USA made bearings?

[Renze]

Apologies if this was already mentioned, as I've not read the entire thread. I use Bearing Buddies on all my trailers to ensure the bearings always are sufficiently greased:

USA made bearings?

Going to do some trailer maintenance on my Dad's tandem axle trailer. Wondering if USA made bearings still exist?

www.tractorbynet.com

Looks like the grease pot on the water pump bearing of my Zetor 3011. You just turn the pot half a turn every week to relube the pump bearings.

After it went after 50 years, the modern replacement has sealed-for-life bearings.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

That is BS. One, it's Timken (again), not Timkin and 2, ALL bearings are cataloged with a number for cross reference on them somewhere. Don't matter where they are made.

I've had the same issue with SD cards. Amazon and ebay are flooded with counterfeits

 

[milkman636]

A service tech of the Dutch importer said they noticed the warranty and service calls of the Chinese assembled M314 drop considerably below the French made M315,16,17,18, 20 and 22.

You just got to be there to oversee the quality in an Asian factory, but when you do, an Asian worker will do exactly as told, how told and when told, whether its monday morning or friday evening and whether their child is ill or if they had a good time with the missus before going to work.

A friend of mine lived and worked in China for about 3 years back around Y2K. He was hired directly by the Chinese to impart his knowledge in a moderate size town of about a million people in the central interior. They paid him well and provided everything for him, including a party official with him at all times monitoring where he went and all his communication. According to him, the “people” drill some work ethic into workers at the beginning of each shift with a brain washing session. They started their day In formation with songs and rhetoric. The supervision and even their “union” reps are party members. Underperformance was rewarded with an even less desirable working situation. Many of the workers only got home one weekend a month to see their family to even know if they were sick. The western looking workers at the time were only in specific areas where foreigner journalists were allowed to see them. What you saw from China was all a show. I hope it’s gotten better for them there since then. It’s hard to imagine that a billion people can’t do better.

 

[chevy]

We have a NSK bearing factory about 2 miles from our house.

 

[coast40]

Candidly, I get tired of poor spelling, not only on Internet sites like this one, but on public billboards and print newspapers as well. One of my favorites is the mis spelling of the word 'Defense' in regards to the Ukraine conflict. For some reason, news outlets have changed the word 'defense' to 'defence' and run with it. I guess no one bothers to proof read anything today.

Timken is a registered trademark and butchering it on a public viewed forum, I find that less than acceptable.

In fact, I never even look at threads where the titles are butchered like 'Hydrolic' for instance or 'Kabota' for another.

Lately, this site has been chock full of poor spelling and poor grammar as well and that directly reflects on the poster in my view.

'Defence' is the UK spelling. I see it on Reuters news. Defence or Defense: Which Is the Correct Spelling?

 

[milkman636]

Quality control is still a human activity.
When i order a custom excavator slew bearing in Southern Germany, right next to the Czech border, our supplier calls me and tells a dowel hole is .053mm out of tolerance. "Do we need to rework that, or do you give permission to carry on ?" Then i tell them its to center the inner gear teeth of the slew bearing to the pinions, which after 32.000hrs of offshore dredging, have more play than 0.053mm so we dont bother. "All right, could you then please write me a short email which says that you accept this deviation ?"

We, as Dutchmen, often wonder about Germans and their procedures. We are better in bespoke excavator modification than the Germans because we think out of the box more easily. But when it comes to quality procedures, the Germans are right at it !!

Yup, but thats France. The Belgian factory of loaders and tracked excavators in Gosselie is already closed and moved to China. I think 6 years ago now. The joke is that French and Belgians are on strike so often that they dont have time to take all their payd holidays

The Chinese, or workers from most Asian cultures, prove that they can follow orders as good as automated processes. Workers in Southern Europe (or any country with a Romanic language, generally) have different work ethics than where Germanic languages (German, English, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish) are spoken.

I appreciate your posts. My grandfather was an immigrant to the US from Haarlem. So I’m partial to Dutch ingenuity and impressed with how the Netherlands evolved and the agricultural operations that exist there. I’ve also worked directly with Germans from Siemens, and some very knowledgeable and impressive technical people from India on large systems and equipment. One of the best contracting groups I’ve worked with was from Mexico City. The globe is truly gifted with talented and capable people all over.

France may be the exception though, I’m still waiting to work with someone from there that impresses me favorably.

 

[ThePumpkin507]

Its just good precaution to have the spare parts. With higher speed limits, brings more heat.You have to be pro active in any situation.

 

[ctois]

Might be somewhat biased here but swedish SKF do have manufacturing sites in the US as well.

SKF USA Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of SKF Group, a world leader in rolling bearings and related technologies including sealing solutions, lubrication systems and services. Twenty-eight of SKF’s 140 global manufacturing sites are located in the U.S., including facilities for the production of seals, lubrication systems and rolling bearings.

SKF

www.skf.com

 

[milkman636]

IIRC, NAPA has SKF bearings. No idea where they were made though.

 

[mrmikey]

the modern replacement has sealed-for-life bearings

Bet you won't get 50 years out of them

 

[Dftodd]

Agreed. I don't know if all Timken bearings are made in the U.S., but all the ones I've bought are.

Koyo is a Japanese company, but there's a Koyo plant that makes bearings close to where I live in Orangeburg, SC.

I've had really good luck with Timkin and Koyo

 

[Renze]

Bet you won't get 50 years out of them

Nobody said whose life. I wonder that with Snap-on too, guarantee for my lifetime, or will they say "well its dead. Warranty expired"

 

[Dftodd]

Nobody said whose life. I wonder that with Snap-on too, guarantee for my lifetime, or will they say "well its dead. Warranty expired"

Actually the lifetime warranty with the big 3 tool companies is garbage.

They change something in the design of the tool thus making the tool you broke obsolete and no longer valid for the lifetime warranty.

 

[5030]

Just replaced the spindle bearings in my Bridgeport Versa-Trak. You want to talk about big buck bearings, those are high precision ABEC Class 5 and only SKF has them. How about 300 bucks each and the head requires 4 sets.

 

[Loaderman22]

Did you look on the bearing inside the SKF box? I bought these from NAPA. Read the box, then read what's stamped in the race, something doesn't match up, but I can't quite put my finger on it....

 

[Loaderman22]

But to answer the OP's question, yes, there are bearings made in the USA, but you can't buy them. Schatz Bearing in Poughkeepsie, NY makes bearings in their facility, however they make the utmost quality bearings only for organizations like NASA! I live near there, I called them when I needed bearings for my axle, they said no.

 

[Timmy1957]

There is a NTN bearing plant in Hamilton AL I have worked there as a contractor several times. It has been there many years and still is.

 

[BravoXray]

Did you look on the bearing inside the SKF box? I bought these from NAPA. Read the box, then read what's stamped in the race, something doesn't match up, but I can't quite put my finger on it....

Apparently China has annexed Japan, I missed that on the news.

 

[5030]

Actually the lifetime warranty with the big 3 tool companies is garbage.

I've found (from first hand experience) that the best warranty is actually Harbor Freight on their mid grade and better hand tools and especially sockets. I've tried hard to break their impact sockets and so far, zilch.

Last time I was on a tool truck (Snap-On), I needed a 12 volt test light. The guy handed me a real pretty Snap on one in a snazzy box and I opened it and it said right on the tool, 'Made in China' It was almost a hundred bucks. I passed and went to HF and bought one for under 20 bucks.

 

[orezok]

Did you look on the bearing inside the SKF box? I bought these from NAPA. Read the box, then read what's stamped in the race, something doesn't match up, but I can't quite put my finger on it....

The box was made in Japan. The bearing in China