Reply To: Does the Parts & Service list calls out wrong bearings?

Eddie and Chris,

Those numbers (09078 and 090194) are from a **1934** Timken roller bearing catalog that I acquired; I made a spreadsheet of the P-A applications and that was the basis for the table in a PASB a couple of years ago, and probably for the PS&D listings. Listings in that catalog are limited to **roller** bearings and their races. There are also listings for P-A trucks and for other makes of cars, and I’m happy to look up Timken numbers in that catalog for any member. One good thing about Timken is that their bearing numbers have pretty much remained the same for 80-90 years; another is that Timken was P-A’s OE supplier.

I have no idea why your bearing arrangement is different from the Timken listing, which was compiled when your car was only one year old. Perhaps someone re-engineered yours during that car’s lifetime, or perhaps P-A did so as a service modification. From disassembling several fans, I have indeed seen different bearing arrangements on fan hubs that have similar external appearance–there ARE differences, possibly indicating running changes from the factory.

On my own fans, I’ve been unhappy with the factory sealing (usually just a felt washer and a metal slinger), which causes some oil to be slung around the engine compartment, even after I’ve added just a small amount of oil, then rotated the aperture to the 7-o’clock position and let it drain overnight. Gradually, I’ve been replacing the bearings and shafts with post-war water pump shafts and sealed bearing assemblies, which will never need lubrication or replacement for the rest of my own lifetime. Our member Jerry Washburn in CA identified the correct replacement parts and did the machine work for me (he also re-engineers water pumps using sealed bearings and modern seals, doing away with packing and making the grease cup merely decorative).

Chris, can you add a caution to the PASB listing for fan bearings?

Sorry for anyone’s inconvenience.

George