32/36 Rod Bearing sizing.

[Graham Freeman]

I have several sets of N.O.S. bearings and am trying to work out the ones to use on my rebuild.
I have N.O.S. rods and a crank that shows .003 wear on the journals that I would like to do minimal machining on.
First ones are Johnson Bronze in red/black boxes.
2 Boxes have FB-10 on them with one of the bearings having x30 on it. The others have FB-14 on the box but nothing on the bearings.
I can not read what was originally on the label area besides this numbering.
Does someone have a cataloque with what this represents and are these a good bearing to use.
Also have a set of Ford ones 48-6211 X3 can not find what this size is either, any help here?

[Brian]

FB 14 is Johnson Bronze bearing classification for flanged floaters
The X30 denotes .030"

FB 10 possibly denotes .010 u/s
Have you a micrometer? Knowing that the X30 denotes .030", measure thickness of bearing and compare with the others. A .010 bearing will measure .010" THINNER than the X30




48-6211-X are .002


Depending on how your crank measures up- currently you say it is .003 , you may well get by using the 48-6211-X's. Ford made them that particular size to run in applications such as yours; a bit of a polish of the throws and use 2 thou bearings on it. There's your 'minimal machining'!

[DavidG]

To add to Brian's comments, Ford's part numbering system provided for identification of parts by source when multiple suppliers were used. Many of the Ford (not aftermarket) bearings carry such identification by the addition of a number following the letter suffix. In Graham's case, the 3 following the X in the suffix designates the suppler who made the bearings for Ford and it has nothing to do with the size of the bearings. The X designates the size.

[FritzJr]

Here is a chart which I put together showing rod bearing interchange for several manufacturers. Perhaps someone can fill in the blanks.

[35fordtn]

David,
I thought the number behind the Suffix designated the metal compostion of the bearing (IE.. Copper/lead, Tin, etc.. etc..)

[DavidG]

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It may if that supplier only made one type of bearing in terms of their composition, but numbers following a letter suffix are first and foremost to designate the supplier. Another frequently-encountered example would be '33 and up V8 ignition coils which often have a number at the end of the part number suffix.

Often the design may differ somewhat from supplier to supplier reflecting their manufacturing capabilities. If the basic design objective was achieved, variations would be approved by Ford engineering to avoid sole sourcing to a single supplier (an undesirable practice from Ford's point of view). A good example of manufacturing variations in the same part are '32 grills where the various versions are neither early nor late production.

[jimTN]

For some reason I cannot open the above chart about mfg numbers, checked and I am logged in properly. Could you please repost.

[JSeery]

It opened fine for me, but here is the image if that helps.

[jimTN]

Thanks!