Front wheel bearings

[Richard Cranium]

It’s been a while since I bought any, but I bought an inner and outer for one side. Here’s a picture of the outer. A plastic cage …… seriously?

 

[5.7 hemi]

Take it back.

 

[Black_Sheep]

Timken all things…

 

[Under Pressure]

Thanks for the heads up RC, I was just getting ready to order the fronts, I’ll be asking before ordering now

 

[Don Frelier]

Why do they need to be replaced?
I can only think of one time I saw a tapered roller bearing in a Chrysler car go bad (and that was likely someones error that caused it).

 

[dadsbee]

Well that's a real grind Mark!

 

[Big Bad Dad]

That is a new, and disturbing, development... I don't like it.

 

[WileERobby]

It’s been a while since I bought any, but I bought an inner and outer for one side. Here’s a picture of the outer. A plastic cage …… seriously?

View attachment 1411150

Cages come in a variety of materials

 

[Richard Cranium]

Why do they need to be replaced?
I can only think of one time I saw a tapered roller bearing in a Chrysler car go bad (and that was likely someones error that caused it).

This is on my restomod Cuda. which has an afremarket front end & Wilwood brakes. I took the rotors off for them to be turned. Both bearing cages has some good rust on them, so I replaced them.

 

[cr8crshr]

RC...I would recommend the Timken Bearings. I got all mine when I was in the hobby more from NAPA and have always had the best luck with them lasting a very long time. Plus being old school, I prefer to hand pack them as opposed to using one of them new fangled units you can buy these days. That way I know it was done completely and correct...cr8crshr/Bill

 

[dadsbee]

That is a Timken. .

 

[MoparLeo]

Make sure to get the complete bearing/race sets and replace the races as well.

 

[Don Frelier]

This is on my restomod Cuda. which has an afremarket front end & Wilwood brakes. I took the rotors off for them to be turned. Both bearing cages has some good rust on them, so I replaced them.

Katrina car?

 

[Richard Cranium]

Katrina car?

I showed the bearings to the guy who cut my rotors and he said that he sees rusty cages quite often. Perhaps that’s the reason for the switch to plastic cages?

 

[Richard Cranium]

RC...I would recommend the Timken Bearings. I got all mine when I was in the hobby more from NAPA and have always had the best luck with them lasting a very long time. Plus being old school, I prefer to hand pack them as opposed to using one of them new fangled units you can buy these days. That way I know it was done completely and correct...cr8crshr/Bill

With all front wheel bearings to pack, I used this gizmo and my grease gun. Works like a charm.

 

[Budnicks]

BCA Bearings is owned by NTN Global

https://ntnamericas.com/bca-bearings-announces-new-web-site/

www.bcabearings.com

Timken Bearings America
St. Louis Mo. USA
www.timken.com

 

[Don Frelier]

I've seen trailer bearings that are rusted and look like ****, but I can't remember seeing any car bearings with rusted cages.
That's a new one.

 

[Dave6T4]

I worked at Canadian Timken from 1968 to 1980, and NEVER saw plastic cages to contain the rollers. During assembly, the rollers were fed to the inner cone, and the slightly oversized cage was dropped over and mechanically crimped to contain the rollers to the cone. Although not visable to the eye, the rollers and the surface of the cone were not flat, but were actually honed to give a slight crown, giving single point contact when new. As the bearings wore, this crown would gradually decrease. This gave quite an increase in life, and quiet running. The metal cages were phosphate treated to reduce chance of rust. The only way they would rust, is if they were not properly lubricated and subjected to water. I have never seen a plastic cage on a Timken bearing before, but it is most likely a cost-cutting measure. It likely just snaps on, rather than requiring an additional mechanical operation to install it, as the original metal cage did.
During the time that I worked at Timken, Japanese bearing manufacturers were "dumping" cheaper bearings on the North American market. Dumping means they were selling the bearings cheaper to North America than to their Asian markets. As a consequence, most American manufacturers started buying and installing the cheaper parts in their cars. This had a disastrous affect on Timken sales. They sued Japanese manufacturers under international anti-dumping laws, and eventually won their suit, but a lot of damage had been done. In this time period, small imported fuel efficient cars were making inroads into the N.A. car market. The local Ford store was right across the street, and it had a huge sign out front proclaiming "Buy the cars your neighbours build!" This of course referred to the Pinto's and Maverick's that were being built about 8 miles outside of St. Thomas at Ford's Talbotville factory. You guessed it! They all had Japanese wheel bearings in them. So much for buying from your neighbour (right across the street) .
Ironically, the company's president and all the department head's offices faced the street, and it must have pi$$ed them off no end to be looking out their windows at the Ford dealer's sign every day, knowing that competing Japanese bearings were going into all the cars they were selling!

 

[3sloppydogs]

When I was in fleet work for 30+ years the majority of bearings had the steel cages. However there were a few times we installed plastic caged bearings. I can't remember if it was on the trucks (35k chassis) or the 20k trailers. I do know we had no issue with them and wouldn't hesitate to use one from a quality manufacturer.
We did see the cheaper bearings fail in some small equipment but usually these were Chinese. The failure was usually the hardening on the bearing separating or flaking off. When replaced them we used good name brand bearings with the proper lubrication and the failure did not return

 

[WileERobby]

With all front wheel bearings to pack, I used this gizmo and my grease gun. Works like a charm.


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