I think with the Timken wheel bearings it was a material issue. 8 identical bearings on a GTX two per corner I replaced them all with Timken didn't look at them other than Timken was stamped on them I had two failures and I got to looking closer. The two that failed on different corners were stamped Timken Mexico. Two were stamped Timken Australia and the other 4 were stamped Timken Japan. They all came out of boxes labeled Timken USA but its really getting so nothing gets made in the USA any more. The GTX is notorious for killing wheel bearings and just about everybody who has put in a Chinese bearing has had infant mortality as well. I think the German ones do well.
The bearings that FM puts in are King which cost 3 times as much are made using a single layer of proprietary bearing material on the steel backing rather than two separate layers.They look like there machined inside and out to really high tolerance. I think the material is softer and thicker and will tolerate impurities a little better and be less likely to damage journals. There like $89 for a set of 4 bearings. The Cleveite mains I have are also machined looking inside and out but the machining on the back side doesn't look like it was done with tools of as much precision as the King ones. The Federal Mogul ones look like the final coating on the bearing surfaces was sprayed on and not machined afterward to me the back side looks as stamped. I only have 1 rod bearing that looks bad I just don't want to have any issues because of using this bearing in a motor that is putting out over 3 times stock. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: Ray Ayala To: Bob Bundy ; [email protected] Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 8:10 PM Subject: Re: Dana Clevite vs. Federal Mogul Sealed Power rod bearings? Ball & roller bearings have different kinds of problems than half-shell bearings. The cheap ones have one less ball or roller (in the same cage space) than the good ones. That reduces their life expectancy by more than 50% because of the geometry involved. The ball or roller surfaces crumble prematurely. With main & rod bearings it's more a matter of the material used and the skill of the assembler in setting up the clearances. ----- Original Message ----- From: Bob Bundy To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 3:08 PM Subject: Dana Clevite vs. Federal Mogul Sealed Power rod bearings? I ordered Clevite rod bearings from Napa. what I got was a box of sealed power Federal Mogul bearings with a "Napa Number" sticker over the part number that is the Clevite part number. Should I be concerned about this? They say made in Mexico, where as the box of Clevite main bearings say made in Japan. My previous experience with wheel bearings made in Mexico was not good. Timken wheel bearings of the same part number some made in Japan some in Australia but the ones made in Mexico always died an early death on the 323 as did any bearings that come from China. Bob ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Miatapower mailing list [email protected] http://list.miatapower.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/miatapower
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