Best Rear Wheel Hub Assembly?

[FU]

Originally Posted by GOLDCYLON

Timken. Make fine other bearings as well.

TIMKEN..the best !

[batchman]

Originally Posted by RHanselman

Any recomondations?

I've come to the conclusion that they are all now made in the same factory in China. Having gone through 1-2 sets of hubs a year for the last few years I have seen random logos mixed up and they all seem to have very similar design. For me they all fail the same way - seal gets overheated, lube leaves, hub becomes junk. Front or rear, and in either front style (we run both ABS styles).

At least I got through a couple sets on Autozone's 1 year guarantee. Now I'm preparing to back date my front hubs so at least I can toss the cheap ones (sensor separate).

If there is play in all directions (ie shake wheel l/r & t/b) it's a hub - if it's tight in any of those directions it's something else.

315 and 335 slicks are addictive, but they extract their price beyond just paying Hoosier... LOL!

Best,
- Jeff

[sdycke]

The 'one factory in china' analogy isnt too far from the truth in that they do produce different quality parts for differnet customers under the same roof. I know this for a fact. What muddys the waters further is that the SAME bearing can be sold by both a better name brand retailer (eg NAPA) vs a discount retailer with a MUCH lower price (with a MUCH shorter warranty. ie you pay for the warranty). All I can say is from my experience as a journeyman mechanic here, NTN-BOWER seems to work well. Timken is probably the best known and maybe works as well but how many times have i looked at a new Timken bearing and found 'made in Romania' or wherever on it and wondered hmmmmm.....like the set of Dunlops I bought that were made in Poland; with further investigation I found they were made at the Buna rubber plant the Nazis built at Auschwitz/Birkenau. But they ran fine and lasted...I guess thats the price for globalization. Maybe those Romanian Timken bearings were the best out there? Untill I get burned I will continue to use NTN-Bower, because they have held up for me (although I dont race) and definitely have seen many people get burned using white box/private label (autozone, partsource, whathaveyou...) bearings. Thats my experience anyway. PS I'm sure youre aware a bearing that can has no play by feel can definitely growl....buy/borrow an 'electronic ear' set up....its invaluable for times like these (eg customer says LF is noisy but you can tell him, sorry sir BOTH front bearings are noisy, LF more so....or no its just your tires or torqrue converter etc) cheers! Uh oh. last call.....In short, go with what you know or trusted people advise but know that globalization can change it all in a heartbeat, as when my beloved NTN bearings are sourced from North Korea or Cuba when the opportunity presents....

[RHanselman]

Put the Timken’s on and no real change so tonight I swapped the tires around between the turbo car and #140. Yep it worked, no more noise...

I guess I have two good use bearings in storage now...

Cheers,

[4DSZR1]

Originally Posted by RHanselman

Put the Timken’s on and no real change so tonight I swapped the tires around between the turbo car and #140. Yep it worked, no more noise...

I guess I have two good use bearings in storage now...

Cheers,

Hi Ron, Where did you buy your Timkens?

Thanks

Rick

[RHanselman]

Originally Posted by 4DSZR1

Hi Ron, Where did you buy your Timkens?

Thanks

Rick

Rick,

Got them via the AutoZone website. They offered a $20 gift card for every $100 so I got two for the purchase...

Cheers,
Ron

[4DSZR1]

Originally Posted by RHanselman

Rick,

Got them via the AutoZone website. They offered a $20 gift card for every $100 so I got two for the purchase...

Cheers,
Ron

Cool :-)

Thanks

Rick

[phrogs]

I have two complete sets of rear end parts if anyone is interested.