68hemi

I know that it was a common issue for C3s for rear wheel bearing to fail with little or no warning. I don’t know if that was because of the wider wheels with the off set they have or if it was often the same for C2s. I have had several C2s but never had a rear wheel failure, maybe I was just lucky? Wondering at what kind of miles they should be changed?

Dan Hampton

You were just lucky.

GTR1999

The bearings are all the same from 63-82. The 63-64 arms and axles were a little different because of drum brake but pretty much the same setup. I have rebuilt plenty of C2 arms with bad bearings. They are a wear part plus the grease used 50 years ago was not as good as today. I have taken apart low mileage 1 owner arms that had no grease left in them. Outside they appeared to be like new.

Properly setup and greased , using quality bearings such as Timkens, they should last 90-100k miles. Of course that is a subjective statement but I think you get my meaning.

Boyan

Frankie the Fink

If you get into the area of the rear suspension you have to be careful - seems many vendors offer two levels of parts for half-shaft U-joints and rear wheel bearings....the economy version and the good stuff. Not an area to cheap out.

For instance, two vendors I researched had an $18 U-joint offering and a $30 U-joint offering - do your homework and don't "cheap out"...

There is a 'tool' to grease the wheel bearing with minor disassembly on the car. I have one - never used it and I'm skeptical of how good a job it does:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/C2-and-C3-C...-/172018250878

Maybe some of these experienced guys can comment on it...

GTR1999

Frank those grease tools really don't work as you would expect. In order to get grease to the outer bearing you have to pack the cavity and push the grease into the outer bearing- "if" it makes it that far and you won't know you have to pack the bearings. Typically I can tell who tried them as the new grease is clearly present around the inner bearing but that's it. Same for tapping zerks, you don't know when to stop or how far the grease went. "if" you do get grease packed into the outer bearing there will be some much inside once it heats up it will work it's way out the seals. Kind of like the zerk fitting for steering boxes, sounds great, the inventor made money but pumping fresh grease partially into a 50 year box that might have sludge or rusted parts inside will do nothing other then make the owner feel better. Grease is great but it won't help worn out parts.

Here is my demo cutaway of rear parts I use in my seminars. You will notice there is no outer seal, I never remember to save a junk one and clean it up. You can see the path the grease will have to travel. I think my odds of hitting the lottery are better. Then there are those who tapped into the supports for the zerks, one comes to mind since they drilled right into the bearing race.





Here is one tapped behind the race, again to get to that bearing the air has to be displaced and the greased pushed in. Don't see that happening.



The best way to deal with it is replace the bearings and properly set them up. No wonder why GM went to grease sealed bearings.

Here is one showing it's age, came off a C2

68hemi

I posted this same question on the NCRS site and got some additional info some of you may like to read as well. There is also a picture of a car with a failed bearing and in looking at the picture you can imagine what it would look like if the wheel flopped the other way.
here is the link.
https://www.ncrs.org/forums/showthre...arings-for-C2s

street62

68hemi

I currently have no telltale sounds in my 77K original mile 65 but it is on my to do list to replace them with new quality bearing and grease as a preventative measure.

Frankie the Fink

Pretty much what I thought - thanks.....
My 63 trailing arms are getting completely overhauled next month - bearings, bushings, etc..
In fact every rubber item in the rear - snubber, sombreros, etc...

GTR1999

63 bearing supports, like the one in my cutaway, do not have the webbing cast in between the legs. It was a weak area so be careful if you or a mechanic drive out the shock support - you don't want to bend the legs.