1966 Pontiac inner wheel bearing question???? I need your .02

Apr 14, 2005 7 Replies

Hello, I am helping a friend with the brakes on his 66 Lemans all drums. After removing the inner grease seals on the front drums I was very surprised to find out that the inner bearing are "pressed in?" Can I be looking at this correctly? Every car I have ever worked on the inner bearing was sitting in the race and easy to remove/ clean/ repack. Can I get these bearings out to repack them? Is this some kind of cage bearing? TIA


It's not a ball bearing is it? Is that what you're trying to tell us?

They used to use ball bearings on the front spindle, but I just don't remember what's on a 66.

No it is not ball bearings, they look like standard bearings do. They just wont come out?

Thanks I thought of the parts store idea. that may help.

It's not possible to press an inner wheel bearing on, because you'd never be able to get the grease seal pressed into the back of the hub, and the bearing pressed onto the axle. So it sounds like what you're dealing with is simply a stuck bearing. The bearing and race on a roller bearing can't stick together, of course, but if the inner race (bearing) won't move, you have to pull hard enough to make the grease seal come out of the hub. From your description, I can't tell if that's what happened.

If the bearing is stuck on the spindle, the seal should be sitting on there behind it. You gotta get that same stuff off and in the hub before you put it back together.

Here's the old trick. Take out the outer bearings and put the hub back on the spindle. Replace the spindle nut and washer. Grip the hub/drum with both hands and yank back hard. The whole mess should come out in one pull.

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