Bearings Timken/China
 

Seems Timken has moved manufacturing to China so is it even worth it to pay double for their bearings anymore over the China no name bearings?

I can get the whole kit for $18
http://www.pacifictrailers.com/Trail...14125A/25580-/


or ONE Timken bearing for the same price. I don`t have a problem paying for better stuff but is it?

What I did a couple years ago was put the Chinese bearings on one side, Timken's on the other as an experiment to see if it actually made a difference. I got scoffed at by the bearing house for wanting actual Timkens, and they had to order them in. If I recall, I think at that time a lot of the Timkens said 'Made in India' on them anyhow, so what's the difference. This was on a 38 Top Gun on a Fastload triple with 5200 lb axles. The front axle seemed to take a lot of abuse compared to the other two, we just couldn't get the tongue up high enough with the two vehicle used at the time.

Unfortunately for the sake of the experiment, the boat was sold about a year later before I had a chance to really follow through and take everything apart again for inspection.

Maintenance probably plays the biggest part. If you have good seals, keep the pre-load acceptable and keep grease in them you'll probably have no issue with either.

Why pay a premium for Timken's if you aren't getting a premium bearing anymore? Maybe their chinese factory is better than a no-name bearings factory, but more than likely they are coming out of the same one.

Bearings
 

I really think the domestic bearings thing is overblown..any bearing will fail when water is in the hub. No bearing will survive when lubrication is gone..In the bearing world Boat trailer bearings are the way bottom of the precision high speed realm. So in my humble opinion the cheapest crap bearing will work well in a trailer bearing hub if lubricated correctly.....my 2 cents

While I do agree some what, It really depends on application and loading... I almost took a job at Timken as a Applications engineer.. The engineering that goes into them are crazy. They own there steel manufacturing plant were they have a tight control on the mix of alloys that are used. I still think you get what you pay for... Please say harbor freight doesn't sell them................

Oh OK except for Harbor Freight stuff.......

I`ll buy the Timken in the end at least the $$ goes to an American company.

As far as I know Timkin is still an american company. And assuming its still enforcing its same manufacturing/quality standards overseas, im not sure it maters where its made. Timkin built its reputation on being premium. Thats how it justifys the premium cost.
The manufacturing was moved overseas (most likely) exclusively due to labor costs.

ITS NOT SUSTAINABLE TO PAY NON SKILLED AMERICAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS OVER $40k A YEAR.
But most of them make more than that, many - much more.

One last thing - the overseas workers job DOES NOT mean any less to them than the american workers job means to them. Regardless of the pay difference. They still put the same effort into the product - which is as much or as little as the overall company standards call for.

Anyway - Buy the Timkin

Hold a Timken and an "other" side by side. You will see and like the difference.