I have a 57 Skyliner, The pinion seal leaked and I wanted to fix it. I purchased a no brand name seal from C & G Ford parts and installed it in my rear end. I went from a small leak to a flood. It threw out over a quart of grease in 100 miles and left a large puddle on the garage floor. After reading and researching there was some talk about the speedi sleeves and the Timken brand pinion seal. I bought a speedi sleeve on ebay but it came a little bent and did not have the installation tool. I used a 3/4" drive socket of the appropriate size and installed the sleeve on the pinion yoke. A Youtube video suggested putting a coating of JB Weld on the pinion in the area of the groove before putting on the sleeve. SKF did not suggest this, so I did not do it. The yoke had what i thought was a very slight groove, and I did not think it was enough to cause a leak. WRONG. After putting on the sleeve and the new Timken seal, it is dry as a bone. Moral of the story, spend a little more for quality name brand parts and you may not have to do the job twice!
I agree 100%. I hunted down some Timkin wheel bearings for my F100 truck and guess where they are made now?
Just a guess, but I bet the Bearings were made in Mexico? Where something is made is not as important as the quality of the item. For the extra $3-4 bucks the Timken seal cost me, the obvious quality difference was worth the extra money. I guess we have to get used to global economies.
The boxes said China. I guess I'm too old school and this global thing just doesn't set well with me..
Hopefully they are made and held to Timkin standards.