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As many of you know ALL new C-1 rear axle bearings are now produced offshore and most are made in China. None are made in the USA. The two main issues with the available bearings are: 1. Almost immediate failure of the inside or outside central bearing seal and 2. Improperly sized o rings that fail on bearing installation because their cord width is too wide causing them to protrude too far out of the groove(s) on the bearing. When I removed my leaking driver side axle bearing on the '61 this is what I found...
The Federal Mogul USA bearing and seals were intact and turning freely but the broken o ring was obviously causing the leak. Wanting to keep my USA bearing that was still good I was now faced with what so many have had a hard time doing. I had to find the proper size o ring for my axle bearing. Here is what I was up against.
As you can see the o rings on the new Chinese bearing on the left stick up too far above the outer surface of the bearing and almost always tear on installation of the bearing back into the third member. The o rings on the USA made bearing on the right are the correct size and barely protrude above the outer surface of the bearing. After searching everywhere on the Forum and on the web and not finding any posts giving the correct size(s) of the proper o rings I wanted to pass on what I learned and my eventual solution to hopefully help others.
Don't waste your time going to auto parts stores or plumbing supply shops. 99% of the o rings out there are standard and won't work for this application.
O rings are manufactured and available in both American and Metric sizes. O rings are also constructed of different materials and have a specific crush resistance for various applications. O ring sizing charts are available on line. For my bearing I needed a fairly flexible o ring that was resistant to heat and petroleum products. The most common smaller cord/IC sizes available that can be purchased in the correct diameter are 1/16" and 3/32". I found that I needed something in between those sizes for my bearing. I needed a 5/64" o ring in the proper diameter and there were none available. The closest available was a metric size o ring that ended up working perfectly for me. It was sized at 2mm width x 66mm x 70mm. It fit perfectly and replicated the fit of the remaining o ring on my bearing exactly. After lubricating the bearing and housing with Silglide it slid in perfectly with zero leaks.
Here is the link to the proper o rings that i purchased on Amazon:
Great job on that project Ev! I'm sure many C1 owners will find the information very useful. I bet it would make a good little Tech article for the So CAL SACC Newsletter!
Ha Ha. Yeah I'm an O Ring Pro now (Not!) My head is still spinning from terms like Viton, Durometer and such along with O Ring size charts and fractional to metric conversion charts. I just wanted a damn O Ring that fit and it was like the quest for The Holy Grail. Jeesh. Slot Car racing was a lot easier than working on these old cars.
I just ordered some o-rings from “The o-ring store” in the state of WA for a different application and the selection was unbelievable, do a google search for them.
I usually get O rings from McMaster Carr...they have a wide variety of materials, and all the dash- sizes for US sizes. I haven't looked at their metric selection, but I expect they probably had them.
When I went through this ordeal last month I found 3 or 4 different sizes of O rings on various bearings....it can be pretty confusing.
I did get a couple NOS aftermarket USA bearings since then, and will keep them with the car, and plan to source replacement O rings and seals for them soon.
Thanks for the info, it's not surprising that a metric O ring fits one of the import bearings.
Speaking of bearings, I was cleaning out my shop and found these (pictured below). They were purchased in the 70's by the previous owner of my '59. I have no use for them, so if someone would like have these send me a PM or email.
Charles
Charles, Absolutely the best answer. However if things don’t work out please keep me in mind. By the way Naval gunfire support missions off the coast from 1969 to the end, member of the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club. Thanks for your service
Mr. Bernhardt's bearings arrived safely at ESEMA's garage out in So CAL.. Now he is prepared should a failure occur with a good back-up pair of USA made axle bearings, with O-rings.
A thank you for going to the trouble of posting this fine little tech article for late C1 owners. Thank you Charles Bernhardt!
02-06-2024, 05:26 PM
Rear Axle Bearings and O Rings
That is the spirit of this forum 
