What would cause my barely used green bearing to do this?

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All use ball or straight roller bearings, no taper bearings to be found.

Not at all apples to apples.
High powered and high side loading does not equate.
Why is it so hard for the defenders to answer “What is wrong with tapered bearings?”.
 
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Not at all apples to apples.
High powered and high side loading does not equate.
Why is it so hard for the defenders to answer “What slid wrong with tapered bearings?”.

All axles have side loading, even ones with a c-clip to absorb some of that. I work with bearings in high speed/high power applications for a living, all of which see significant axial loading, and none of them are taper bearings. There's no advantage, bearings are so well made today that even angular contact bearings are out of favor for a simple deep groove ball bearing.

On the second, nothing is "so wrong" with taper bearings. There's a level of simplicity to a ball bearing that, if you're doing work pulling/installing axles, is appreciated. I wouldn't pull a set of tapers just for fun, but if I need to replace wheel bearings, I absolutely install a set of green bearings.
 
I use green bearings. Never had a problem with them. I will say this, Chevrolet and most notably Ford have used green style bearings since the 50s with many millions of trouble free miles. The major reason they lasted so long was because the axle was butted up almost against the the differential center pin so the side loading was virtually eliminated. Kim
 
What differences that have an effect on bearing life?

I feel you, can't help yourself sometimes.

The biggest reason is how the axle is designed to handle axial(side) loading. With the 8 3/4, the axle side loading is handled through the opposite side bearing. That's why the center button in the 8 3/4 is so important, it translates the force through the center section from the loaded wheel through to the loaded bearing.

Green bearings are really more for axle designs that don't transmit the side loading into/ through the axle bearings (e.g Ford axles). That's why they're ok for drag racing applications, not ok for road racing, and over-discussed for street applications. The force goes into the Ford axle in a totally different way.

If you look at 8 1/4 axles, the axle bearing rides directly on the axle itself, is a straight roller (not a ball bearing or a tapered roller) and carries ZERO side load; without the clip, the axles just slide right out.

The second gen green bearings are a combo tapered roller (iirc) which is better than the first gen, which were a straight ball bearing, which sucks 100% at carrying side loads. Both of which do not transmit the force the way the factory tapered roller bearing does.

So, the design of the axle dictates the type of bearing needed.
 
I never claimed a ball wheel bearing is as strong as a tapered roller wheel bearing.

Most people will never know the difference when used in a daily driver as millions of Ford, Toyota and Mopar rears came with them stock.

As far as what is "wrong" with tapered roller bearings, I can almost guarantee the OP can't install them without mock-up and careful measuring/machining. A tape measure rarely cuts it for a custom width assembly.
 
So none of us with green bearings go around a corner? Your theory doesn’t hold water. I use nothing but green bearings and have for years and years.

I guess you are a real driver or some ****. BTW, the factory used what was cheap and offered an adjustment to make up for their mile wide tolerance. A speedy dude like you should understand this right? But by GOD, ebooger said it’s tapered bearings or death and we all know he’s never wrong.

What do you think hub bearings are? Yup. Same design. How many of those are on the roads? A bajillion. You know it and I know it......if they were bad designs, they wouldn't be used.
 
The biggest reason is how the axle is designed to handle axial(side) loading. With the 8 3/4, the axle side loading is handled through the opposite side bearing. That's why the center button in the 8 3/4 is so important, it translates the force through the center section from the loaded wheel through to the loaded bearing.

Green bearings are really more for axle designs that don't transmit the side loading into/ through the axle bearings (e.g Ford axles). That's why they're ok for drag racing applications, not ok for road racing, and over-discussed for street applications. The force goes into the Ford axle in a totally different way.

If you look at 8 1/4 axles, the axle bearing rides directly on the axle itself, is a straight roller (not a ball bearing or a tapered roller) and carries ZERO side load; without the clip, the axles just slide right out.

