Chinese wheel bearings

[winston]

I am presently doing my annual wheel bearing maintenance. My trailer was new in December last year. I noticed that the bearings are "made in China". I am now off to buy some replacement bearings as I can see a little rust on the rear bearing. I will buy Timken bearings but just wondering what the quality diffenence would be. Cheers Winston.

[Noelm]

my experience is that the better brands (Timken) are far superior with little extra cost to the cheap rubbish, mind you, all of them will bugger up with no grease.

[Bros]

There are a lot of Chinese bearings on trailers and you don't see them failing all the time. My personal opinion is depends on the load on the trailer and what you will do with it. If you have a tinnie and drive around surburbia and the trailer is lightly loaded use the Chinese ones. Timken are no more rust resistant than Chinese ones.

With the way things are going I wouldn't be surprised to see Timken Made in China.

[finga]

my experience is that the better brands (Timken) are far superior with little extra cost to the cheap rubbish, mind you, all of them will bugger up with no grease.

Yep. And they all rust the same.

It's really weird. I use the Chinese myself but use Japanese for everyone else.
I normally have a couple of sets of each of the Chinese and Japanese and for Ford and Holden complete with marine seals sitting on the shelf just in case.

I've never had a problem with Chinese but I don't push my trailers along or abuse them like some.

[TheRealAndy]

I just pulled down the bearings on the rag boat trailer for a look last weekend. Its been sitting in the hardstand now for year and half, with one trip to tin can bay and hervey bay, so bugger all use other than standard hardstand launch duties. I was astounded to find the timken bearings in perfect nick. This is the first boat on hardstand that has not had any issues with bearings.

But..... Here is the tip. This is the first boat on the hard that I have owned that came with bearing buddies. I keep the grease up at all times. Very good you say, but I also own the polycraft, which has not had a bearing change since I bought it about 4 year ago, its also has bearing buddies that I keep greased up all the time. After seeing the rag boat bearings, I am now sold.

I reckon chinese bearings with bearing buddies and you will probably do ok. But for those who are scared like me (bearing failure on side of road is not fun) I will always stick with timken.

[finga]

Has any one had a catastrophic bearing failure where there have been no signs of impending failure?? ie bearing totally collapsing with the grease not all milky and seals and bearing caps still on

The only reason I ask is at Evans we know who's gone fishing early because of the bearing noises. Every one is different.
And when ever I visit Ian down at the tackle shop I reckon at least 2 out of 3 boat trailers have crook bearing in the hubs. The noises that come out of them is quite frightening when you consider they could be going for miles until they get home.
I don't know how some of the trailers got up the ramp the noise is that bad.
But I suppose with all the windows up and the acca dacca pumping out at 567 decibels who hears a bearing in a trailer tearing it's guts inside out??

[TheRealAndy]

Has any one had a catastrophic bearing failure where there have been no signs of impending failure?? ie bearing totally collapsing with the grease not all milky and seals and bearing caps still on

The only reason I ask is at Evans we know who's gone fishing early because of the bearing noises. Every one is different.
And when ever I visit Ian down at the tackle shop I reckon at least 2 out of 3 boat trailers have crook bearing in the hubs. The noises that come out of them is quite frightening when you consider they could be going for miles until they get home.
I don't know how some of the trailers got up the ramp the noise is that bad.
But I suppose with all the windows up and the acca dacca pumping out at 567 decibels who hears a bearing in a trailer tearing it's guts inside out??

I always do a 50k run to the servo before long distance hauls. First stop, check hub temps and look for seal leaks as well as giving the rim a shake down to make sure its not to wobbly.

[ozscott]

The Chinese ones I have seen have a poor finish compared to the Australian timkin. It's like pitting. For me with 2 tonns and highway running I actually take the time to knock out the Chinese ones from the new hubs and replace. Cheers

[NAGG]

I've had 1 bearing failure ....... these were the original bearings fitted to the trailer of my first boat. - Probably around 12 months (dust cap only) - no impending sign of failure , just collapse ......... from memory it appeared that there wasn't enough grease used & they were Chinese bearings .
From that point on I went with Timken bearings with bearing buddies - and have not had an issue. Since I bought the second boat I've stuck with the Timken / Bearing buddies combo but I also rebuild the bearings yearly.......It sounds overkill but I probably tow the boat 6000km plus pa (so I like the concept of safer than sorry).

Chris

PS ........ For the $6-10 per set saving between the cheapies Vs Timkens ......... why would you bother ? specially when considering what the bearing does & the pain of any potential failure.

[GBC]

The tolerances with the chinese bearings aren't as tight as the Jap ones. We learned this the hard way after my old man got his camper trailer serviced whilst on an extended trip.
Bearings were replaced (with chinese crap), and less than 100k.m. later, the 10" alko cast steel drum braked hub EXPLODED. The bearing heated up and the hub failed radially outwards from there.
Rang alko for a replacement hub and the service bloke knew what happened before we explained it - 'happens all the time mate'.....
The chinese ones always seem 'sloppier' in the race when pregreasing than the jap ones. Anyone else notice that?

[Steeler]

The price difference makes it a pretty straight foward decision. purchase and fit a reputable brand.

[ozscott]

Nagg - I too run bearing buddies and wouldnt be without them. Some people knock them, but the genuine ones are excellent and keep the bearings in very good condition - much better than without.

Cheers

[wags on the water]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSXAKxTxRro

[winston]

Thanks Wags on the water, very interesting. I changed the original Chinese bearings fitted to my new Dunbier trailer to timken. I did find a great use for the old bearing cups, I ground their outer surfuce down slightly so that they can fit easily inside the hub. They can now be used to tap the new cups into place. Works a treat. I was very interesed to follow the Durahub post by The-easyrider. In the end I stayed with grease and bearing buddies. An annual inspection and regrease in such a pain in the arse but necessary. Cheers Winston.

[captain rednut]

chinese bearings should be banned for sale in australia. i have never trusted them due to the limited life ive seen in many trailers.