chevy hub bearings

[megaladon6]

has anyone figured out if there is a difference between the corvette or the other sealed hub bearings? i'm looking at doing the s-10/blazer spindle swap in my monte.

[novaderrik]

i don't understand why everyone thinks the new sealed bearing/hub assemblies are so much better than the old style.
the oems only use them because they save a little time on the assembly line when they are putting the cars together.
the only benefit i've seen to them is that you can run a shorter center cap on the wheel, and it takes less time to change them since you don't have to pound in the races and pack the bearings like on the old style, but the old style bearings can be inspected and repacked from time to time- and if they are bad, they are cheap to replace.
if the sealed hubs were better, then every high end race car in the world would have them. i don't think any of the NASCAR, Indy car, or F1 cars use a sealed hub...

if you are looking to do the spindle swap to make it easier to swap on bigger brakes, then you don't need to bother, since you can get the brackets to put the same brakes on your stock spindle with a few modifications.

[megaladon6]

well actually if they're designed and assembled correctly they are a better design. the axial and radial play are more consistent and the preload won't change nearly as rapidly through the life of the bearing. also it puts the load more in the center of the spindle instead of outboard. (sorry i work for an aerospace bearing company)
anyway, the s-10 spindles have better brakes, lighter weight, and are much easier to put C5 brakes onto if i go that far.
oh, and many companies have put them in their high performance race level cars for many years.

[ArtosDracon]

I've been trying to find this out for quite some time, I don't know if anyone has the proper answer. At least not that I can find. I've been wanting to get 98+ blazer spindles to run with the twin piston brakes. I can say for sure that ebay is the way to go on bearing sets, half the price of almost anywhere else. As best I can tell the bolt holes are in the same, or extremely close to the same position, but that's as far as I can get till I have a set of each in my hands. If you do find someone with the answer, please let me know or post it up!

[silver69camaro]

Yes, the bolt patterns and offset are different pretty much with all designs. I have no idea why GM didn't make the mounting pattern the same.

[parsonsj]

i don't understand why everyone thinks the new sealed bearing/hub assemblies are so much better than the old style.

Not everybody does. The C4/C5/C6 hubs are most certainly not a better design than previous greased tapered bearings and races. Must guys that put considerable track time on those parts consider them consumable and replace them constantly.

Internally, they are roller bearings rather than tapered bearings, and track heat causes the grease to get past the seals, and the bearing will quickly fail. If it was a rebuildable/re-greasable design, good maintenance could reduce those failures.

The one advantage they do have is to spread the load across the upright so that structural failures of the upright itself are reduced.

jp

[megaladon6]

Must guys that put considerable track time on those parts consider them consumable and replace them constantly.

unfortunately the problem there is most likely GM quality.
VW (and others like porsche and ferrari) have used sealed hub units for years w/out problems.

[parsonsj]

unfortunately the problem there is most likely GM quality.

It seems like somebody ought to be able to build something that will last more than a few races, for sure.

[CarlC]

It's not a quality problem. We make them by the tens of thousands. It's the cost and ease of installation combined that make them what they are.

The current Hub3 design is essentially an angular contact ball bearing design with the raceways ground into the hub housing and inner ring. As with any bearing design there are limited ways to get more load capacity, but for these applications it's mainly going to take more, and larger, rolling elements. That means shoving more and larger balls into an existing envelope. That's not easy to do given the envelope restrictions. Plus, the market for something like this is puny.

SKF has a heavy duty version. It's better, but may not utltimately cure what many consider a problem.

Like many bearing failures, the root cause may not be easily determined. Smaking a curb hard on track day may damage the bearing today, but not manifest itself until months later, and something else gets the blame.

Throw in that the Hub3 design requires only tightening a few bolts to install, and no "feel" is needed to set preload, + a host of other factors (COST), and we have what we have.

The TRB design is well suited for our use, but setting the preload correctly, especially for track conditions, is a bit tricky.

Unless mechanically or thermally damaged, the limiting factor for sealed bearing designs (Hub3) is the lubricant.

megaladon6,

Do you work for Barden?

[megaladon6]

well i look at it this way. when i was a mechanic we replaced VW audi and subaru (just for example) hub bearings after 100,000mi, and GM after 50,000mi. these are AVERAGE numbers. i have NEVER seen a GM hub bearing make it over 80k. and that's regular old street driving.

Unless mechanically or thermally damaged, the limiting factor for sealed bearing designs (Hub3) is the lubricant.

that and the radial play, axial play, raceway finish, ball finish, material hardness, contact angle, assembly procedures/quality, design, preload, ring flatness/parallel, race wobble DFTC, ROC, ...........
yeah still at Barden. god help me

[megaladon6]

carlc is there a difference between the 'vette and the blazer or other hubs?