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What does GM call a carrier bearing?


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Forgive me for my lack of GM knowledge.

 

1976 Chevrolet long bed, 454, turbo 400 transmission, trailering special, two wheel drive. K-10? K-20?

 

This truck appears to have what I call a "carrier bearing" on the driveshaft. My Fiat Spider has the same identical looking part. In industry we call this a pillow bearing. The metal portion slides on the driveshaft and is surrounded by a piece of rubber and the housing bolts to the frame or bed.

 

The rubber between the bearing and housing is busted. When I make a sharp turn into my driveshaft I hear this odd noise and I'm sure it's this bearing.

 

I looked in LMC's catalog and website and went to Advance Auto parts website and they are not showing a "carrier bearing" for this truck.

 

Am I using the wrong terminology for this part. Driveshaft support bearing maybe?

 

The other question is, is this part actually needed? Could I just remove it and suffer no ill effects?

 

A co-worker said short beds did not have this part. What's odd is my 68 Ford Fairlane does not have this bearing but my 80 Fiat Spider does and the driveshaft on that car is half as long. I don't understand why some cars have this part and other's don't. Is it the weight, length or number of U-joints that determines wheather a carrier bearing is installed?

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The longer the shaft the more support it needs especially in the event there might be a large amount torque put on the shaft. I know exactly what part your talking about I call it a carrier bearing. I replaced the one on my 2001 2500HD last year because it has a two piece rear shaft. I ordered mine from Advance Auto it was a Timken (not sure on spelling) and only cost about 17 bucks. The problem I ran into was Timken called for one part number and it was actually another one. I researched on a GM forum and got lucky enough to find a member who just replaced his and he posted the correct number.

 

I'd research some forums you may find where somebody has went down the same road and with any luck they posted the part number. I cut my old one off with a wizz wheels and drove the new on with a long punch worked like a charm.

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I've always called it the carrier bearing but it's known as a center support bearing as well.Um,yes it's needed,if you want your truck to move.Don't know where you were searching but I found http://www.drivetrai...g_supports.html by entering ''1976 chevy truck center support bearing,''carrier bearing'' works as well.Got tons of hits......

 

I've changed a few,not too bad of a job..

 

 

Replaced the one on my son's '69 a few months ago,we had to cut the bearing off with a die grinder..

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I've always called it the carrier bearing but it's known as a center support bearing as well.Um,yes it's needed,if you want your truck to move.Don't know where you were searching but I found http://www.drivetrai...g_supports.html by entering ''1976 chevy truck center support bearing,''carrier bearing'' works as well.Got tons of hits......

 

I've changed a few,not too bad of a job..

 

 

Replaced the one on my son's '69 a few months ago,we had to cut the bearing off with a die grinder..

 

 

+1

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I've always called it the carrier bearing but it's known as a center support bearing as well.Um,yes it's needed,if you want your truck to move.

 

That was probably a stupid question. I just don't know why some cars have one and others don't. I showed a Fiat 124 driveshaft to one of my friends who is into GM products and he was amazed that this thing was a two piece design with a flex coupling and a carrier bearing and wondered why such a small car rated for 100 BHP would need all those components. I can't say that the drivetrain is any smoother than anything else I have ever owned.

 

I pulled the driveshaft on my 68 Fairlane in about 10 minutes to replace a faulty U-joint . Just four bolts and it slides out of the C4. It took longer to jack the car up and put it on stands than it did to pull the driveshaft.

 

I think I found the part. Advance Auto calls it a hanger bearing. This sounds like it anyway. $17.

 

http://shop.advancea..._R%7CGRPENGPAMS_____

 

The biggest issue is the fuel lines are rotten on this truck and leaks gas while running so I'm going to have to drop both fuel tanks. I'd like to get most of this work done this winter.

 

76Chevy.jpg?t=1304528163

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I had a 76 1/2 ton with the 454 and I had to replace the carrier bearing in it. What I did was remove the straps on the front yoke u joints and the straps on the rear u joints then unbolted the carrier bearing from the truck and took into my dads shop. Then used a puller to pull the bearing off. I then went to a buddy shop that had a press and had him press the new bearing on. If you take out the drive shalf see how much a shop will charge you to pull and press new bearing on.

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Down South we call it a swing bearing. And in my opinion Auto Zone has better parts. They have been in business longer and have better Chinaman connections. I have had bad luck with parts from Advance. Very unreliable parts. U joint broke first time I pulled my 16 foot trailer. Bought 2 NEW cv axles ( said they didn't sell. rebuilt ) for my Nissan Altima installed and rubber cv boot twisted up like a rubber band. No guts in it. Turned out it was rebuilt. Good luck on your project

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I had a 76 1/2 ton with the 454 and I had to replace the carrier bearing in it. What I did was remove the straps on the front yoke u joints and the straps on the rear u joints then unbolted the carrier bearing from the truck and took into my dads shop. Then used a puller to pull the bearing off. I then went to a buddy shop that had a press and had him press the new bearing on. If you take out the drive shalf see how much a shop will charge you to pull and press new bearing on.

 

 

Looks to me like you would have to remove the driveshaft because the bearing would be stuck to it.

.

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I've always called it the carrier bearing but it's known as a center support bearing as well.Um,yes it's needed,if you want your truck to move.