The second gen green bearings are a combo tapered roller (iirc) which is better than the first gen, which were a straight ball bearing, which sucks 100% at carrying side loads. Both of which do not transmit the force the way the factory tapered roller bearing does.

So, the design of the axle dictates the type of bearing needed.

The thrust button is required because there's only one adjuster, the axles have to be seen as solid pair so that you can preload both bearings with the one adjuster.

Even if you ignore c clip center sections, a Ford 9in is a Hotchkiss style, just like a 8-3/4. It uses ball bearings, just like the greens. What's so different about a 9"?

FWD/AWD cars also use all ball bearings, they drive, pass power and handle fine for hundreds of thousands of miles.

Again, that bit about ball bearings and bad axial loading is just plain wrong, ball bearings have EXCELLENT axial load capacity. They're used extensively in aerospace for exactly that function, to control axial movement in conjunction with rollers for radial control.
 
Again, that bit about ball bearings and bad axial loading is just plain wrong, ball bearings have EXCELLENT axial load capacity. They're used extensively in aerospace for exactly that function, to control axial movement in conjunction with rollers for radial control.

Um, no.
"If the bearing needs to cope with a heavy axial load, an angular contact bearing should be used. These have a different internal design allowing them to handle much greater axial loads than standard radial ball bearings."
SMB Bearings

Back to the drawing (conclusions) board for you!

If you want to cite aerospace applications, go right ahead. I won't wait.
 
bearings are so well made today that even angular contact bearings are out of favor for a simple deep groove ball bearing.

Um, no.
"If the bearing needs to cope with a heavy axial load, an angular contact bearing should be used. These have a different internal design allowing them to handle much greater axial loads than standard radial ball bearings."
SMB Bearings

Back to the drawing (conclusions) board for you!

If you want to cite aerospace applications, go right ahead. I won't wait.

Congrats, you can google "ball bearing axial load".

SKFs standard for deep groove axial loading is 0.5 of C0 in a purely axial loaded situation, which is a worst case scenario for a ball bearing. Closest (in size) off the shelf deep groove is a 208, which has a C0 of 6070lb, which is 3000lb of axial load.
SKF

Aerospace doesn't use angular contact except in super specific circumstances, they have great axial loading, but they only carry load in a single direction. So you need to apply large amounts of preload on the bearing in order to ensure that there's never more axial force applied in the "wrong" direction. If you're in a situation where axial movement will be in both directions, which is common, it's not the appropriate choice. In addition, bearing life is obviously effected by heat. Bearing heat load is calculated by bearing diameter, speed, power and load (which includes preload), all of that means that angular contact bearings are not an appropriate choice for a wheel bearing.

P&W uses deep groove ball bearings for axial load control on the five products of theirs I've worked on. J57, J75, JT9, FT4, PT8 and PW4000.

We currently use a mix of angular contact and deep groove bearings at work now, speed and ability to actively cool the bearing being the deciding factor. The move to angular contact is usually in the 3500hp+/10,000rpm+ range and requires hundreds of pounds of preload and oil flood lubrication to keep them alive with the heat load being applied to the bearing.

It's not just a simple, "angular contact has more axial capacity so it must be better."
 
When I can't use the green bearing, I switch to the purple bearing. lol
I never had an issue with either bearing going around corners with over 550 foot pounds of torque with a locker.
I think the guy's having issue with the green bearing is the result from improper clearances or installation.
 
it’s called a chat forum or “discussion” forum. So, what are the issues with tapered bearings?
I would like to know because I went to Green bearings on a rearend and have went through two sets in ~20,000 miles. I’ve had tapered bearings go for 100k. Green bearings might be just fine if all you ever did was go in a straight line. They just don’t last in real world driving , i.e. not in controlled straight line drag racing.
I was sold on the ball bearings because they are “easier” to service but really, there’s no problem servicing tapered bearings. Also, I was considering a brake kit that only works with ball bearings. I asked Cass Eslick about it and told him I corner hard in the car and he said it would be fine. I’m thinking he didn’t consider that people corner their car harder than turning off the 1/4 mile track at the big end. I would have chosen a disc brake kit that works with a different housing end and built the rear with them, like big Ford ends with tapered bearings.

