Be attentive to your Timken bearing purchases

[dieselguy]

All things seem to have to change ... if you are a diehard Timken bearing manufactured in the ole U S of A fan ... look before you buy from now on. It's been going on for a bit, but Timken wheel bearings we all have come to seek out and trust may or may not be made in USA anymore ... look on the box before you buy. Canvassing OReilly's and Autozone store's locally it is near half and half now ... half made in USA ... half made overseas like Romania. The store owners admit it has become an increasing trend when they get in stock.

[WaltBennett]

It used to be that anything at all made overseas anywhere else was junk. Not so much anymore. It all depends on how tightly the corporate dudes have hold of quality control and such. The big problem for consumers is how to tell when a given corporation is paying attention or just raking in the profits. About the only thing I've found that's an indicator is their own PR - they'll usually say something about it, once they've already moved the jobs off to somewhere else.

[WeBeFulltime]

I am currently half way through my disc brake conversion and plan to finish today with the exception of bleeding the brakes. When I made my parts list for this project I insisted on Timken bearings and ordered from Amazon the 8 bearings I needed.

When my package arrived the FIRST thing I did was check to see if they were USA made and it was clearly stamped on all 8.

I could have bought bearings for 1/2 of what these cost but with some things you should just not cut corners.

[dieselguy]

I do prefer Timken for certain applications, but NSK, MRC, and McGill to name a few are good brands as well. Truth be realized ... we're all running tens of thousands of miles on overseas bearings when we buy our fivers ... I've not done a bearing repack on one in recent times that had made in USA stamped on them. You seldom hear of a wheel bearing failure at least on the RV sites I frequent. With this post, I just wanted to point out that Timken is no longer solely made in the US of A.

[J-KB]

Me being in the machine tool repair business for 50 years, Timken and all other brands have been made overseas for years. I used to have a bearing mfg company as a customer and half of there bearing were made abroad

[WeBeFulltime]

Originally Posted by J-KB

Me being in the machine tool repair business for 50 years, Timken and all other brands have been made overseas for years. I used to have a bearing mfg company as a customer and half of there bearing were made abroad

Well Timken must be misrepresenting their product then. I just finished installing a complete set of 8 and they were all marked "USA".

[dieselguy]

Like you stated ... you specifically asked for made in the US of A. OReilly's down the road from me has 25580 inners and 15123 outers in Timken boxes. On the box it says made in Romania.

[Phil P]

Hi

I just hit 100,000 miles on the trailer I have never removed the bearings to grease them just used the EZlub system. The only time I had the outer bearings out was when I replaced the brakes.

They are still running at less than 100F when on the road in the dark and a little higher on the sunny side of the trailer during the day.

Phil P

[mlh]

We buy a few thousand bearing in the shop each year. A few years ago Koyo bought the Timken factory where they were made so now they are Koyo bearing. They are still made in the same factory. It's the same bearing made in the USA with a different name on it.
Lynwood

[CORattler]

I didn't know that.

[WeBeFulltime]

Originally Posted by dieselguy

Like you stated ... you specifically asked for made in the US of A. OReilly's down the road from me has 25580 inners and 15123 outers in Timken boxes. On the box it says made in Romania.

My axles take 25580 & 14125A bearings.