Rear Wheel Bearing

[David Thomas]

About a year and a half back, I replaced the third member in my 63. At that time, I also had new wheel bearings pressed onto the axles. Right out of the box, the right bearing leaked like a sieve, the parts house replaced it under warranty. Unfortunately, I had to pay again to get it pressed on, but at least the bearing was replaced.

Yesterday, I was under the car flushing the brake fluid and noticed the backing plate on the right rear wheel at the bottom, was damp with oil at the lower edge. Looks like it's leaking a little bit, again.

I have seen three brands available from parts sources, Timken, National and SKF. Is there a consensus of which one of these three, is the best quality? One of these, National, has been the leaker twice now. NAPA lists a bearing under their label, but not the manufacturer brand. Not to mention, theirs is priced considerably higher than the price of the others

Thanks, David

[David Thomas]

Jason, Hyatt bearings must be extreamly high quality. I replaced the original inner and outer Hyatt bearings on my cars right front wheel last fall. They had over 223 thousand miles on them! I doubt the Napa replacements will last that long!

On another follow up note to this post, the SKF bearing I recently purchased for the rear axle is made in China, bummer. I verified with SKF that it was indeed their bearing and that is where they make them. I hope they have good quality control. SKF bearings are supposed to be good quality, I hope that pans out when I get it pressed onto the axle and put it into service.

[Jason Edge]

Here are a couple of pictures of the original Hyatt front inner and outer bearings:

 

[Jason Edge]

Original Bearings were from Hyatt Roller Bearings. I just pulled a nice original set form that 98K convertible front wheel.  Here's a link to some info about them.

[David Thomas]

Hey Dave, yes indeed, global manufacturing is the current norm........ THAT'S a big old roller bearing!

[David Thomas]

Hi Jason, That's the issue, all bearings seem to be manufactured globally, meaning in multiple countries. Like your Timken were actually produced in Poland, some other style Timken may come from Mexico or another country, even the U.S.A. It seems, with all manufacturers, it depends on what bearing you need, will determine what country the production line resides for that bearing number. I'll know where the SKF RW509FR rear wheel bearings were made, pretty soon.

I started to order a Timken from AutoZone, but ended up choosing the SKF because of past experience with the Napa brand bearing giving good service. Time will tell. Years ago, I always chose Timken over any other brand and always had good service life out of them.

Thanks, David

[Jason Edge]

Bill and David, I have a single set of new Timken front wheel inner and outer bearings new in the box and they both say Made in Poland.  I have these "Polish" Timkin bearings on my 64 CDV for going on 10 years now with zero problems.

 

[David Thomas]

Bill, Thanks for your thoughts. Trying to buy American is a good deal, but difficult to do sometimes. I've tried to research what brand bearing is actually made in the U.S.A. with no luck. I called Napa to find out where their bearing was made, they told me it was made by SKF. I replaced Napa bearings when I put in the Nationals. The Napa bearings had over 100K miles on them. I decided to order another SKF from Rock Auto at a considerable savings over what Napa wanted for their bearing. Hope it was the right move, I know two leaky National bearings out of 3 is not a good track record. I'll steer clear of the National bearings in the future.

Thanks, David