Technical Is there any good quality wheel bearings being made

remember when the jap crap bullshit was ongoing.I look at bearings now if theyr made in japan it probably good quality.made in china its usually crap,wouldnt put it in an engine.they are producing crap because there is plenty of tight -arses that wount pay for
quality out there.
pay your money make your choice

 

If you have to tighten the bearings several times , you should be able to see damage on the bearings. More than likely the inside bearing was not driven completely on, against the boss. As you drive the bearing is working it way toward bottoming out against the stop. Just maybe... Bones

 

Yep. Do yourself a favor and disassemble the bearings and inspect, what do they look like?

 

Going to tear into it next week after I find some decent bearings.

 

Be careful! At my local NAPA store, Timken bearings were marked "made in USA" on the box. The bearings were made in China, the BOX was made in USA.

 

It’s a sad state of affairs when we make the box and the folks across the pond make the part! My Dad warned me about this back in ‘63. Bones

 

Yes, things like safe working conditions and a decent wages. Terrible!

 

I hear you Engine man! Bones

 

Seems there are some mechanics that set up bearings too loose. We had a guy doing trailer brake jobs and had many seal and bearing failures shortly after he did them. He thought the cause was reusing the bearings and started putting all new bearings in with the same results. I started checking bearings after he was done and they were too loose. He thought they had to be loose because they expand when they warm up. I explained that the spindle expands the same amount so the clearance won't change. After a few times showing him, he got the hang of it and didn't have any more problems.

 

I really can't respond without getting too deep into politics that would close the thread down. It's just too bad so many people are illiterate when it comes to economics...

 

Well a "little" loose, doesn't lock up/sieze/ smoke the spindle with those impressive rainbow colors 50 miles down the highway.

 

I read in a manual to torque them down to around 25 foot pounds and back off a quarter turn and that is how I tighten them.

 

Took apart my car last night, the axle bearing (SKF) is fine, the seal was bad. Also a SKF part. But I had beat it up a little on the way in. Today I will buy a seal driver.

 

Yep. It takes 2 (parts) to tango. What does the part the bearing is "bearing-ing" look like?

 

That is likely a repackaging issue (at the store or some 3rd party warehouse) as mislabeling like that would be a violation of FTC regs... sort of. The FTC is actually pretty good at investigating those kinds of issues.

There are VERY specific labeling requirements for terms like "Made in USA," "Assembled in USA," etc. BTW, "Made in USA" only requires that "manufacturing costs constitute at least 75% of manufacturing costs for the product, and the product was last substantially transformed in the US." This effectively means that easily half or more of a product can be made offshore (because of typical cost savings, so long as it represents no more than 25% overall cost), and the "final assembly" (ie, setting the bearing inside the race for packaging) is done here. "Substantially" is very often a pivotal element of FTC cases in this area, and considerable leeway is given at times.

 

Somehow I managed to do it for 40+ years and never smoked one.

 

Depends on the thread pitch. A spindle nut on a 32 to 48 Ford has a 16 threads per inch pitch. A quarter turn is .015625 or 15.625 thousands. That's looser than my ex-wifes morals. Even a 57 Chevy with a 20 threads per inch would be 12.5 thousandths which is also pretty loose.

Fruehauf semi trailer axles have a 12 threads per inch which would be over 20 thousands on 1/4 turn. That would allow the bearings to spin and ruin the spindle.

 

Wasn't there a city in Japan, right after WW11 that was called USA...." These parts made in USA".

 

No.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/made-in-usa/

 

And that's exactly the point - "good enough" is more than good enough compared with callbacks and really, really super pissed-off customers. Slightly loose is "safe", tho they will last longer if they are installed to manufacturer specs.

 

There's a lot of confusion in the bearing business because 1) heavy outsourcing and 2) everyone buys and supplies everyone else in the bearing market.
I work in the bearing industry, for NTN America (HQ in Illinois).
We own the BCA and Bower tradenames and the old Federal Mogul plants back East (Hamilton AL,
Elgin IL and Macomb IL). Our Bower branded taper roller bearings are 100% manufactured in the USA. The BCA branded product line are MAINLY made in the US. There are both TRB's and hub units in the BCA line and the product line is an OE one. (i.e.: whomever built the bearing/hub at the OE level was tapped to put that exact product in our BCA box- we are the only guys defining OE in this manner)

Sorry for the sales "pitch"..... like I mentioned though, lots of confusion in this segment.

Seals are now mainly manufactured in Korea and Taiwan. That would be pretty much EVERYONE'S
sourcing in that market. (SKF, NTN, etc.) As always, there are exceptions and you will find some currently manufactured Made in USA seals but they are few and far between and constitute about 2% of all applications. (AG, Automotive and Industrial)
A good example of a USA seal would be on the output side of a GearVendors OD unit. It's basically a TH400 GM seal but the GM number only specs GV usage and to my knowledge it always comes out of the box marked as a Made in USA seal...... personally I have no idea where it's made though.
Point is it's not exactly a main-stream type of seal application.

 

There IS a street in Mainland China named "USA". A friend of Pete Chaporis had a pic taken of one of the mfg plants that made the investment-cast batwings that didn't fit! The street (about 2 city blocks long) was named "USA".

On tightening front wheel bearings: Tighten to 30 ft. lbs., back off until no tension is felt on nut. Now, adjust nut onto washer surface with a #3 blade screwdriver inserted between outer circumference of washer and inside of hub. Pry washer from one side then the other, sliding it akin to using a feeler gauge. Slight drag is desired, not 'sloppy', not too tight (where you'd have to turn the screwdriver hard to move washer)
This is textbook BMW of Germany instruction, easier to illustrate in a training film.
On must G.M. spindles, they are double-drilled to get the best adjustment and line up for insertion of a cotter key. Early Fords have one 'drill', so castellated nut is adjustable only in 10 minute segments. This 'feeler gauge' method generally works. A +/- decision will be made...

Bearing mfrs:
A friend of mine in San Jose had two (2) Halibrand quickies brought in by a local rod shop owner.
Both had loud 'clunking' noise, and some grinding.
My friend opened them up, side bearings were soft, and 'mashed'. Luckily, the rings and pinions were still O.K., but pinion bearings (front & rear) were also 'soft'.
Quick look at the side bearings revealed their origin, (Bulgaria!) and the front and rear pinion brgs were of Taiwan mfr.
My wife was working for Bill Birdsey of Retro-Tek, his company was sending older machines retro-fitted with CNC to Bulgaria...
I mentioned the Bulgarings (my clever contraction) to Bill...he replied that Bulgaria was in the same quandry as Germany got into after Allied bombings took out the foundries in '43.
Bill recommended calling the company: (Richard LeGeurne in Kansas, 'Halibrand Eng.' at the time) so we called, the counter man said he understood, and would have some new bearings out to us Pronto!
The bearings arrived in a few days, (6, as I recall) the box was opened, and the Halibrand bags cut open...and Here we were! A new set of Bulgarian side bearings, and the same Taiwan bearings that mashed on the pinion.

My friend laughed, but was furious. He went to our guy at King Bearing in San Jose, 2 days later had some of German mfr. for the front and Timkens for the sides. (1987, so China wasn't in the mix yet)
Our first encounter with bad bearings was with the 7,000 lb. Streamliner. Strapped down at its tires, the harsh trailer ride to B'Ville flattened the rollers in the rear axle bearings...after replacing them, the 'Liner was tied down at axle housings supported by steel pods, "wheels up"!

 

Federal Mogul started to overseas source taper roller bearings from China in the summer of 1990. (Bearings that said Made in USA one week said nothing the next week and then said China just a little bit later.... that's my memory of how things went down)