61 gmc wheel bearing question

[thebeast61]

I need the front wheel bearings for my 61. the price for an inner, outer and a seal is $175 at the parts house. is that the best i can do or will bearings from another model truck fit that will be cheaper? im beginning to think i bought the wrong truck. this year gmc is so hard to find parts for and it seems everything is expensive.
its a 1000 with 305.
thanks for your help.

[markeb01]

I've read earlier threads indicating 1962-63 spindles use tapered roller bearings, and are a direct swap for the 1960-61 spindles. This eliminates the outrageously priced (and inferior quality) ball bearings. Eliminating the ball bearings was one of the main reasons I swapped in a 1975 front suspension. Had I known about the spindle swap I might have hung on to the torsion bar front end. Ball bearings aren't as efficient as tapered roller bearings to begin with, but current production ball bearings are substantially inferior to the items produced when these trucks were new. I'm an old guy that grew up with ball bearings and now how to set them. Regardless I burned up 4 sets of now ones before I had enough and eliminated the problem.

I tried a quick search for one of the earlier threads to confirm the information, but found no results. The threads may have been posted on another forum. You might want to start a new thread specifically asking about the spindle/bearing swap. It might result in more detailed information.

Good luck.

[Corts60]

also be sure to try jolly's website if you haven't already:

www.6066gmcguy.org

[Big Fenders]

You didn't buy the wrong truck...just change out the spindles as suggested and get the cheaper and better tapered roller bearings .
That's what i did with this forums help....
Bob

[fsae0607]

Hello. I'm bringing this old thread back up because I too want to convert to tapered rollers on my 61 GMC 1/2 ton. I've found this on the NAPA website under "1961 GMC 1000":

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Ca...R37_0073872647


Also found this:

http://www.1aauto.com/wheel-hub-bear...FcHm7AodS1gA7Q



Does this mean that now they make retrofit bearings? The NAPA one looks like it has a radius to accommodate the fillet on the spindle. Has anyone gone this route? Just want to know before I start hunting for '62-'68 hubs.

Thanks!