Technical Chinese wheel bearings

QC. Obviously they can make virtually any quality level, the problem is whether the last 10,000 widgets meet the same standard of materials and workmanship as the first 500. Wheel cylinders for example, that don't fit quite right, with holes drilled in the wrong location, and "rubber" made with golly knows what. Or pet food made with adulterants. Protein levels (and thus price) could be spoofed in testing by the addition of melamine or somesuch. Poisoned countless dogs.

Steel used for bearings is doubtless made of better "stuff", and probably has some extra steps involved to manufacture a long lasting component.

 

If you dig a little deeper you will discover the bearings are being made from machine of same manufacture just in different countries. the Q.A. on a bearing is random visual but they are made according to weight, if they are off they get rejected. As for seals who knows the Q.A. on those. Every bearing supplier i have ever dealt with claims incorrectly installed bearing are the most common cause of failure not country of origin.

 

Maybe, but a lot of the folks here have been using or installing wheel bearings for decades in many cases, some professionally. If they claim there is a real problem with the quality of certain bearings, I would tend to believe them.

 

my bearings came in yesterday, all Timken and all stamped made in USA on them, funny thing is they came in blue boxes not the usual orange and black color. the ones that I received from speedway weren't packaged at all, they were loose all thrown in a sandwich bag banging and rubbing on ea other.

Recently I purchased bearings from Macs antique auto for a banjo rear that I am worming on and they are all Timken brand packaged in the familiar orange and black boxes, the pinion pilot bearing was stamped bower made in USA. so I guess Timken owns Bower? the large double taper pinion race was stamped USA but the bearings that get pressed onto the pinion and ride against that race were each made in france. the carrier bearings I purchased from the bearing house came in the blue boxes and are USA I found I have to specify USA.

A friend of mine works for a pump company all their pumps used to be manufactured in OH. now their made in china, he is the go between guy that works with the Chinese co. he said when they received their first prototype from the Chinese manufacturer it looked perfect even the paint color was exact but when they ran it on there testing equipment they found that its life expectancy was half of what it should be. after examination by there engineering staff an analysis was done by a metallurgist. and determined that the copper windings were of dirty and impure quality, so the motors ran only a few degrees hotter than normal but that extra heat was enough to shorten its life.

he said in china you can have anything made anywhere in the country but the deeper you go into the country the poorer the quality and the village interpreters English is poorer and that there melting down whatever crap they can get there hands on. so strict oversight by company officials is very important.

Just thought you guys would find this interesting. enjoy your day off and thanks again for bearing numbers and other info.

Scott

 

Ha Ha. So true........and sad........

 

Unfortunately it's the same here in Australia. Government fails to acknowledge that small business is the largest employer in the country and gives no assistance whatsoever. They just try to bury you in paperwork that used to be handled by government departments, and somehow still find a way to charge you for doing the work yourself! I guess it's just part of belonging to the silent majority (seemingly nowhere near as important as the noisy minorities!). Re the bearings, we used to have a Timken factory here in my hometown, became a warehouse/distribution facility a number of years ago, and I think has now closed altogether. One of many manufacturing facilities to either close or downsize here. Unfortunately most of the good old brand names now mean absolutely nothing. A sign of the times I guess.
Arnold.

 

Took my lap top to a repair place on G street in San Diego and lo and behold, I was in the original Timken factory dating back to the 1890's. Seems he got into the business making bearings for wagons. There's the Timken Museum of modern art in Balboa Park paid for with the profits in the bearing business when they were still made in the US

 

There is at least one. Barden, in Connecticut. But the current owners are not who you might expect.

"The Norden bombsights were such precision devices that parts were not always interchangeable, complicating field maintenance. Lack of skilled machinists was an ongoing problem. Key parts such as the 61 ball bearings were in very short supply, necessitating Norden to set up his own manufacturing plant for them. He even decided to train the workers himself on how to properly make bearings. That plant, the Barden Company (Barth + Norden), still exists. In one of history’s ironies, Barden is now part of the German FAG ball bearing group with headquarters in Schweinfurt at one of the factories that Norden’s bombsights helped repeatedly attack."

 

I recently purchased Timken 14116 from NAPA for 12.49 ea. Has USA on bearing and is in orange and black box.

 

Labor costs are not the only reason Chinese junk is so cheap.

 

In order to "save me some money", my local parts store sold me Chinese front wheel bearings. Last less than 1000 miles. Went bad about 75 miles from home, so needless to say, roll back cost lot more than my well intended local parts store "saved me".

