Axle Bearings

[JimNolan]

Guys,
   Are there any differences in rear wheel bearings. I've looked up the bearing I need and found these results. National RW207CCRA from Advance Auto for $14.49, SKF RW207CCRA from NAPA for $31.99, NTN RW207CCRA from Randy's Ring and Pinion for $24.23 or a Timkin RW207CCRA off Ebay for $22.88.
   The last set of bearings I bought was from Advance Auto for $14.49 a few years ago and they held up. But, is one of these bearings better than the others. Jim

[Zapato]

Personally like Timkin, main thing I'd want is for whatever bearings I'm buying is to be from either the USA, Europe or Japanese. Anywhere else in Asia its going to be iffy.

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[JPotter57]

I've always tried to get Timkens too Jim.  Made in USA, never had any troubles.  Usually easy to find.

[JimNolan]

Guys,
   I ended up getting the SKF bearing. It's Swedish but it should be OK. I got them at NAPA for 32 bucks each. I could have gotten a Timken bearing from Ebay for 20 bucks each but there's a catch when you start researching bearings. You problably remember the aircraft industry problems they had with counterfeit parts. People were buying Lycoming bolts in Lycoming packages with cut threads. Nothing cut can be put into a Lycoming engine. The bolts have to have rolled threads for strength. Well, guess what, Timkin and SKF are having the same problems with Chinese counterfeit parts that are labeled and packaged better than what Timken and SKF can label and package them. They say on the website that the only way you can tell a counterfeit from a real part is by buying the part from a SKF or Timken distributor. NAPA being one of them for SKF. I could have gotten a Timken bearing from AutoZone but they kept telling me it wouldn't fit my car, I think that's what they said, my Spanish isn't that good. Jim

[JPotter57]

lol, si......

[Zapato]

Swedish bearings are top notch, Boeing buys a lot of bearings and cutting tools from them. SKF is a major player in the machine bearing market, wouldn't hesitate to buy or use them. One time we oversized a bore by .0001" and the initial engineering fix was to try and find a bearing on the higher side of the tolerance. We miked over 200 bearings before we found one .0002" above nominal. Engineer agreed we could use it and saved a $30K assembly. Maker of those bearings SKF.

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[JimNolan]

Zapato,
    I got an education on bearings trying to figure out what the difference in price was. SKF didn't enter the price wars years ago when other companies tried to corner the market  but continued to produce higher precision bearings. What happened was they ended up being the best recognized at precision bearings, not cheaper bearings.
    They've got companies in 130 locations around the globe. They entered China in 1995, that's when the counterfeiting started from what I understand. Timken has the same problem with counterfeiting. They had two pictures of a bearing, one counterfeit and one real. The counterfeit had nicer lettering and looked better than the real one. Problem is, they say the inside of the bearing isn't as nice. Jim