VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Brakes/Wheel Bearings

While the speedo is away being re-habbed gonna do brakes(shoes, wheel cylinders) all four corners AND while I'm in there new wheel bearings all around. First, what are you guys' preferences on the bearings? Ball or roller? Got my own feeling(roller) but curious about the concensus. Also, though I'm no neophyte to the job have never done this particular vintage Chevy...any idiosyncracies I should know about? Any special tool(s)?
Thanks
Ed Ides
Silverdale, WA

I have ball bearings in my cars....have gone many thousands of miles with no problems. I would not replace the bearing but rather inspect them and reuse them. For the front hubs I would replace the grease seals....same on the rear. The rear has roller bearings lubricated from the differential gear oil, leaave them alone.
Brakes. You can not buy the proper size wheel cylinders for a 1950 You can rebuild the existing cylinders or replace them with a different size 1948 wheel cylinders. Would also replace the rubber hoses. All three are the same. Also consider brake lines.
The brakes are very different and the main important tool required is the large pliers type toll for the return springs. Also a clip to hold the wheel cylinders together when the shoes are removed (may come with new cylinders)

AND A SHOP MANUAL

As Gene points out it is very hard to find the correct wheel cylinders. There are suppliers that will tell you that they have them but they don't. When I did my '50 I searched and found some NORS correct ones from a guy here at the VCCA site. I did install new rubbers in them before I installed them. When using the original ball type wheel bearings make sure you read the service manual so you get them adjusted correctly.

The wheel cylinder story.
The 1936-1948 cars (except 1936 Standard) had 1 1/4" front cylinders nad 1 3/16 rear. More weight gets thrown to the front brakes and those models had about a 50/50 weight distribution. This was considered a reasonable balance. Passengers and luggage could change the picture.
The new design car in 1949 and 1950 Chevrolet used the same brakes but changed the wheel cylinder sizes to better balance the fact that more weight was now on the front wheels. They compensated by using 1 5/16" in the front and 1 1/8" on the rear....to reduce rear brake lock-up on a panic stop.
From that you can see usingthe older size cylinders will take a bit from the fronts and add some to the reaars.
That being said the 1949 and 1950 Chevrolets had what I would call poor brakes in as much as they required a lot of pedal pressure. They felt almost like mechanical brakes.(the first anti-lock brakes) Fair on a stick shift car with a 4.11 rear end and poor on a Power glide (heavier car weight and less trsnsmission braking and a 3.55 rear end ratio). In 1951 they changed to the stronger more conventional Bendix type brakes mainly due to many customer complaints.
On my 1950 Power Glide I am running the correct 1950 size in the front and the 1948 size in the rear....and it seems to work out OK....for what its worth.

Being a returnee to the old car scene in 1997, I purchased brake lining from a local parts house, unbeknownst to me they gave me metal filing brake lining, they wear real good but require a lot of push to make them work. When the cars were new I recall the lining as being softer and also had that stuff called asbestos in them. They worked far better than my present set up. Look carefully at the box so as to avoid the metal filing linings.