• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

Chinese wheel bearings...

DUG

Senior Chief/Moderator
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,799
73
48
Location
Mesquite, NV
Would you live in a house built with drywall made in China? :)
 

bottleworks

New member
920
2
0
Location
Central NC
So where is your study on this bearing in question made by which manufacturer in China? What? You don't have one? You don't even have a part number of the bearing that the original poster is asking about? So, this is more based on racism, and not facts and evidence?

That particular Chinese bearing may be of low quality, but without any real information no conclusions can be made. Hence, this entire thread is pointless.
 

saddamsnightmare

Well-known member
3,618
80
48
Location
Abilene, Texas
May 6th, 2009.

Just ask yourself what the results might be if you have a wheel bearing failure on a deuce at any speed, both from your viewpoint and the viewpoints of the other drivers? I've seen a few Chinese steam locomotives run in the US, some with very odd maintenance failures (See Susquehanna 141 for scored cyliner liners), but as far as I can see, they are about 60 years behind us on their technology when it comes to mechanical items.

Just my 2cents worth.... it's not my butt riding in that deuce.......


Cheers,

Kyle F. McGrogan:-D
 

KI4GSN

New member
143
0
0
Location
Southport, NC
I don't really see how not liking Chinese made parts has anything to do with being a racist. What if I find something (anything) made in Ireland and don't like it. Does that mean i'm racist towards Irish people (which i are one)?

Go to the hardware store or auto parts store. Find two compariable items, utility knives are good. Take one made in china and one made in the US and compare them, and tell me china has better quality (i've actuallly done this, and spent more money to buy the American one. It was obviously better quality).

In the 1980s, Greyhound buses kept crashing because of the failure of a critical bolt in the steering system. The investigation finally concluded that the "grade 8" bolts that had been ordered (and produced in China), actually had no grade at all. They simply gave them a nice gold color, mailed them to America, and called it a day. Yep, great products allright.
 

FMJ

In Memorial
In Memorial
4,210
37
0
Location
Las Cruces, NM
This is a first for me, I never thought that not liking products made in China made me a racist. Perhaps I need to go for some re-education?

When all else fails, pull out the race card. . . :roll:
 
Last edited:

DUG

Senior Chief/Moderator
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,799
73
48
Location
Mesquite, NV
So where is your study on this bearing in question made by which manufacturer in China? What? You don't have one? You don't even have a part number of the bearing that the original poster is asking about? So, this is more based on racism, and not facts and evidence?

That particular Chinese bearing may be of low quality, but without any real information no conclusions can be made. Hence, this entire thread is pointless.
I have no study or part numbers. I just said that my community of maintainers were ordered by the Navy to remove Made In China Wheel Bearings several times on different aircraft tow tractors. I don't know which countries make wheel bearings, but only the China bearings were ordered removed. I guess using your logic, myself and the whole Navy is racist.

That couldn't be further from the truth. I still think that drywall and wheel bearings made in China are crap.
 

nk14zp

Active member
2,636
17
38
Location
Columbia Falls Maine
I agree with bottleworks. . .

Oh, and make sure not to let your kids handle your Chinese wheel bearings. . . lead issues :p

I'm off to my shop to throw out all my Snap On tools, and replace them with Harbor Freight stuff. ;)
give me a list ill swap tool for tool and ship
 

DUG

Senior Chief/Moderator
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
2,799
73
48
Location
Mesquite, NV
Let's face it. Anything made in China is suspect to poor workmanship, poor tolerances, and poor quality ingredients. But, hey, it's CHEAP!
I disagree. I have visited Hong Kong and China many, many times. I find the food outstanding!
 

scootertrs

Active member
453
7
28
Location
miami/florida
I'm off to my shop to throw out all my Snap On tools, and replace them with Harbor Freight stuff. :wink:

BTW... did the rest of this group know that Snap on had bought out Williams, the best tool maker in the world (humble personal opinion)... only to have the manufacturing of the new Williams tools transferred over to China. As if that was not bad enough, if you bought a Williams tool, you probably would not know it was made in China (unless you bust a knuckle or two) since they id the tools with a sticky piece of paper that states it is made in China. Of course, when you buy the tool on ebay if they do not tell you where tool is made, beware. They might have lost that little id sticker... Most of the US made Williams tools have the made in USA stamped on it... not on a sticker. I even spoke with the Williams division of SnapOn before I bought a sizeable batch of tools for my company and the customer service rep was actually embarrassed when she admitted that they most were not manufactured in USA... and that if I wanted to be sure, I had to look in their web catalog where every tool made in the USA was id'd (about one out of 10).

As far as bearings go, we use all types and sizes of bearings in my wood yard. I will not have any Chinese bearings in our equipment. The life is a small fraction of the good quality bearings. Notice I did not say USA. Many "famous" bearing manufacturers are farming out the component manufacturing overseas and assembling in the USA to allow the use of made in USA (any body ride a Harley?) I will buy Japanese bearings, USA bearings from Timken, Dodge, European FAG, but try to stay away from South American and Central American bearings as well as Chinese. Canadian bearings are also good.

If in doubt, go to Miller bearing or your parts house and ask them to show you both... a Chinese bearing and a USA, Japanes, or European bearing (look for a non sealed bearing, since the rubber seals will hide the sloppiness of the assembly)...

