
I got the Mcgauhys (sp??) spindles with disc's. I don't like them too much because they fit 58-64 and turns out that the 58 has a narrower width than the laters, which in turn makes the turning radius of a school bus!! LOL I can't help you on the other tho, sorry.
My trouble started this past July. We were heading from Ontario to New Brunswick to the Atlantic Nationals. I replaced the brake shoes on all 4 corners and repacked the bearings. I fucked up and over tightened the front right. I check my brakes and regrease the bearings every spring without trouble. I use high temp wheel bearing grease. My over tightening led to another mistake or two. 1-in July my roadside repair had me use whatever grease was available. 2-a helper handed me the BAD inner bearing by mistake. 3-the grease seal got damaged in the re-install. Whatever happed is was all bad. My back up car, 68 Chevelle, fell into some bad gas as well as transmission woes. I'm not winning!
Ok, just checking to see if it's a problem with the way the cars are built or something else...sounds like it's just a string of bad luck, and getting the stock parts working right again should solve the problem.
You can replace the hubs with 62? up thru 70 full size hubs and get tapered bearings and get rid of the ball bearings.
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