VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Transmission Front Bearing Retainer

I plan on fully rebuilding my 1938 transmission so have been gathering parts slowly.

I keep seeing tons and tons of front bearing retainers on Ebay for these transmissions. Most common are Wolhert brand, but many no name or claiming to be NOS GM with no packaging so who knows what the brand could be. Most appear to be an alloy but the ones claiming to be actual GM NOS appear rusty and discoloured so appear to be steel?

Do these commonly wear out so a standard replacement item when rebuilding? Would a brand like Wolhert be decent?

The 1938 and 1939 were the same....and Would be iron if GM.
The 1940 was used way up into the 70's and were iron EXCEPT in 1941 they were pot metal and were subgect to breaking. The 1938 has 6 holes and the 1940 an up four.
The only wear point would be the sleve in the front that the T.O. bearing slides on.

Gene,

Several years ago I went to Advance Auto Parts to buy a new Throw-Out (T.O.) Bearing for my 41. They (youngsters) could'f figure what in the world I was talking about.

After several minutes of explaining, they told me that the item I wanted was called a Clutch Release (C.R.) Bearing.

To save time explaining to the parts's store clerks. we must change some of our long standing lingo.

Best,

Charlie

Thanks for the details Gene. Really good to know about the hole difference as many are not well identified. There are so, so many out there NOS that I was expecting to hear about a lot more wear issues.

Hi Tim,
I recently rebuilt the trans on my 35 Master. Like you, I found many front bearing retainers on ebay. I bought what I thought was correct, only to find a subtle variance. By using the part number stamped on my original bearing retainer, I was able to find the right one on ebay by looking at the number on their photo of the part.

BTW, as Gene noted, my bearing retainer is a cast pot metal. The reason I rebuilt my trans was due to this part cracking and trans oil spilling out. The metal seems weak, so probably a common fail over the years. I wish I could have found one made of iron, but never saw one for my car.

--John

The pot metal was never intended to last 70 years.
The 1937 and prior is less subjet to breakage than the 1938 and up that has the snout that supports the throw out bearing.

Since starting this thread I've checked my transmission stash and I must have seven complete trans or so and the bearing retainers all are in really good shape. Most appear to be aftermarket alloy but a couple are steel with GM numbers.

Good to know about the cracking. I had read/heard/imagined that whenever the front bearing is replaced, the retainer should be too so I assumed they might wear on the bearing side but sounds like it was more for general maintenance due to bearing wear on the snout.

Like to do a detailed posting of the full rebuild once I get to that point. That way others can catch me missing something and it can be documented for others in the future...