I had the unpleasant experience of having a radiator fan in a Caterpillar D8K dozer go through the radiator because the support bearings gave out. When I got the new bearings, I got a set from an aftermarket parts supplier, but upon inspection, I saw that they were made in China. I then ordered a set from Caterpillar (8x the money) ... what a difference... Is it worth 8x the money? $96 vs $12... The bearings were not even related quality wise. Sure they would fit, but if I am going to be depending on them to keep my fan in place and not ruin a $3500 radiator... it is a no-brainer
 
Last edited:

dirtyfingernails

New member
778
4
0
Location
Gainesville, FL
I needed a bearing for my Dana 60 and called around with the Timken number. One of the local auto parts places had it in stock. I asked what brand the bearing was. He said Federal Mogul. Okay, I figure it's good. Get there and sure as shootin' it's embossed with "made with china". Crap. It's in my 60 now. I guess I'll be replacing it with all the bad experiences I've read here.
 

dabtl

Active member
2,053
7
38
Location
Denton, Texas
I have to agree with Bjorn. Just like Japan, give them some time and it will be of the highest quality.

Fortunately, as we have free trade with Pakistan, they will soon be making bearings also cheap.

We need to go back to work here. Not buying is one thing, a boycott, but what really needs to be in place is trade barriers to put people in the mid-west back to work. Now.
 

powerhouseduece

Active member
1,440
4
38
Location
Pasadena, Md
Ok here is what I learned about tapered bearings. The guy who I rent my shop from Use to swear up and down with PG gear. All the 4WD guys know what im talking about. Well most of the gear and bearing companys started to go down hill, The 4 main guys left Presision Gear split up and it went to hell. One of the big shots set off and stated buying up 1 of every gear and every ratio. ( he has tested ALOT of gears and bearings) He pulls the best of every gear and put it in his box. There is a lot of people doing this. like if you order from randys ring and pinion, and you order a set of 3:83 gears for a ford 8.8, guess what? Its going to say Ford on the gear! This is not always the case. Now Timkin uead to be the sh!t when it came to rear axle bearings, now they are JUNK. DO NOT BUY TIMKIN!! Now if you want a better bearing, better than US made you want to go with KOYO bearings.

If you took apart the rear or hub on a Ferri, you will find KOYO bearings! Now im not advertising for anybody but just to give a heads up if you are doing rears or hubs, I ONLY BUY LIBERTY GEAR. If he can not find the best pre made gear, he has them made buy the same company that makes the ferri gears. Its a good feeling when you get a new set of gears and they already have a small pattern from where EVERY gear has been tested.

$.02.... take it or leave it, I have built rears on 1300hp vipers! just ash jason heffner
 

Speddmon

Blind squirrel rehabiltator
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
4,640
28
38
Location
Cambridge, Ohio
powerhousedeuce said:
Now Timkin uead to be the sh!t when it came to rear axle bearings, now they are JUNK. DO NOT BUY TIMKIN!! Now if you want a better bearing, better than US made you want to go with KOYO bearings.
OK, I couldn't let this thread go any longer without throwing my 2cents in the mix. I wouldn't say Timken bearings are junk. Is the quality as good as it used to be, NO, but the are far from junk, and far better than anything made in China. There are only a few things not up to snuff in a Timken bearing made today VS. 10 years ago. One is the plastic cage that holds the rollers inside the race (not all of the cages are plastic, some are still metal). 10 years ago that was a stamped cage and not plastic. The other is the steel for the races and rollers. 10 years ago 100% of the steel in the bearings came directly from one of Timken's very own steel mills located in Canton, Ohio. Now this is not the case, but Timken does still have quality standards for the steel they buy, and a vast majority of that steel still comes from their own mills. The difference being that now they are forging the races and finishing them to final spec. in some cases rather than cutting them from rolled seamless tubing like they used to.

No matter whether the races are forged or fully machined, the tollerences are still the same... +/- 1/10000 " (that's .0001" for those that don't know). If you think forging the races is that much of a sacrifice in quality, then you had better part with every automobile all of you guys own that was made in the last 7 to 10 years, because I'll almost garantee that the crankshaft is forged, along with the cranks in most of the heavy trucks on the highway today.

Trust me on this. I work for Timken in one of the steel mills and our biggest customers are the big 3 and the foreign automakers, buying steel for their forged crankshafts! Also, our biggest P.I.T.A. customer is...you guessed it, our very own bearing plants. If the quality isn't good enough in the steel, it get's rejected, plain and simple.
 

jimk

In Memorial
In Memorial
1,046
45
48
Location
Syracuse, New York
The issue here is quality control. It varies, but it is harder to control when you are trying to cut costs. Mfg. cut costs to survive. Many find they have no choice but to use foreign cheap labor (Bimken brand made in China) . Some save more by offering a replacement part (Chow brand made in China). Its harder to control things when someone else is in the drives seat. It is even harder when you are not in the car.

There are many consequence when the bulk of consumers choose by price alone. More variable quality control is just one. Domestic unemployment, union jobs lost forever, reliability, safety issues...Most replacement parts will work but the cost saving come with more risk . Since proof/product test reports are so hard to find at the parts counter a precision/critical part may be worth the extra $.

How long a company has been around says a lot. Timken has been around over 100y.
 
Top