1914 Touring Front Wheel Bearings

[Ed in Maine]

I wanted to have a spare wheel and tire ready to go if I ever have a flat tire. Then I discovered that a previous owner has a tapered bearing spindle on one side and a ball bearing spindle on the other side. I have the following questions:

1. I know that the ball bearing is correct but is there any advantage to going to a tapered bearing on both sides? Availability, price, reliability?

2. With the ball bearing spindle, is the inner race actually machined into the spindle or is there a separate inner race? If there is no inner race, it would appear that finding a spindle with little or no bearing wear could be a problem.

3. Can the spare wheel that I have be setup to accommodate either a tapered or a ball bearing?

Thanks for your help. Ed

 

[tmodelman]

1. Yes. New Timken roller bearings are avail, priced about $70 ea, very reliable, in fact, good used bearings found at swaps are a good option, most times about $5-10. The taper roller have more bearing surface, that's a change Ford thought good.

2. Cups are separate from the hub. You must change out the inner race and outer race to the Timken roller type race, easy to do, just punch out old ball type and press in new taper type cups. Races (cups) cost $8-17 ea.

3. Yes. Best to match the what is on the car, best to have either all ball, or all Timken roller, your choice. If you like to keep all original, stay with ball, they work ok when in good condition. Taper rollers just are a bit more sturdy over the long haul.

 

[Ed in Maine]

tmodelman, thank you for your excellent reply. I will go with the roller taper type for reliability. Ed