Wheel bearings - Timken vs. Koyo (1 Viewer)

[Rookie2]

I just bought the Timken wheel bearings

Inner race JLM104910
Inner bearing JLM104948
Outer Race LM102910
Outer bearing LM102949

But after doing a search and reading through some post, I'm a little comfused is if there is a preference on this board for the Koyo bearings for a 97 model.

Thanks for any advice.
R2

BTW, 52 scamolians at Autozone. The guy had me a little nervous though, he was pulling them out of the box and throwing them around like dirty socks, after dropping one in the box on the floor and kicking it half way across the ailse. Jag-offs.

 

[landtank]

I prefer the Timkens, but then again I can be a cheap bastard at times.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Weird-I bought an identical set for $36 at Autozone. I was suprised since these were real USA made Timkins, so that's a killer price. In the 1997 the stock OEM bearings were Timkins so you are just fine. Now if I had been buying anything else other than bearings, and I didn't need them in a big hurry, I would have ordered the Koyos from C-Dan. The Koyos do come in a better package-the little plastic bag inside is sealed. Otherwise, I am sure both will give excellent service. The guys at Autozone are brain dead-I hate shopping there.

One other thing about wheel bearings-I bought a set at NAPA when I was rebuilding the front of my 40. The outer bearing was a Koyo in a NAPA box. The inner was SKF or similar and made in Mexico. Next time it's apart, that bearing is going to be replaced with a real Koyo. I does seem to work fine though.

 

[RavenTai]

I did a similar search and some have a preference for the Koyo's, no solid reasons, I did find Koyos so i used them, just opened up the rears on my 96, factory bearings were Timkin and they made it 107K with the factory grease (gave up the ghost long ago) , they spun a bit on the spindle not enough to cut a groove but they did spin some there were also heat marks in both the bearings and races so I replaced them

If the Timkins can make 100K without a repack they cant be bad, if the PO had repacked them @50k maybe I would have been able to reuse them,.... err scratch that they probably would have screwed up the pre-load smoked the bearing and the spindle and I would have to replace the axle housing


as a side note the OEM Koyo's have a -n on the end this supposedly denotes a special lower noise bearing, so far they are not available in the US except for through Toyota, Jury is still out on weather you could actually hear the difference between the two types of Koyo's or if you should care

 

[tucker74]

Hmm - when I bought my Timkens they had made in France stamped on all the races. Where all do you think they make them?

Tucker

BTW - I could be confused w/ the SKF I put in the trunions....?

 

[Rookie2]

Okay. Thanks for the input guys.

BTW, for whatever reason, Set 47 which has the outer bearing and race packaged together was 5 bones more than buying them separate. Also, Napa's prices where almost exactly twice as much as Autozone, and she insisted it was not the pair.

Thanks again,
R2

 

[landtank]

I work on equipment that has to have SKF bearings and they are manufactured in France.

 

[Landpimp]

I try to find Koyos for all my Cruisers, i have no problem with Timkin, but if you look you can find Koyos for the same or less than Timkin........so thats what I use. All seals are OEM Toyota.