Green axle bearings

[Gldwing57]

I posted a few days ago about rebuilding my 714 diff. The distributor I went with had "green" bearings that I decided to go with because it seemed to make things a lot simpler. I searching around about the rebuild and looking for info I found one comment that said green bearings are for racing applications only and will not stand up to day-to-day use. I saw nothing about this when I ordered them. I am wondering if any of you have any information in this and if that is the case I may have to go in another direction.
As I have stated, I haven't messed with rebuilds in years and this may just be my ignorance of the subject. However, it seems strange to me that they would hold up under a race application but not under practical use. Any information you can supply would be very helpful before I start this project. Thanks, Patrick

 

[yella71]

they will be fine. Ive run mine for years.

 

[Gldwing57]

they will be fine. Ive run mine for years.

Thank you I appreciate the response.
Makes perfect sense.

 

[Cranky]

The Green bearings are nothing more than a ball bearing and even though the Timkens are a heavier duty bearing (tapered roller bearings are always tougher than ball bearings), the ball bearings were used by several car makers back in the day.

 

[dadsbee]

This should be another long thread...

 

[Cranky]

This should be another long thread...

 

[Darter6]

<<<<<<<<< My car 22 years Green bearings,over 40K miles not a problem.

 

[Cranky]

I've done several rear end builds that used the Green bearings. Most of them were supplied by the customer and some were already on the axles and so far none have come back complaining about them. My first foray with them was in the early 80's and put lots of passes on them. There was a bad batch of them but heard that many sat on a shelf for a very long time and we all know what that does to the grease in them. I've popped the seals out of 'sealed' bearings before to check the condition of the grease and repack them and pop the seals back on but never did that with the Greens....

 

[hunt2elk]

I had always been a fan of the stock tapered bearings. Several years ago I replaced the small bolt pattern axles in my Duster with BBP from Cass. Only way he sells them is with green bearings, so I was forced to use them. And then when I ordered a Strange 60 for my Super Bee, I was kind of shocked to see it also came with greens. Called Cass about that, and he said that is the only way they come from Strange. I've put quite a few miles on those 2 cars with zero problems, so maybe I need to change my thinking about greens, idk. Cass is a huge fan of them by the way.

 

[R413]

Sorry, gotta say this. Green bearing lovers move past this post.

The stock bearings are a superior design. There is no benefit to green bearings on a stock width housing and axles. They have a place on a race car with narrowed rears so everything will lineup and fit.

They should be called wheel bearings for dummies because it just stab and go, no adjusting required.

I like the stock bearings never a problem and adjusting them is simple. If you need help just ask on here how to adjust them.

 

[diesel_lv]

Sorry, gotta say this. Green bearing lovers move past this post.

The stock bearings are a superior design. There is no benefit to green bearings on a stock width housing and axles. They have a place on a race car with narrowed rears so everything will lineup and fit.

They should be called wheel bearings for dummies because it just stab and go, no adjusting required.

I like the stock bearings never a problem and adjusting them is simple. If you need help just ask on here how to adjust them.

Absolutely correct. The reason why people, myself included, go to green bearings is simplicity. Not that I can't adjust tapered, but I don't want to.

 

[toolmanmike]

Don't forget to pack those original bearings with grease.

 

[Master Gunner]

I love all these posts saying "I've run green bearings for X many miles and no problems". I tried the green style bearings because it was "easier", and had a catastrophic failure after 5000 miles.
Do what you want, but those bearings are not designed for side loads.

Mark

 

[Cranky]

I love all these posts saying "I've run green bearings for X many miles and no problems". I tried the green style bearings because it was "easier", and had a catastrophic failure after 5000 miles.
Do what you want, but those bearings are not designed for side loads.

Mark

You are right but most 'production' cars weren't made to burn the corners and curves and basically, Timkens were overkill for the 'average' driver. Don't know about GM but I know for a fact that Fords ran ball bearings well into the 60's. Don't know about the 70's cause I quit messing with Ford products before then. The straight roller bearings that came out later on are better than the ball bearings for cornering imo but the Timkens are king....and they are more expensive too and is probably the reason why they were phased out of automobile production rear ends. Another problem is when morons don't know how to adjust end play.

With the clutch type Sure Grips getting the proper end play is important and is more critical than with the cone type Sure Grips. You probably know the clutch type SG's have a fairly weak center thrust pin while the cone type has one that's nearly bullet proof and is similar to the open diffs. If you adjust the axles too tight, the clutch type center pin gets killed and then more damage results if not addressed fairly quickly. Then if someone doesn't adjust them at all and end up with 1/8" end play....well, Timkens don't like that too much either. Ball bearings will take 'some' side loading but no where near what a Timken will.

 

[SlinktRR]

I like timkens because I like to whip the car around corners. Green is ok for straight line but I really like the tapered. When it came time for mine the advantages of the timken outweighed the simplicity of the green, I used a machine shop to cut them off and press on new. Adjusting the axle endplay is pretty simple even a caveman (me) can do it. If your car had greens then you might not have the adjuster on the passenger side anymore so check that if you go tapered.

 

[Cranky]

I like timkens because I like to whip the car around corners. Green is ok for straight line but I really like the tapered. When it came time for mine the advantages of the timken outweighed the simplicity of the green, I used a machine shop to cut them off and press on new. Adjusting the axle endplay is pretty simple even a caveman (me) can do it. If your car had greens then you might not have the adjuster on the passenger side anymore so check that if you go tapered.

I've had cars here with Timkens in them that didn't have adjusters lol. So many had/have no clue.....

 

[Sahara]

I’m no expert in mechanics so I depend heavily on the knowledge of others, either here or from respected, printed sources. I was a fan of Ehrenberg before there was even internet. He gave sound reasoning for using tapered bearings and not green for street use. I’ve said it many times before, good enough for Ehrenberg, good enough for me. Consequently I had to hire out the work but I’m so deep into my car financially that a few hundred bucks isn’t a concern at this time.

 

[copper67sat]

I put in a set of Green bearings when I restored my 67 Satellite in the early 90's because a good friend recommended them - these replaced the 120k mile originals that were still working fine, just wanted everything new. They always made a slight clunking noise when starting into a hard corner and only lasted about 10-15k miles before I started hearing a more steady noise in the rear end. Replaced them with factory style Timkens and have put over 20k miles on them without issue.

 

[RJRENTON]

I've done several rear end builds that used the Green bearings. Most of them were supplied by the customer and some were already on the axles and so far none have come back complaining about them. My first foray with them was in the early 80's and put lots of passes on them. There was a bad batch of them but heard that many sat on a shelf for a very long time and we all know what that does to the grease in them. I've popped the seals out of 'sealed' bearings before to check the condition of the grease and repack them and pop the seals back on but never did that with the Greens....

The Green bearings are nothing more than a ball bearing and even though the Timkens are a heavier duty bearing (tapered roller bearings are always tougher than ball bearings), the ball bearings were used by several car makers back in the day.

I just cannot resist ...... the ball bearings you are referring to were likely Delco New Departure Hyatt (NDH) and were a DUPLEX ANGULAR CONTACT type capable of both AXIAL and RADIAL loads simultaneously. Many (but not all) front drive cars used this type.
I have yet to make the determination of the ACTUAL manufacturers type number on a Green bearing (not the MO-400 number), to detetmine the physical and mechanical properties, to satisfy my own curiosity. To each his own preferences for their own reason......
BOB RENTON

 

[SlinktRR]

I listen to Ehrenberg too, but not 100%. His stance on double pumpers washing down cylinders with excess fuel I don't agree for example, I've been having good luck with my carb tuning I guess.