RE: [Chrysler300] Rear Axle Bearings - more info?

["JOHN MC ADAMS" <clafong@xxxx>]

As I understand the terminology correctly.  

A "Green" bearing is a simple ball bearing composed of a series of balls supported in a "Cage" that keeps them spaced apart to separate the load on the races.  They are designed to primarily support the radial load on a shaft.  That means, mostly just the downward force of the load on a horizontal shaft.

A "Tapered Roller" bearing is comprised of exactly that.  Instead of spherical balls, they contain tapered rollers that support the load both at a right angle to the shaft and in a thrust vector towards one end of the shaft or the other.  If you want to support a thrust vector in both directions on the shaft, they are used in pairs.  

Our front spindles use two tapered roller bearings.  The inner one takes care of both a downward load and the sideways thrust in an outwards direction.  The outer one takes care of both the downward load and the sideways thrust in an inner direction.  This keeps the rolling element (the hub with drum or disk) centered between the bearings.

On the rear axle application, the stock design calls for a tapered roller bearing on the end of each axle (with seals).  This allows for load support both downward and for any lateral or sideways forces.  

If our cars were to just run in a straight line without any cornering the "Green" bearings would be plenty adequate.  But as soon as you start to go around a corner the "Green" bearings are trying to carry additional lateral loads.

The bottom line is the "Green" bearings are cheaper to make.  Our cars (and most other ones too) were originally designed with tapered roller bearings and deserve them.

John Mc Adams


-----Original Message-----
From: mr-320@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:mr-320@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2003 5:30 AM
To: John Hertog
Cc: William Huff; Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] Rear Axle Bearings - more info?


john and all;
       back in 72, when they first came out, i replaced the axle brgs.
on a 71 hemi gtx with the green full floating style and within 6 mos i
had one of them collapse completely. i retrofitted back to stock mopar
and havent tried them again since, havent had any trouble since either.
i presume its possible that there was just something wrong with the
individual brg, or the installation, but i doubt it, i think that the
tapered rollers are just a much stronger system, and i intend to stay
with them.
           for what it is worth!!!!!

                                                     JEFF
                                                      tucson az.