Wheel Bearings from Napa

[sharkyron]

First time posting long time troller, have been slowly working on my 72 fj 55 since about 98. Bought a front disc brake conversion from JT Outfitters, years ago, at the time I bought it there weren't alot of choices available.

Now for the question. Since I have the front end apart I figured I would change out the wheel bearings, since I rather not tear it apart again later on to replace em. I bought the inner and outer wheel bearings from Napa and they appear to be a 1/4" shorter then the ones I pulled out of the vehicle. Not sure if they are the wrong ones or if the newer ones aren't as "beefy". Should I use them anyways or take em back? Where is a good spot to by bearings?

Also how can you tell if the ones I pulled out are even bad? I don't see any wear marks on the races and the bearings aren't pitted or even looking damaged.

 

[Tigerstripe40]

Post pictures.

When you did the brake conversion, did you swap in different knuckles, hubs and the like or did you reuse your existing stuff?

If there is no pitting and wear apparent in the old bearings and races, grease them up and put them back in.

If you can, toss the older stuff with the 'conversion' and put on the later disc brake FJ40/55/60 or minitruck parts. Easier to get parts for, no funky custom parts that might no longer be available, etc.

 

[SteveH]

If the bearings and races are clean, re-use them. Find a bearing supply house (in a larger town) and they should be able to cross-reference those bearings and find a replacement, if needed.

 

[71-CRUISER]

If you have the wilwood kit then you will still have drum brake bearings which can be hard to find. The ones you likely got are from a disk brake truck. .

 

[sharkyron]

I am going from the old drums that were on my 72 FJ55, to the disc brake conversion, so I was using my old parts as the instructions said to do. I was just thinking ahead knowing the age and how long this vehicle has been sitting around.

Nothing is pitted and the bearings roll nicely. So I am going to take the ones back to napa. When I got the parts from the part guy he was looking at my year and make Land Cruiser. Not sure how it could be that off. Which I don't believe they had disc brakes until what 78 or so. (trying to pull from my memory and it is late)

I appreciate everyone's input on this. I will post pics on the beast when I get the conversion done. Yes I know peeps don't like the JT Outfitters conversion, but I have already paid for em(10 years ago), so it is what I am using.

Also as an added note, not sure how much larger market I need to go to since I live in the greater Sacramento area.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Can you read a part number off of your old bearings? We would be happy to cross-reference your bearings and regardless of brand we should be able to tell you what you need. For giggles post the NAPA part numbers and I can tell you what they gave you too. (Disclaimer: assuming they are Toyota vehicle bearings, I don't know jack about other axles )

 

[sharkyron]

The Napa ones are 943 and 945 that were listed on the box. At work right now so don't have access to the parts. That is just what I remember.

Also the part numbers on the old ones were a four digit and a 5 digit. They were kind of hard to read, but both started with a 26. I will post the exact numbers when I can get access to them.

 

[Tigerstripe40]

The Napa ones are 943 and 945 that were listed on the box. At work right now so don't have access to the parts. That is just what I remember.

Good memory!

Fired up the napaonline web site and found
ATM 943 is for the inner wheel bearing
ATM 945 is the outer.
Their applications chart shows 'Cruisers from 1970 - 2007

IIRC they are different from Drums - Discs - 80 series...

 

[sharkyron]

Went back today and got the right bearings, BR2788 and BR26882. As we were looking at the old bearings there was a deep scratch on the outer housing of the bearing, so I got the new ones.

Also these are only bearings no races, since the old races were in good condition, that is just fine with me.

Now time to put them all into the vehicle.

 

[FishTacos]

Went back today and got the right bearings, BR2788 and BR26882. As we were looking at the old bearings there was a deep scratch on the outer housing of the bearing, so I got the new ones.

Also these are only bearings no races, since the old races were in good condition, that is just fine with me.

Now time to put them all into the vehicle.

Some say it is important to replace bearings and races at the same time. Always. They wear together and the new bearing wont be "mated" to the old race. The new bearing will wear faster as a result. This is particularly pronounced on ball bearings and somewhat less so on roller type bearings like these. It is pretty easy to get the races out. BFH and a brass drift. They're chapish on Rockauto. Napa too in all likelihood. Just my opinion but, you're in there....why not swap out races?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Some say it is important to replace bearings and races at the same time. Always. They wear together and the new bearing wont be "mated" to the old race. The new bearing will wear faster as a result. This is particularly pronounced on ball bearings and somewhat less so on roller type bearings like these. It is pretty easy to get the races out. BFH and a brass drift. They're chapish on Rockauto. Napa too in all likelihood. Just my opinion but, you're in there....why not swap out races?

x2. Always replace bearings and races as a set and always match the brand and specs of the bearings. A Timken can have a slightly different thrust angle than a Koyo, and NSK and Nachi can be different than both of them too. I'm surprised the NAPA gents would sell you just the bearings without recommending the races. We won't sell bearing or race only as they need to be done together.

 

[Michael Hanson]

Hi, Times two. I have no problems with Timkin. Mike