Posted by Gordon Maney on Monday, January 26, 2004 at 1:27PM :
In Reply to: Bronze upper cone posted by Bob Pleasanton on Sunday, January 25, 2004 at 8:56PM :
One slant on this that I have discussed with some people is that although the tapered roller bearing offers less friction, which is good for steering, for the same reason it offers no steering damping.
I think the case could be made that only negligible differences in either steering effort or steering damping could be observed by switching bearings. The upper bearing is not loaded nearly to the degree that the lower bearing is loaded. The cone is more of a guide.
The lower bearings are very often found with the visible depressions that look like dents made by the rollers. The wheels are in the straight ahead position as the truck goes down the road, impact from bumps, holes, and the like cause this damage. It can be very annoying to drive a truck that has that problem.
To use the bronze cone on the bottom I believe will yield excessive required steering wheel effort, and is a thing to be avoided.