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Trouble with front wheel bearings
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tthoms
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Joined: October 27, 2016
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Location: Los Lunas, NM
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 10:21 pm    Post subject: Trouble with front wheel bearings Reply with quote

Working to replace the front wheel bearings on my Dad's 195 356A, we found ball bearings on the passenger side, and roller bearings on the drivers side. The roller bearings were surprisingly too big (30 mm on a 25 mm spindle).
Being told by our resident expert that roller bearings are the way to go, we pulled the ball bearing race off the spindle (no mean feat), and had new races, bearings, etc put into the drums.

They don't fit.

The drums slid on only to stop about 1 cm from their proper location. One got stuck, and wrenching it off ruined the grease seal.

It seems that the roller bearings are a few thousandths too small to actually fit on the older spindles. Speaking with Stoddard, they acknowledge this is true, even though they sell them for this model 356.

So, our current choices are (evidently):

1) Take the bearings to the machine shop, and have the inner diameter increased by 5-6 thousandths of an inch.
2) Re-install the ball bearings and the appropriate races.

Any thoughts or suggestions?
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RolandD
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 8:17 pm    Post subject: Re: Trouble with front wheel bearings Reply with quote

I prefer the ball bearings in my king pin beetles. I believe they last as long and have lower rolling resistance.

Crazy Roland
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Wade
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 12:06 am    Post subject: Re: Trouble with front wheel bearings Reply with quote

You might do a search on the 356 Registry site for more info on this. I had the exact same problem. If I remember correctly it was that the inner race for the roller bearings was slightly too small to slide onto the spindle. I did what many other seem to have done. I very carefully used emory cloth to slightly decreased the diameter of the spindle until the race slide on smoothly. Keeping everything round is obviously important but there's very little metal that has to come off and apparently I'm not the only one who has had good luck with this method. Again, I'd suggest checking around on the other sites, but that's what I did. Good luck!

-Greg
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Starbucket
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 2:39 pm    Post subject: Re: Trouble with front wheel bearings Reply with quote

Use a inner ball bearing and a roller outer (if it fits or use ball), the outer takes all the cornering load the inner just helps carry the weight. If you must have rollers, get a brake cyl. hone, some oil, plastic electrical tape and an electric drill. Tape up the bearing all over completely with electrical tape to seal the hone particles out, then use a small sharp knife and cut away the tape from the bearing bore and hone the I.D. (using a small amount of lite oil to help the hone cut) to fit the spindle. Wash the bearing very carefully in rubbing alcohol 70-90 % and blow dry (DO NOT SPIN THE BEARING WITH THE AIR) just blow through and around, then grease and go. If you don't know how to set the end play for rollers, you tighten the nut SLOWLY until the wheel wont turn easily, then back of 1/3 to 1/2 turn so the wheel will spin freely. I wouldn't mess with the spindles as hard to find and you cant go back if you don't like them (just my feelings).Roller and ball bearings are made so the inner and outer fit is .0004" to .00006" (tenths not thousands of an inch) so hone and trial fit slowly.
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tthoms
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Location: Los Lunas, NM
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2017 11:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Trouble with front wheel bearings Reply with quote

Thank you all for the input! I've given the options to my dad; we'll see what he decides.
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