[jusjay]

Anyone have a source on Rear wheel bearings?

[72EnduraWagon]

I picked up some rear axle bearings for my 64 buick skylark wagon from these guys great service!...Darren




http://www.bearing-technologies.com/

[tarheeltempest]

Clark's corvair parts carries NOS rear axle bearings for corvairs which are the same for the tempest/lemans. Hold onto your hat as the NOS bearings are about $400 each! They offer a rebuilt bearing for about half the price and also an aluminum housing replacement bearing for about the same price as the rebuilt units. You can also send your axle units to them to have your old bearings removed and the new ones pressed on.

[jusjay]

Thanks guys, I have email both companies and will wait to hear from them.

[SDStanley]

Clark's Corvair Parts listed new reproduction bearings in their summer catalog supplement (part nember C11750). I ordered a set, but these were back ordered. They also have a press fixture.

[importsmasher]

I had a guy called the Corvair Doctor rebuild one of my bearings several years ago. All he did was take it apart, clean and lubricate it, and charged me $65. I have done it myself since then. Unless something is broken, you just knock the rivets out, clean all the parts, pack it with grease (I use a needle on my grease gun to get the grease in between the rollers) and re-rivet it back together. You don't even have to press the bearing off the axle shaft. I have been doing this about once a year on my daily-driver 62 LeMans.
Importsmasher

[SDStanley]

I just received a notice from Clark's Corvair Parts that the reproduction bearings are now available- http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/cata...&find_page=167
I'm sure these were difficult to manufacture- thank you Clark's.

[John in Minnesota]

Can the rear wheel bearings be lubricated the way imporsmasher says? Can it be do on the car? Mine are good but I would like to lube them. I found bearings at South Shore Bearing in S.Quincy MA. 617 471 7800. Didn't buy them I was in the market for something else and the guy told me he had them. 62 4-4-4 rag top

[importsmasher]

When I sent my bearing out to be "rebuilt," other than replacing the damaged roller, they just disassembled it and lubed it. That is what gave me the idea to do it myself. You don't have to remove the bearing from the axle shaft, but you do have to remove the axle shaft from the car. It isn't very difficult.

Also, I would stay away from the aluminum housing replacements mentioned by tarheeltempest. They are not able to "self center" as the suspension travels up and down. I tried a set of them in my car and they lasted about 50 miles.
Importsmasher

[beemergary]

Contact Greg Walters of the Little Indians Tempest club or KJB who's on this site.

[John in Minnesota]

Looks like I wiil try the axel out lube since the car is on jacks and tires off. Just put new brakes, wheel cyl., hoses, and master cyl. on it. I'll wait till spring, too cold now. 62 4-4-4 ragtop

[Peter Serio]

Hi importsmasher, I have a very nice '63 convertible that has sat for many years; undriven. I would like to lube everyting possible before I put it back on the road later this year. Can you give some more details on what rivets you need to remove to get into the bearings & add some fresh grease? Also what type of grease do you use?

Thank you very much, Pete

Originally Posted by importsmasher

I had a guy called the Corvair Doctor rebuild one of my bearings several years ago. All he did was take it apart, clean and lubricate it, and charged me $65. I have done it myself since then. Unless something is broken, you just knock the rivets out, clean all the parts, pack it with grease (I use a needle on my grease gun to get the grease in between the rollers) and re-rivet it back together. You don't even have to press the bearing off the axle shaft. I have been doing this about once a year on my daily-driver 62 LeMans.
Importsmasher

[importsmasher]

Peter,

Once you get the axle shaft out of the car, when you look at the rear bearing assembly, there are 2 rivets that hold the two halves of the assembly together. Grind or file them off to separate the halves. You can completely remove one of the halves and its associated bearing rollers and race, but the other half can't be removed when the bearing is still on the shaft. I just take the inner half off and use a needle attachment on my grease gun and inject regular bearing grease into the bearing until it starts coming back out. I tend to get carried away with the amount of grease i use (i figure more is better), then re-assemble the bearing and rivet it back together, then wipe off the excess grease. I have done this approximately once per year on my daily driver 62 LeMans for the last 6 or 7 years. Good luck!
Importsmasher

[KJB]

The 61 and 62 used the two piece riveted assembly but in 63 they went to a one piece cast assembly for the rear wheel bearings. Once in a while you come across a 63 with the two piece assembly but I have had four 63s and all of them have had the one piece. With the one piece, there is no way to open it up to lube the bearing. Ken Freeman of East West once told me about drilling a hole in the one piece housing and installing a grease fitting but I've never tried this. I've been fortunate enough to locate NOS bearings for my cars over the years and have not had any bearing problems thus far.

[Peter Serio]

Hi, thank you very much KJB. I was just sitting here wondering if my '63 would even be the same as 61-2 as the '63 suspensions in the rear are not the same. I know that Clark's Corvairs sells a lot of quality parts & I think I heard somewhere that they had new bearings made as their corvairs need them badly. As far as I know the ones used in early Corvairs will work in our Tempests. Drilling into the side of a bearing may not be the best way to go, if mine start to squeak I'll just have to get some new ones.

[SDStanley]

I installed new bearings in my '63 and all went well. It would be possible to remove the bearings, clean and pack, but my right bearing was noisy so I wanted the new bearings.
Below are pictures of my disassembled bearing and a new bearing from Clark's Corvair.

[GonicGM]

Be sure to grease or never seize the inboard stamped steel retainer cage OD. This part normally slips into the backing plate. Rust can develop there and seize the assembly. I just did a motor R&R on a 63 Corvair Monza Spyder Convertible Turbo 4 Speed. The inner cage was seized into the backing plate by rust. I had to drive against the inner cage for for axle shaft removal and unfortunately damaged it.