Rear hub Bearings/races parts sourcing

[Darkbloodmon]

I'm looking to get a parts list together for my rear hub assemblies on my 03 SRW, I've been leaking axle fluid for a while and I'd like to do a full brake job soon and the leak is holding me back.

I just got done doing the front wheel bearings on my mothers 98 4Runner; 250K miles on the OEM bearings before any noise occurred. Can you guess what brand the bearings were and who they were made by? Koyo by JTEKT, I sourced the same bearing through Beck and Arnley a OEM and Aftermarket parts distributor for Asian makes.

Thomasnet ranked the top bearing manufacturers by revenue using 4th quarter 2017 figures. Out of the 9 on that list; 6 of the manufacturers were headquartered in Japan. The top three being Aisin Seiki, Schaeffler Group, and JTEKT. Japan, Germany, Japan. Timken being the only USA headquartered manufacturer ranked 9th at the bottom. The snap rings I sourced for the wheel bearings came from Timken, and they were made in China. I'm not worried about it, it's a piece of stamped steel that just sits in a grove to prevent movement, not difficult to manufacture nor is it's function complicated provided the install was done right.

I'm looking to source bearings and races for my rear hubs, I've no doubt that the OEM ones are Timken and made in the USA, but that can't be said for the ones made nearly two decades later. This can be said for the 4Runner as the bearings were an exact match code for code engraved on the race face.

If anyone has already done the ground work and cross sourced part numbers for Japanese made bearings/races I'd appreciate it if you could pass on that information. If not I'll be digging and calling for these part numbers and follow up here for anyone else interested.

 

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

I'm be interested to hear what you find. I have Timken bearings for my Scrambler sitting on my work bench. Some were made in the USA, some made in China, all are SET10 bearings ordered at the same time.

I had the same thing happen with Spicer U joints for the front axle in the Dodge.

In both cases, the quality appeared to be identical, regardless of the country of origin.

 

[Ozymandias]

Summitracing or Rockauto?

Usually my source if I need a branded part.

 

[Jim W]

A lot of BRG manufactures along with others manufactures switched to China to manufacture their product in the late 80's such as Timken, SKF and Parker-Hannifin, to name a few. Since Japanese manufactures were already manufacturing in China, the US companies need to manufacture in China to stay competitive. The marketing people from these companies present their material on the switch to Chinese manufacturing to Caterpillar and other corporations. I was in on some of the meetings that the suppliers assured Caterpillar, that there would be no quality defects or material changes in the products made from China.

An I am sure that the automotive industry was in on this push to manufacture Tier 2 and Tier 3 products at a lower cost. This would include fasteners, bearings, hose assemblies and hydraulic fittings plus filters and so forth. A penny or two saved for each part manufactured in the automotive industry equates to a vast cost savings for the industry.

In my humble opinion there are several manufactures of end products that are just as good quality wise that are made in China. Such as Timken, SKF, Parker-Hannifin, and Eaton-Weatherhead, Caterpillar, John Deer and Komatsu products to name a few. Then there are copycat products that are not worth the cost to make them and ship to US of A. buyer beware.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Follow up, still awaiting a response from Jtekt Japan and USA, sent out two emails respectively to their parts and service departments asking for cross reference part numbers and I've still not heard back after a few weeks. I've already gone and ordered a rear hub bearing and seal kit from Torque king 4x4 that comes with Timken branded Bearings, races, and seals. I'll still be looking for these numbers though, I've just got to get a move on with repairs.

 

[Jim W]

They may not answer you; some companies customer service could be improved.

 

[Ozymandias]

Torque King is top notch!
Good choice.

 

[EDankievitch]

I’m interested in what you learn. I just did my front wheel bearings last month. The original Timkin races from Spyntec had a very strange wear pattern. You could catch your fingernail in the rut the rollers left in the cups. No rust or putting just a path worn into the cup race. They had 147k miles on them and were never re greased after installing. Still I’ve never had races wear like these did. I went with Spicer I believe they were marked SKF.
Two years ago I lost a wheel on my boat trailer. I had just done the bearings roughly 1500 miles earlier. I found the inner races had cracks in them. The one cracked the pieces came out and allowed the wheel to come off. The other races had cracks. I don’t think the metal was heat treated properly or was the wrong metal. There was no water or rust in those hubs just clean grease at time of failure. Those bearings said made in China.

 

[Wayne M.]

This is a really tough deal- what brand to trust.
Loyalty? That’s gone out the window.
It’s becoming apparent to me that China is up to speed and is now capable of making a decent product. The problem is knowing if you are you getting that decent product?
I went off looking just now, wind up on the SKF Corp site, and came across this. I find it interesting. Seems that SKF has a real counterfeit problem.
https://www.skf.com/us/organisation/brand-protection/authenticate-app

 

[Darkbloodmon]

I’m interested in what you learn. I just did my front wheel bearings last month. The original Timkin races from Spyntec had a very strange wear pattern. You could catch your fingernail in the rut the rollers left in the cups. No rust or putting just a path worn into the cup race. They had 147k miles on them and were never re greased after installing. Still I’ve never had races wear like these did. I went with Spicer I believe they were marked SKF.
Two years ago I lost a wheel on my boat trailer. I had just done the bearings roughly 1500 miles earlier. I found the inner races had cracks in them. The one cracked the pieces came out and allowed the wheel to come off. The other races had cracks. I don’t think the metal was heat treated properly or was the wrong metal. There was no water or rust in those hubs just clean grease at time of failure. Those bearings said made in China.

I'll post anything I find in this thread. I'll keep my old bearings and races out of the rear hubs for reference, I have 230K on my 03 and I'd say majority of drive train hasn't been touched since factory, It'll be informative to compare original parts from 18 years ago to the replacement options of the present.

Interesting that you mention Spyntec, I'm waiting on my set to come in the mail, I'll be using Amsoil Dominator to pack them. 147K is pretty impressive.

A while back I got a hold of an Eaton Automated 6 speed out of a class 8 Volvo. The unit was trashed, something burned up and got puttied; but I took it apart for the hardware and misc. pieces. What I found surprising about it was that the bearing races were really hard to scratch and chip and for the most part they were decent compared to the rest of the trans. I'll try to do some digging on their bearing suppliers aswell.