68hemi

Many here will remember the old “chrome reverse” wheels that were popular back in the 60s and how hard they were on wheel bearings. This has made me think about what will be the effect of some of more serious back spacing people are using to fit larger tires in the stock wheel wells of our C2s.

DansYellow66

Can't specifically address your question - but I remember those days and the same warnings.. I still ran some 6 inch chrome reverse wheels on my 64 Plymouth in spite of the warnings. Close decisions were a lot easier when young, dumb and impressionable.

MikeM

SWCDuke

As offset moves in the negative direction, wheel bearing load increases, particularly the outer bearing. That's why GM increased bearing size in '69.

'63 to '66 steel wheel offset is +0.44". KOs, including the effect of the adapter and '67 steel and aluminum wheels are +0.03; '68 7" Rallys are -0.28" and all '69 to '82 OE wheels are -0.50".

That doesn't mean it's unsafe to run high negative offset wheels on pre-'69 cars, but, statistically, bearing life will be shorter, so they should be inspected frequently for smooth running and proper end play.

Duke

Factoid

Duke’s point is exactly why I changed my ‘64 to C3 spindles and hubs. Although my offset is positive (11” wide wheel with 3” of backspace), big sticky tires add a lot of stress and even with the larger bearings will warrant regular inspection.

FLYNAVY30

Yup....to your point, thats why I didn't worry about the later spindles and hubs for my car....going with a 7 inch wide wheel with 0, or at most, -3mm offset.

MikeM

Somebody tell me how this works.

Factoid

Not very well.

ganshert

it’s a drift thing. negative camber increases the front tire’s contact patch while turning allowing the rear to lose traction and you’re drifting

63 340HP

Larger tires in the stock wheel wells of our C2s usually requires a rim with more negative offset (greater backspacing) compared to the stock rims. This moves more load to the inboard bearing, the larger wheel bearing.

Larger tires outside the stock wheel wells of our C2s, with deep reverse rims and wide tires under flares, moves the load to the smaller outer wheel bearing (where later spindles with larger bearings are a wise upgrade).

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If you check the wheel bearings on a regular basis, grab and shake the tires to feel for bearing or suspension play and address the concerns, there is not much to worry about. These cars suffered a lot of abuse in their first twenty years of life, when they were just used cars, and they are still here for us to enjoy (something that cannot be said for many other makes and models of lessor design quality).

GTOguy

: Negative off-set moves the load inboard, decreasing the leverage working against the bearings. Positive off-set greatly increases the stress on both bearings, inner and especially outer. Another factor to consider is the tire itself: sticky and wide radials transfer more stress to the car than bias ply tires, which dissipate the stress by skidding over the pavement instead of gripping. In the early days of NASCAR, the '50's Hudsons had to be fitted with special steel wheels that were much thicker at the bolt flange area....the stock wheels were ripping the centers of the wheels out due to cornering load.

MikeM

This used to be a popular wheel on later Jalopy stock cars for the same reason.

Lot's of guys on the short tracks just laid flat stock between the rim outer going in to the bolt circle and welded in place. Same reason.

SWCDuke

Which one do you really mean. Your second statement is correct. The first is not. Regardless of OE wheel offset, increasing it in the negative direction increases load on the outer bearing.

Duke

63 340HP

You are correct:

Steve410

I doubt anyone is using the original Ball type wheel bearings. Back in the day I remember how glad we where when the aftermarket finally offered roller wheel bearings to replace the original ball type roller bearings in our old Chevys running deep offset wheels.............

TCracingCA

More backspace good, less backspace bad!!!!!!!!! As simple as that!

But generally the number one killer is just excessive spindle play primarily either alone, or compounded by worn inner axles!

A little history!!!! In the 1970s (days of the wide tires and flares). The Corvette got a bad rear bearing rap (kind of a folks tale bad reputation), as the C2 and C3 cars were starting to display the two above wear related problems.

Also a very precision bearing where the inner race and ball bearings are tighter fit, goes along way! Many different manufacturers got into the game of parts supply, and some brands were prone to fail, as the slop was binding, scoring the race! The cheap ***** would disintegrate accelerated by the ***** and inner race under pressure from the tire adhesion force trying not to be perpendicular! This came with the less side wall flex of the 60 series and 50 series tires!

As the member above stated, the roller bearings a big improvement!!!!!