ClassicCar

1951hornethardtop wrote:

Paul, The T is very important.I have a very funny story about my brother 40 years ago when he replaced his rear bearings with 25877 istead of 25877T. Drove to Kansas City with his 50 pacemaker. Will tell you sometime. PS I hear they are hard to find?

The 'T' means tapered inner race, meanint the inside race diamater is tapered like the axle. According to the Hudson repair manual the proper procedure for installing the bearing is: Heat the bearing in oil to about 165 degrees, place on axle and using a peice of pipe that fits over the axle and contacts the inner race give it a whack with a hammer to set the bearing. When the bearing cools it will tighten on the axle. Pack bearing after it cools. Of course Hudson says use tool # whatever to set bearing, but like I said a piece of pipe works the same. That is how I did mine a few years back.

I believe the Hudsons with the Dana 44 rear end (52 and newer) used the standard 25877 bearing. Correct me if I'm wrong. Parts books mistakenly list the 25877 bearing for all years back to about 1936. I got the wrong bearings at first.

Jim Spencer