Beware,chinese Bearings=broken Spindle

I'd be interested in knowing who the bearing manufacturer is. Lots of bearing manufacturers (including the Japanese) have some bearings made in China.

In my line of work I work with a lot of bearing manufacturers. I have experienced problems with certain Chinese manufacturers but also American and German companies with plants in Italy, Argentina. There are good bearings coming out of China from some manufacturers.

 

the front wheel bearings speedway sent me for my mustang ii were chinese, they broke in my hands sliding them onto the spindle when i realized ill be getting timkens. Not to mention i can get timkens locally and not have to order shit!

 

I put a Fatman Mustang ll on my Graham whithin a year the bearings were bad. Thinking maybe the excellant builder( he is) who did it may have messed up I had another set put in by a well respected brake man. It started to fail within 2 years. Fatman side stepped my questions at Pleasanton about the bearings. I think they know they are poor quality China products. As a nation we are in deep trouble with all this loss of manufacturing.....

 

We build a lot of new rearends from a kit form. We refuse to use the china bearings that they send us after multiple failures. The rollers and the races look like they were finished on a belt sander with 100 grit>>>>.

 

At least they gave us some kick ass food! No? Sorry, I leave now...

I got F*ing blasted for putting up a post about Chinese made disc brake parts for the wife's modern day daily driver.

Glad to see people are waking up when it hits home with a hot rod. Bottom line is this, the only thing the Chinese care about is how much profit they can make.

Think about it, who are you going to complain to? They already made their money. Are you going to fly over there to complain. The got us by the short ones fellas.

Please do yourself a favor and read Thomas Friedland's "The World is Flat". It will help put some of this global economy stuff into perspective.

Scary Shizz, boys!

 

sorry I have to disagree, it's the companies ordering the shit from over there that are only worried about how much they can make... put the blame where the blame belongs...

 

When you and I shop our suppliers for a price we are forcing them to buy their wears where they can get them the cheapest in order to be price competitive. Kinda funny how a guy will pay more for a rusty old steel body than a new fiberglass piece then buy components for it where he can buy them the cheapest.

 

you dont have to look farther than your local big business for examples of money grubbing.. dont be so quick to blame a supposed third world country for the demise of American industry.

it is ironic how just 80 years ago China was under the boots of Western countries, its resources shipped overseas by the boat load.... things are a bit different now aint it?

i agree with not buying anything other than USA made products, but our companies are not making it easy for us to do that.

 

Someone asked how that breakage happens? Well unless you experience it you wouldn't believe how fast a "good" bearing will disintegrate and lock up on a spindle. When you get the first indication it's already too late. We are the final inspectors and we are woefully prepared for that task. We need to start having serious words at the CEO level with the importers. This is approaching deadly...mark my words.

Charlie

 

Unless you live in a cave, we have all known about the Chinese quality problems the last few years..........so why would any American aftermarket company risk their reputation and assume the liability of poorly manufactured imported bearings? Wouldn't be better for them to market their dedication to quality and safety rather than pay more for liability insurance and hire more lawyers to defend their company? Seems to me that buying American (Timken) bearings would make them MORE profitable in the long run. What happened to common sense in this country? Edelbrock are Backyard Buddy Lifts two examples I can think of that are marketing QUALITY successfully. The companies in the aftermarket that are using WALMART as their business model are making a big mistake. I am making every effort to buy American whenever I can. People had better wake up to what happens to a country that doesn't manufacture anything.

 

I'm not in any way saying this to defend Chinese crap, but you guys sound like have never had a Timken bearing go South.

Meeting with and opening trade agreements with China was the last evil deed Nixon did to us.

I bought some bearings from Auto Zone a while back. I had a choice between a $9 "economy" bearing and a $14 bearing. both the same size.
They were both made in China.

Is a "Made in USA" bearing guaranteed to be made out of "Made in USA" Steel?

We have met the enemy and it isn't us, it's greedy unethical big business.

 

wont be long we all will be eating rice 3 times a day.