Green Bearing fans just can’t grasp that they do not live in road race, autocross, or even canyon carving road trips. It’s a case cognitive dissonance. “Dr Diff says they’re good, and he’s a Doctor!” , “This guy uses them so I don’t want to miss out”.
I’m not hating on the Green bearing but I am throwing shade at people who think they are just fine in every application. If you’ve got a bracket car and can’t figure out a dial indicator then they are for you OR if you putt your muscle car around town for about 2,000 miles a year then that’s fine too.


No dude, you’re the one who claimed you can’t go around a corner on a green bearing. I haven’t been to a drag strip in nearly 20 years. So go blow your own horn.

It’s amazing that YOU cant do something so no one else can do it either. It’s the same phenomenon that says you can’t use more than 9:1 compression on pump gas. Just ridiculous. I don’t know how many circle track cars I tuned, but it was over a dozen and every one of those used a ball bearing on the axle. Not one used a tapered bearing.

Unreal.
 
every one of those used a ball bearing on the axle. Not one used a tapered bearing.

Sounds like you blood pressure’s up, Boomer. Better settle down.

I would imagine the bearings are a consumable item in circle track and I helped a buddy in high school on his IMCA team. Dirt track cars don’t stick in the corners. Loss of traction is a constant and that is the fuse.
 
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Sounds like you blood pressure’s up, Boomer. Better settle down.

I would imagine the bearings are a consumable item in circle track and I helped a buddy in high school on his IMSA team. Dirt track cars don’t stick in the corners. Loss of traction is a constant and that is the fuse. I’ve been around a dirt track, Boomer.


Ok punk. Did I say dirt cars punk? You ain’t done **** punk.
 
Watch that blood pressure, Boomer!
 
I love these threads.

"This bearing failed. Mopar Performance books from 90's said it wasn't great for this application."

"You're retarded."

"Jet engines use bearings that are different, used in a different application, so I'm right"

"Angular contact bearings aren't suitable for wheel bearings"

"Punk"

"Dirt"

"Ford"

Man o man, never anything boring in a Green Bearing thread.
 
No dude, you’re the one who claimed you can’t go around a corner on a green bearing. I haven’t been to a drag strip in nearly 20 years. So go blow your own horn.

It’s amazing that YOU cant do something so no one else can do it either. It’s the same phenomenon that says you can’t use more than 9:1 compression on pump gas. Just ridiculous. I don’t know how many circle track cars I tuned, but it was over a dozen and every one of those used a ball bearing on the axle. Not one used a tapered bearing.

Unreal.

I knew right where you were goin "with that". LOL
 
Ok punk. Did I say dirt cars punk? You ain’t done **** punk.
Go easy on those Xers or whatever it is, they have not actually done anything so they don’t actually know anything.
They were just posting in this thread to be able to get their ‘participation trophy’. Remember they grew up wearing bicycle helmets, Snoopy bandaids, and being told ‘every one wins’.
 
Dude, let's ditch this bullshit and go grab a beer.

Let's not be hasty. People can disagree about important, world changing things like wheel bearings. But deep down we all like beer..... So let's not start leaving people out where drinks are involved.
 
Let's not be hasty. People can disagree about important, world changing things like wheel bearings. But deep down we all like beer..... So let's not start leaving people out where drinks are involved.

I'm offended at your implication that you're not invited!
 
My68Barracuda...Lol!!! brother you took the words right out of my mouth!!! :My thoughts Exactly :)

Go easy on those Xers or whatever it is, they have not actually done anything so they don’t actually know anything.
They were just posting in this thread to be able to get their ‘participation trophy’. Remember they grew up wearing bicycle helmets, Snoopy bandaids, and being told ‘every one wins’.
I love my son-in-law....but boy does he "fit" into this category.
 
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