 

When I was in the .mil mumble-mumble years ago ersatz aircraft parts and fasteners were already becoming an issue. Defective parts are "red tagged" and sent off to golly knows where for disposal or perhaps overhaul on components.

As you can imagine bolts and fasteners for example are of a high quality and expensive. Well some enterprising individuals have discovered a way to get those parts back in the system, civilian and otherwise. Could be completely "fake", junk, or even defective parts on your airplane.

Think about that the next time you fly, and figure "you get what you pay for" right, to include the folks inspecting and repairing same. Hm.

 

Uh, they don't "send" crap over here, China could give a flying fuck about your hot rod. I hate to shatter your illusions, AMERICAN companies go to China and contract to get this shit made, and at the CHEAPEST price they can get it for, then the AMERICAN companies IMPORT it and SELL it.

If and when you start to see a big surge in US manufactured parts, it will be because the AMERICAN companies that contract to get this junk made can get it made cheaper here. And that day is coming, sooner than you think. Of course the quality will be even worse than it is now, and we will be talking about "the good ol' days" when this stuff was made in China.
They are already leaving China in droves, the middle class has grown, and the slave labour that AMERICAN multi-nationals love is drying up in China. Theres a reason (well a few reasons, think BRIC) China wasn't a party to the TPP. Indonesia is going to be the new US manufacturing center.

 

I have 56 f100 brakes on 37 spindles. Timken numbers inner bearing 14116, inner race 14276, seal473440, stock F1 outer bearings will work (#09067), outer race 09195. The inner bearing will have to be beveled with a die grinder to fit properly. When you try to install it you will see what needs to be done. BTW I am told many Timkin bearings are now made overseas. Good luck.

 

From the front of my 1984 International Bearing Interchange Guide:

"CAUTION: The IBI Guide is NOT intended to be an engineering manual. In most cases it omits suffixes that identify tolerances, grease specifications, material content or internal designs. Its prime function is to provide basic comparisons and interchanges, and to support blueprints and engineering data. For example EXTRA PRECISION [machine tool] bearings are often listed in the same IBI GROUPS as AUTOMOTIVE [standard precision] bearings. The reader must be mindful of application requirements and load rating charts must be consulted for special needs. NOTE: Bearing manufacturers frequently omit identifying suffix data from the markings on bearings and extreme care must be exercised in the interpretations of cross-reference information published."

To ensure the safety of all concerned we have to do our homework, just because it fits doesn't mean its the bearing for the job at hand. In today's global economy the homework includes tracing the trail of possession back to the origin of manufacture as best we can, too many opportunities for too many to make a quick buck in this case by substituting inappropriate bearings "that fit". Human nature being what it is few manufactures and vendors will volunteer all the info really needed unless us end users keep asking the right questions and are prepared to vote with our dollars for quality goods that do the job required.

Ed

 

I have worked as a professional mechanic over 50 years, and I have never seen a Timken bearing box that said made in USA. They all said " this box may contain parts made in one or more of the following countries, and then a long list of countries of origin. Furthermore the bearing may be from one country, and the cup from another.

 

I have been marketing manager in Bearing import Company 16years and worked before that long period in industry. All chinese bearings are junk. We have those also, but if You look bearings outlook, You see big difference of quality.

Timken = all timken stuff what are sell here in Europe is made in East or Far East. Junk, very much negative feedback from Industry. Our Company sell only German, Austria and France/Japan made stuff (FAG,INA,KRW,HFB,IBC,AKN,NTN,SNR,FYH,A&S FERSA).

McGill = we are Finland McGill importer and quality is now junk. 3 y their production has been in China and now I do not want to sell any McGill stuff because too much reclamation.

If not have money to buy good bearings, how can be money to hobby old cars?

I sell only Europe made Wheel bearings to my customers hot rods. 4 bearings 50usd/euro, Why try to save money , that is so small total.

Aulis

 

timkin inner#14116,race14276. outer09195, race09067. seal#473440. The inner bearing will have to be beveled slightly with a die grinder. When you attempt installation you will see what needs to be done.

 

You're right Truck64, the original '40 drum brakes, when set-up and adjusted correct work fine. As a matter of fact that's how I drove it since 1969.
But on the other hand, damn them disk breaks are great!
Mike
PS: I have the originals for my '40 if you're interested.