Aftermarket Bearings

[Dale1995]

I have a 2320 John Deere with a front mount 54" blower, this spring I want to replace the bearings on the quick attach front pto, these are bearing designed for a hex shaft, plus I also want to replace some of the other bearings instead of waiting for something to go bad and it is 25- in the dead of winter. The bearing from my local JD dealer cost 25$ each, but I am finding that I can go online and buy them for about 8$ each..... why the difference in price? Is the JD Bearing better quality or am I paying for the name. I want to put as good a bearing as I can. Have any of you out there had any experience with this. I am wondering which way I should jump. I would appreciate any comments you have on this topic!:thumbsup:

 

[rgr33]

I replaced a bearing in my friends Mott flail mower five years ago with a generic bearing. the cost savings was about 40%. So far no problems, though I should mention it was not a Chinese made bearing that we used.

 

[oosik]

I helped a friend replace the auger - side bearings - on his snow blower. He used Timken brand and that was eleven years ago. Still works fine.

 

[drizler]

I helped a friend replace the auger - side bearings - on his snow blower. He used Timken brand and that was eleven years ago. Still works fine.

Timken is top of the line. I bet that's what OEM used in the first place. A lot of the time these OEM's go to great lengths to set their stuff up with bearings that you can't cross reference without paying as much as you will from THEM. You can't get most of those "shall we say odd" sizes at the discount places and the last time I forced myself to go to Kayman Bearing they were cheaper but I had to order a lot of at least 5 and shipping and tax. I'll never go near that place again. I replaced those side bearings on my Ariens 8hp blower last year and paid 20 apiece. You can never go wrong with timken though no matter where you get it and Cheaper is better.

 

[PILOON]

Very few bearings can not be replaced with aftermarket ones, just bring the old ones and let the bearing shop measure.
You often will be offered choices, USA made or import.

On a snow blower I'd go for import as in the order of things a blower is not a precise high tech device, also access is fairly easy.

A good shop also can supply U-joint X's in most cases, again on a PTO shaft (mere 500RPM) I'd be satisfied with import quality but I'd insist on greesable X's.

 

[RickB]

All bearings are aftermarket. Not a single tractor or equipment manufacturer makes their own bearings. Choose bearings based on your comfort matrix of price, convenience, and quality.

 

[LD1]

A lot of the time these OEM's go to great lengths to set their stuff up with bearings that you can't cross reference without paying as much as you will from THEM.

I think that is a bit exaggerated. Yes, there are times when an OEM uses a special hard to find bearing. But I doubt the reason is to make replacing difficult. Probably 99% of the bearings that OEM uses are standard inch or metric series bearings. MFG and quality of their choice. Timken, SKF, NTN, koyo, NSK, RBC among other are all good brands.

All bearings are aftermarket. Not a single tractor or equipment manufacturer makes their own bearings. Choose bearings based on your comfort matrix of price, convenience, and quality.

+1

 

[MHarryE]

You can't tell a bearing from its appearance. There are different seal types, different separators, different grease. Are they relube or fully sealed? Blower bearing sounds pretty straight forward and I would expect easy to replace so the risk is low. However, does the John Deere bearing use a special low temp grease knowing it is a winter application. How about the seal? Does the John Deere original have a low temperature seal? There is always some risk, but the less expensive bearing you install my be better than the John Deere you buy.

The last time I was involved in a bearing evaluation by Timken - they had a test stand with 16 bearings all running under the same load in the same test cell, completely identical test conditions. Bearings were all instrumented to monitor vibration, temperature, and possibly other parameters. Failure was when 1 of the 16 bearings began to vibrate indicating pitting on a bearing race or temperature climbing above the rest. This was used in establishing bearing life but remember only 1 of 16 bearings was beginning to fail. How long would the others have run? Every few years Timken would increase the load capacity of bearing groups due to improved steel production capabilities. Except for application failures due to a company using the wrong bearing for an application or end user operating a machine outside its intended range (including storage where condensation can get into a bearing causing corrosion which will result in rapid failure), steel used in making the bearings is the most important factor in bearing life. If I limited bearings to only those not built in China - not sure how that's done. Every major bearing manufacturer builds some of their bearings in China.