 

Here's my take on this mess of shit! When I take a bearing out of a rearend kit that I'm supposed to be putting in a race car and the quality is shit like some asshole has finished the rollers on a belt sander with the 100 grit and I see the china name on it I get heated. And when the prick that sold me the rear in the first place failed to tell me he cut the price on the bearings and didn't pass it on to me I get double pissed. And what's up with parts houses stocking three lines of shit before they offer the preimium stuff. That's whats wrong with people they buy cheap shit that the suppliers shove at them and then they bitch about it. Look the parts over,lay the parts side by side and compare them it's an easy choice. If you want a real lesson on foriegn crap get on the web site of THE GUY FROM BOSTON,this cat is for real and he is funny as hell. And by the way I hate rice>>>>.

 

Whoever is selling that kit ought to be a bit more concerned about the potential liability involved in using substandard parts. If someone had been hurt, you'd better believe the plaintiff's lawyer would be going after them and rightly so. Lotsa companies putting stuff together with the cheapest parts they can source, no testing, etc. They're the ones who are ultimately responsible.

 

From Bloomberg Financial today 4-18-08

"Another stellar performance by China, which recorded a 26 per cent rise in its merchandise exports to $1.2 trillion, enabled it to surge ahead of the US to be ranked the world's second biggest exporter and is breathing down the neck of top-placed Germany."

 

Rice doesn't really worry me.

The heat treatment on that is hard to mess up...




So where do we go from here?

I've had really good luck with German SKF Bearings.
But if I want , say, a inside Wheelbearing to convert F100 Front Drums to early Ford Spindles, how do I get those?

Get the number off the other Bearing, and see if anybody can Cross reference it?


Who knows a good place to go for things like that?

 

We have a bearing supply in Kansas by the name of BRC. These cats can supply the good shit. I have replaced bearings on my machines in the shop and used these guys. They supplied me with some high-tech shit for my stewart-warner engine balancer and a pair of supper smooth bearings for my valve grinder. The grinder will freewheel for a assload after you cut the power. If you want quality it pays to shop for a good reference and a fair price and they give both>>>>.

 

Cheap parts not good, good parts not cheap.

 

Hey Alex,

I've had good luck using this to cross reference part numbers for Chicago Rawhide seals (owned by SKF), and it may also work for their bearings as well?

http://www2.chicago-rawhide.com/popup_parts_lookup_457012.htm


-Ryan

 

Cool..

Thats worth a try.

Thanks.

 

90% of bearing failures are due to "improper installation" and "lack of proper lubrication" their is one main company that built the machines that manufacture bearings. your price differences are labor costs in the different countries they are built in. if you want to see if a new bearing is ok weigh it. that is the main way of quality control in the manufacture of a bearing. i can get 10 german bearings that are quiet and 3 noisy ones. then i decide to change to japanese brand with different results. spending more money on a bearing is no guarantee that bearing is better. sometimes all it means is higher markup on that bearing.

 

There's a bearing and seal supplier called Applied Industrial Technologies in Western NY state,they have warehouses in many major cities.You can walk in and buy just about any type of bearing for reasonable money.
I believe bearings are rated by something called "Apex"? I also believe this rating is for the bearing tolerance and not the "quality" of the bearing.If the bearing says made in USA,Japan,or Germany,names like Timken or F.A.G,I feel your chances are good it's quality.Made in Japan isn't low quality like it was in the 1950's.
A local school bus garage was having a rash of front wheel bearing failures.It came to to the grease used to pack the bearings.the grease used when regreasing wasn't compatible with the original lube and caused some kind of chemical reaction.Once the mechanics learned to clean all traces of old grease even inside the wheel hub,the problem was solved.So if you buy a bearing that's factory lubed don't just apply more grease during assembly,remove all the original completely.And about factory sealed bearings,if it's been on the shelf for 10 years the lube may have turned to shit during storage.Buy only new stock unless you can clean and relube the bearing.

