Spindal Seals

[BenB]

I called SKF today to ask if they had ACBB or ACRB with an integral seal. The answer on both accounts was no. They transfered me to their seal specialist and he told me that he thought I should use Teflon because the brake rotor is close to this seal and the Teflon will survive at elevated temperatures. The only problem is teflon seals are custom and he estimated they would be $150 each!

1) I would think these are the most suitable bearings for a live spindal application. Does anybody have a different opinion? I know that DGBB are available in sealed versions, but they are not as well suited to take axial loads as the angular contact types.

2) If people do use these bearings how do they seal them? I'm pretty sure every FSAE car does not have $300/corner in seals!

The only reason I want to put a seal on these bearings is to protect against dust and moisture. I'm sure thats good practice, but you could replace the bearings several times before the seal would pay off.

[Brett Neale]

We used deep groove BBs on our 2007 car, it had live spindles front and rear. Never had a wheel bearing problem. I think they were around 90mm ID and spaced about 80-90mm apart. Just make sure you use spacers or something between the inner races, and tension them up appropriately.

[exFSAE]

I still like DRACBB's. INA/FAG makes them in a slew of sizes and most all of them available with metal shields or rubber seals on both sides.

Rubber seals on both sides is way to go. Never had any heat problems.

Ones we used I believe came to about $80-85 per corner

medias.ina.de check it out

[David M]

We also use DGBBs on our car. If you look at the forces created on the spindle using a moment calculation the axial loading on the bearings turns out to be pretty small in comparison to the vertical loads. We use 6009 series bearings in the rear with a spacer ring and haven't had any problems.

[BeaverGuy]

Ben,

You can always do what we did on the '04 Car, make your own. Of course this was due to supplier problems though. If you can, try contacting Ryan or Kyle I'm sure they could help you out.

[Brian Evans]

I've used very mundane lip seals on wheel bearing applications that needed them (taper roller bearings in my case). No need for anything fancy.

It's "spindle", btw. took me a minute to figure out that we weren't going to talk about a new design of "spindal seal"

Brian

[BenB]

Thanks for the clarification Brian. Spelling has never been my strong point.

Josh check your PM.