wheel bearings: Timken/Koyo vs SKF/BCA/Beck etc?

[yoopermike]

WTF? I thought you worked at the mine? And holy time lapse on this thread. Good read tho....so can you get us free bearings? That would cut down on my needed parts for a front axle rebuild. HA!

 

[cruiser88]

I am starting to move away from Timken

 

[cruiser88]

Autozone carries Timken bearings, races and seals............but be carefull not all timken is made in the United states(Ohio) now. Look at the box/package before you buy it. Dont buy their valuecraft bearings.

oh crap this thread was started in 04

OK, getting ready to do a wheel bearing adjustment/repack/replacement on the front.

Read a bit about it. Everybody mentions Timken and Koyos. Consensus seems to be to go with Timken and Autozone to save $$. Local industrial supply outfit can order Timken, but their prices are stratospheric. I caught the guy exactly doubling the cost he got from the distributor (not a bad margin, eh?). But Autozone, Kragen, and the several online outfits I checked all carry bearings like Beck/Arnley, BCA, Motor City etc. Not seen Timken or Koyo at all.

The Marlin Crawler kit looks like a great buy actually, with Koyos. However, I may have to do the job this weekend so local sales would be a plus. So I got to ask, what do you all think about these other brands (Beck, BCA etc)? Avoid at all costs and hold off for Timken and Koyo; or adequate quality?

opinions?

thanks
Eric

 

[BADM]

2004......2010..... that's one hell of a piss break.

 

[scottm]

I posted on this six years ago, didn't think it would get looked at this much later. We were supposed to be driving flying cars by now...

 

[yoopercharged]

sometimes ADD takes you to strange places.

 

[arizonae]

So lets jump ahead 8 years...

I'm doing a front axle rebuild and purchased new trunnion bearings. The ebay seller advertised them 91-97 Land cruiser trunnion bearings, but did not include the specific part number.
When I received the bearings, they ended up being Koyo 30304AJ bearing with 11 rollers. The stock bearing, Koyo 30304AJR-2-N has 13 rollers. Prior to this I had purchased one 30304 Timken bearing from Amazon for $6 that ended having 12 rollers.

What is everyones opinion, should I accept the 30304AJ (11 rollers) from ebay as a legitimate replacement? I haven't been able to find the specs on either of the koyo bearings. I imagine the Koyo AJR-2-N have a higher load rating.

On a secondary note, both Koyo's have the same race.

 

[Pin_Head]

I think that the more important difference in knuckle bearing variants is the angle of the race where those with a lower angle have a higher thrust rating.