 

That was probably a stupid question. I just don't know why some cars have one and others don't. I showed a Fiat 124 driveshaft to one of my friends who is into GM products and he was amazed that this thing was a two piece design with a flex coupling and a carrier bearing and wondered why such a small car rated for 100 BHP would need all those components. I can't say that the drivetrain is any smoother than anything else I have ever owned.

 

I pulled the driveshaft on my 68 Fairlane in about 10 minutes to replace a faulty U-joint . Just four bolts and it slides out of the C4. It took longer to jack the car up and put it on stands than it did to pull the driveshaft.

 

I think I found the part. Advance Auto calls it a hanger bearing. This sounds like it anyway. $17.

 

http://shop.advancea..._R%7CGRPENGPAMS_____

 

The biggest issue is the fuel lines are rotten on this truck and leaks gas while running so I'm going to have to drop both fuel tanks. I'd like to get most of this work done this winter.

 

76Chevy.jpg?t=1304528163

 

I clicked on the link you posted and it had a graphic pic of an anchor?not sure what that's all about but this http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Ball-Bearing-National_15040008-P_907_R|GRPUCVSAMS_____ is what you need.A little advice here...I see the hood on your truck is starting to buckle and the bracket holding the hood is a week point on this body style trucks.Be sure to keep the hinge pivot points well oiled so the hood closes easily.I had a '77 GMC much like your truck and I had to drop one tank to replace some hoses....not fun but necessary.I sure do miss that old truck(son totaled it :shakehead: ).
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Yeah, there was no photo of the part so they replaced it with a generic image.

 

The link you posted says that part does not fit my truck for whatever reason.

 

As far as the hood is concerned. This truck was involved in an engine fire back in 2000 and the shop that fixed it, replaced the hood but after 3 years I went to shut it and it folded up on me.

 

The original hood was replaced in 1979 when the truck suffered a side collision with a Mustang at 50 mph while pulling a 30 foot camper. I was 9 years old sleeping in the back in a bean bag (under a camper top) when it happened and didn't wake up until several minutes after the accident. Luckily the camper had this electronic anti-sway system that prevented it from jack-knifing. So they must have been replaced with with an OEM hood. LMC truck sells some hood stiffeners which will be used with a new hood. I considered standing on the hood in an attempt to straighten it out and welding in rebar along the edges but I don't think it will look perfect.

 

This is dad's truck so it's up to him as to how much money he wants to spend on replacing body parts instead of repairing them.

 

The truck has some rust on it but nothing like some of the other cars I've repaired in the past. I'm tempted to repaint the truck myself. The trouble is time. It will take me about all summer to repair the body.

 

I've actually done well at body work, but getting a slick plaint job has been my problem. The last two cars I've painted has orange peeled. So I ended up wet sanding and buffing which resulted in longer than removing trim, doing the body work and putting everything back on. Maybe because I'm using $65 enamel paint. If I were to spring for paint that cost more than the car was worth I might have been luck.

 

Here's the first car I painted, my 1987 Yugo 1500 turbo:

 

Yugo.jpg

 

 

Here's the second car I repainted. I used Valspar Massey Furgeson gray on this car. I would not recommend this paint because it takes forever for it to cure.

 

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd148/turbofiat/Brava/

 

 

Here's some more photos of my dad's truck:

 

http://s222.photobuc...0Chevy%20truck/

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Down South we call it a swing bearing. And in my opinion Auto Zone has better parts. They have been in business longer and have better Chinaman connections. I have had bad luck with parts from Advance. Very unreliable parts. U joint broke first time I pulled my 16 foot trailer. Bought 2 NEW cv axles ( said they didn't sell. rebuilt ) for my Nissan Altima installed and rubber cv boot twisted up like a rubber band. No guts in it. Turned out it was rebuilt. Good luck on your project

 

 

I'm not sure where you are "Down South" but in my part of the south it is advised to steer clear of Auto Zone..... IF you can get HELP you are lucky..... Advance has much, much higher quality parts with many being manufactured in the U.S. They are often a bit more expensive but if you are fixing your vehicle I say go with quality over affordability. CHEAPER is not BETTER.

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  • 2 months later...

Yes I'm down south. I've just always heard of these referred to as carrier bearings in the Fiat world...

 

One more trival question. When removing a driveshaft from a turbo 400 transmission, do you just unbolt the carrier bearing from the frame then the driveshaft from the differential and the splined end just slides out of the transmission or is there more than that to it?

 

Reason I ask is driveshaft removal seems to vary between different makes. To remove a driveshaft from a Ford passenger car, unbolt the driveshaft from the differential and the splined end slides right out of the transmisson. It takes longer to raise the car off the ground and support it than it does to actually remove the driveshaft.

 

On my Fiat Spider it's a PITA. I have to remove three of the six bolts that holds the flex coupling between the driveshaft and the transmission yoke. The transmission yoke on that car has a big nut behind it but has a splined end on it. So it's not as easy. Then unbolt the carrier bearing from the chassis, then the safety bracket then the four bolts that secures the driveshaft to the differential.

 

I thought I'd remove the driveshaft and post of a photo so maybe someone could help me identify which carrier (hanger?) bearing I need for this driveshaft since there seems to be different types this truck used.

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