 

Ok .. My Bad .. It was late and id been into the Gin when i looked at the pic I did twist off a spindle like that once by having the bearing too tight. Long story on that one. I was chasing a front end wobble. I shouldnt have done what I did. I got lucky the disk brake caliper and rotor held it from leaving the front axle ...
Dave

 

Your 90% may have worked in the past, but not anymore. and "your price differences are labor costs in the different countries they are built in" is also incorrect, the materials used are also different, of a much lower standard. As a matter of fact that is where the weighing the bearing comes into play. This is a REAL problem. The bearings I put in the rear wheel of my Ducati were brand new sealed bearings from China, they were put in absolutely correct, they came apart within a few weeks. It makes me really glad I check my shit out before I ride...

After this happened I actually talked to one of the managers at a local parts house, they are seeing unprecedented failures upon the China bearings. There is not a rash of improper installations and improper lubrication.

 

Gen. McArthur had the right idea in WWII, " go ahead and take over China also" Fuck a bunch of china, japan, mid east, mexican made bullshit. They can't beat us in a real fight, that's been proven many times. So they try to kill us with their shitty products and starve us to death by taking all our jobs while fucking corporate cum junkies get fat and rich off what little the working man can afford.
This country is going tits up in a hurry.

 

I did a comparison years ago on the standard BR12 and BR13 bearings Ford is so fond of using for front wheel bearings. The "inexpensive" bearings had a thinner cage, fewer rollers and much lower quality. The edges of the rollers were rough and burred, the finish quality on the race was like 600 grit.

Never again will I entrust my customers lives to crap like that.

I started watching all this after a Chinese made lower ball joint came apart on one of my customers 12+ years ago. He was desending the hill West bound -10 going into Indio, CA at 70+ MPH when it let go. Fortuneatly the huge white wall tire had enough centripital force to stay upright and the driver had enough sense to not jam on the brakes. He coasted to a stop using lower gears when he slowed to 30 the lower arm fell out of the wheel and then hit the ground. No one was injured and they were able to get back on the road in a few hours time.

It cost me thousands of dollars to replace annother vendors mistake here. A mistake I will not make again.

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Oh, and Dr. J I love the old hack argument. I hear that same sort of tactic on political message boards with the same level of effectivnes. You know what? Yeah, Timken, FAG, SKF will fail, you are factually correct.

Everything fails at some point.

So because there is an occasion for even the best bearing to fail then are you trying to say that the best bearings are no better and are equal to the cheapest bearings?

Try again.

 

After thinking about my comment, I can see your point. I believe it is a two part problem. As Plan 9 and you mentioned, the 1st step is US companies asking their suppliers to drive the cost down by any means nessecary. The second step is when the Chinese manufacturer realizes that they can save even more by using an inferior product, raw material, machining process, etc. to maximize their profits.

Example: Using poisonous ingredents in tooth paste and dog food. If these manufacters are willing to do this, image what they be willing to do to a car part.

Rest assured, this isn't just an exporting problem.
The Chinese are just starting to taste the joys that capitalism can bring. I believe it won't be long until they are a governmental hybrid-democratic socialism.

I've read in the Wall Street Journal that they are having a internal problem with manufactures making poisonous dumplings for there domestic markets.

Greed and bottom line profits, it is what runs the wheels of the world's economies. 1 cent saved on 1 million units is $10,000. It worked for Wal-Mart, why not for global manufacturing?

 

Just for information purposes, Timken makes bearings in 48 countries, and the US is no longer one of the major sources for Timken bearings. China is one of the Countries where Timken makes bearings

 

Yep it's wheel bearing now and last Month it was 1940's Brake wheel cylinders, then Hoses. I just can't find a set(wheel cylindes) made in the Great U.S.A. and now it's my wheel bearing. Damm, I'm hoping to make a "HotRod" Not a "Ratrod" you know something safe to drive!?? Please Buy USA when You Can!

 

I just bought a coupler for my trailer from a "US" manufacturer - upon arrival I noted that while the US Manufacturer's name is stamped on it - the end of the Small Print says "Made in China" - Junk - I ordered another one - from a different manufacture -this time I asked specifically.
Chinese bearings - toys - those horizonatal bandsaws "we" love - I don't care what it is - it's crap and I want no part of it.

Sometimes it takes soem effort and a few bucks, but &^$$%& that chinese crap - gimme some decent parts - I'll pay the extra couple bucks.

Sum Flung Dung - says it all.