I have a 62 Cutlass Convertible and am looking for a new Driveshaft bearing support-the rubber/metal piece that holds the center bearing inside the sheet metal bracket. Ordered one from Old Buick Parts/Cars,Inc but they are out with no idea when they will get them in. Anyone know another vendor?
Your best bet is to check eBay. They pop up there from time to time. I’ve been fortunate on my current project to be able to re-use the bearing retainer as it was in pretty good shape. Just cleaned it up. Good luck.
OOPs, tried the bearing in the Center Support Collar and it is a loose fit. It should be a press in fit. You can actually move the bearing slightly within the collar. Called Old Buick Parts and they agreed the ones in stock are the same, they will now investigate why. Bought both the bearing and the collar from them thinking that would ensure they would fit together properly.
There is a problem with that part from Oldbuickparts, looked at ebay and that’s the seller. I think they are the only reproducer of the part and sell to several other parts suppliers to our market. See my post above. They sell the stock bearing with an OD of 2.440″. Their repro carrier has an ID of 2.450-2.460″ per the one from them I have and per the measurements from other vendors who sell the same part from oldbuickparts aka Cars inc. This is supposed to be a press fit so the carrier should be smaller than the bearing by .003″-.005″. This bearing simply falls out of the carrier, not good. I talked to them about it and they have a lot of them and did not express any desire to make any changes, they suggested gluing it in. I don’t know what everyone is doing to make those parts right but I am looking at a bushing with a slightly smaller OD bearing to make it a press in fit. Some driveline shops don’s care and will glue it or wrap it in allum foil to “make it work”, the shop I work with prefers a different solution.
Everybody has the same center support from Oldbuickparts/carsinc. No undersize bearings available to use with a bushing. Went to my machinist friend and he used brass shim material and pressed it. Too bad the parts not made right but hopefully that will be an acceptable solution.
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