 

[PILOON]

A whole lot depends on the application.
On a helicopter rotor bearing or wind generator Timken or OEM for sure.
On a snow blower PTO shaft or auger that turns 540 or 71 RPM (and relatively easy access) what's the diff.
Do you really think that the manufacturer of that blower buys premium Timken?--don't think so, lowest bidder.

 

[Jay4200]

I have a 2320 John Deere with a front mount 54" blower, this spring I want to replace the bearings on the quick attach front pto, these are bearing designed for a hex shaft, plus I also want to replace some of the other bearings instead of waiting for something to go bad and it is 25- in the dead of winter. The bearing from my local JD dealer cost 25$ each, but I am finding that I can go online and buy them for about 8$ each..... why the difference in price? Is the JD Bearing better quality or am I paying for the name. I want to put as good a bearing as I can. Have any of you out there had any experience with this. I am wondering which way I should jump. I would appreciate any comments you have on this topic!:thumbsup:

If there is any question on getting the correct bearing, go JD - not worth the money to get the wrong thing then have to get it again. If you are sure about the size, get the bearing on-line. I'd put money that the JD bearings are the same made-in-China crap that you can get for $8 on-line. Your other option is to try to find a quality bearing from the Eastern bloc, Italy, or Japan, but you'll pay at least the same $25 for those. Personally, I'd go online bearings and if you need two, I'd buy 4. They'll probably last the rest of your life, but if they don't, you'll already have a set to put in and you're STILL ahead $18.

Almost forgot - just about all of the implements such as snowblowers and power transfer hitches use standard AG bearings - self-centering with extended locking collars (cam and/or allen). They're all pretty much the same.

 

[DB Pilot]

My woods ss52 snow blower I bought used needed new auger bearings which cost $35 each. :shocked: Found the same size on ebay for $12. 3 years now and still working. :thumbsup: I don't remember what I paid for new arbor bearings on my 2001, 60" Kubota mower deck, but I bought them from my dealer and had no problems with either cost or life expectancy, sure made it sound better.

 

[MHarryE]

I wrote a long explanation of my engineering experience but in real life I get the bearing number off the inner race (where it is usually stamped) and buy from Amazon where I get low prices and fast delivery. However if it was an internal bearing on our largest John Deere's transmission, I would likely go to Deere.

 

[Mace Canute]

The problem isn't country of origin, the problem is counterfeit product. A bearing manufactured under license from a reputable firm will be built to meet specific specs and will be every bit as good as anything you can find while a counterfeit one will only look like it's a bearing and will range from something that looks so right only the "real" manufacturer can tell the difference to ones that almost anyone can tell are fakes.

This article is a little over 2 years old but I doubt things have changed much since then.

Counterfeit bearings seized at Toronto airport - Canadian Manufacturing

Another interesting article here:

eBearing News - China's Bearing Manufacturers Face Counterfeiting

Googling "counterfeit Timken bearing made in China" yields a lot of interesting reading.

 

[RickB]

The problem isn't country of origin, the problem is counterfeit product. A bearing manufactured under license from a reputable firm will be built to meet specific specs and will be every bit as good as anything you can find while a counterfeit one will only look like it's a bearing and will range from something that looks so right only the "real" manufacturer can tell the difference to ones that almost anyone can tell are fakes.

This article is a little over 2 years old but I doubt things have changed much since then.

Counterfeit bearings seized at Toronto airport - Canadian Manufacturing

Another interesting article here:

eBearing News - China's Bearing Manufacturers Face Counterfeiting

Googling "counterfeit Timken bearing made in China" yields a lot of interesting reading.

Part of the big picture. Additionally, OEM's can and do source inexpensive bearings that don't stack up over time. CNH has recently brought the sourcing of its more common bearings back to North America after several years of substandard bearing performance by Chinese bearings in CNH packaging. More than one Parts Manager such as myself had moved away from stocking some part numbers of CNH replacement roller and sealed ball bearings in favor of higher quality name brand bearings from different sources.