Reusing tapered bearings?

[JHZR2]

My Mercedes cars have the hub bolted to the rotor. My Dodge Ram seems to have the hub and rotor all as one piece. So if I want to replace the rotor, is it a death sentence for the bearing race? Will drifting out the race damage it sufficiently that the bearing and race need to be changed too?

 

[Jetronic]

it can be done, but depends on how stuck the race is

 

[DriveHard]

Clean everything up really well, inspect the bearing, and it should be good to go. Make sure to get it seated properly. Does it use a spacer for setting, or manual set?

 

[wwillson]

I asked my friend who owns his own shop. He does a lot of these for himself and for a couple of other shops. Depending on the vintage yours may actually be a two piece hub/rotor, but appears as one piece, but about 90% are two piece. The trick is you have to press the studs out, then press the hub out of the rotor. He said without a press it's very difficult. Of course this applies if you have the two piece hub/rotor.

 

[JHZR2]

Mi

I asked my friend who owns his own shop. He does a lot of these for himself and a couple other shops. Depending on the vintage yours may actually be a two piece hub/rotor, but appears as one piece, but about 90% are two piece. The trick is you have to press the studs out, then press the hub out of the rotor. He said without a press it's very difficult. Of course this applies if you have the two piece hub/rotor.

Mine is older and is one piece.

825D4052-3416-4047-BBEF-4BD212574846.jpeg

• JHZR2
• Apr 5, 2021

1996 Dodge Ram FSM

That’s the FSM picture, it doesn’t differentiate between the 1500/5 lug, and the heavier 2500/8 lug design.

It addresses the two piece separately.

It looks like the rotors come with two races installed, but that pushes another question - thought that the bearing and race was supposed to be sold and installed as a set. If a rotor vendor sells a rotor and race, how does one know if they are truly properly matched?

 

[Trav]

I have been toying with this very question for years. I know guys that have thrown the old bearings in the new rotors that came with the outer race already installed and had no problems.
I don't do it, I knock the new outer race out or the rotor and put new first world bearings in, race and all with a new seal, it is too easy of a job to mess around.

 

[Kestas]

I specifically asked a more experienced colleague this same question some time ago. He said that the outer race does not need to be matched to the rest of the bearing for a taper roller. The old one can be reused as long as it is in decent shape.

If you do replace the outer race, proper seating must be done. Apart from cleanliness, the bearing is best seated by overtorqueing the hub nut while turning the wheel. Torque it until the wheel is hard to turn. Then back off the nut and set the clearance.

 

[Jetronic]

Yes, that's how I always do them

 

[JHZR2]

I specifically asked a more experienced colleague this same question some time ago. He said that the outer race does not need to be matched to the rest of the bearing for a taper roller. The old one can be reused as long as it is in decent shape.

If you do replace the outer race, proper seating must be done. Apart from cleanliness, the bearing is best seated by overtorqueing the hub nut while turning the wheel. Torque it until the wheel is hard to turn. Then back off the nut and set the clearance.

It would make sense in a new bearing and race as nothing has worn in. I think there is a different basis if one half is worn and the other half isn’t. Notionally bearings and races of a certain surface finish, dimensions, etc. should fit together relatively well when new.

I was primarily originally thinking to drift out to reuse, these rotors seem to all come with a race pre-installed. I think running the old bearing with a new race wouldn’t be prudent, and I shouldn’t count on preserving the old race and getting it from the old rotor. This new with new. If new comes with a race, I could install it as @Trav does, and if the bearing I get doesn’t (I’d suspect OE doesn’t come with it if their rotors are pre-installed), then I’ll just go with it.

Thanks!!

 

[spasm3]

I specifically asked a more experienced colleague this same question some time ago. He said that the outer race does not need to be matched to the rest of the bearing for a taper roller. The old one can be reused as long as it is in decent shape.

If you do replace the outer race, proper seating must be done. Apart from cleanliness, the bearing is best seated by overtorqueing the hub nut while turning the wheel. Torque it until the wheel is hard to turn. Then back off the nut and set the clearance.

I do this, tighten to about 75lbs then backoff.

 

[Jim_Truett]

I don't do it, I knock the new outer race out or the rotor and put new first world bearings in, race and all with a new seal, it is too easy of a job to mess around.

Me too. I only want to do it once, and I don't want a failure at speed with the family in the car, or much worse, involve someone else's family in an incident. SKF and Timken bearings of the tapered roller variety are typically not that expensive.

 

[Chris142]

The new rotor will have races already pressed in. In a perfect world you should put new bearings on the new races. Nobody ever does. The OE bearings are much higher quality than what you can buy at the local store.

I say clean up the old bearings. If they look good pack them and reus them. Use new seals too.

 

[Jim_Truett]

If this is a 1500 it looks like SKF or Timken bearings can be had for about $15 per corner plus shipping.

 

[JHZR2]

If this is a 1500 it looks like SKF or Timken bearings can be had for about $15 per corner plus shipping.

It’s a 2500 diesel, so fairly heavy front end. I don’t think the bearings are that much more at rock auto.

 

[01rangerxl]

I replaced rotors multiple times just using the new pre-installed races and original bearings on my 2002 Ranger before first replacing bearings around 227k miles. One of the seals failed and contaminated the grease, so I finally decided it was time, but the Torrington bearings were still in pretty good shape. I replaced them with Koyos, and again just used the races already installed on the new rotors. I think my application is pretty forgiving, it just needs bearings that aren't trashed.

 

[Chris142]

I replaced rotors multiple times just using the new pre-installed races and original bearings on my 2002 Ranger before first replacing bearings around 227k miles. One of the seals failed and contaminated the grease, so I finally decided it was time, but the Torrington bearings were still in pretty good shape. I replaced them with Koyos, and again just used the races already installed on the new rotors. I think my application is pretty forgiving, it just needs bearings that aren't trashed.

Koto bearings are very good. On par with Timkin and Nachi.