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Originally Posted by vwnate1
C., I'm curious ~ did your original bearings have play or any nice when you spun them ? .
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I miss having a bearing house nearby. There has been a lot of consolidation in that industry. It’s like the number of machine tool and welding suppliers has shrunk at the same time.
Yes they had a bit of end play. I had to take them out of the pump to feel it. In the pump they felt good but when I got them out in my fingers the inner race would have a little wobble it from wear. You know how on a really good annular you can hold the inner race in your finger tips and the only degree of freedom the outer race has is rolling rotation. Something like an ABEC 5 or CN 3 just doesn’t have any side to side rattle. My worn OEM bearings had a little side to side wobble in them. Kind of like if you wiggle a wheel with the car jacked up and you get some side to side play. Basically they were worn or they shipped with loose tolerances.
Not sure what you mean by “nice”. I’d say the old ones were good to continue using but they definitely had seen some wear and tear. My cars had lower miles than yours. By 400k I’d say yes, pull them out and inspect them.
I’m sure it has a lot to do with how the car was maintained. My cars were abused by the multiple POs.
As for brands, I chose SKF because that’s what was in there as OEM. There are other good brands like Timken, NSK, NMB or GMB and others. Just don’t get cheapie no name ones from India or China that are made for toys. I got a really good deal on some Italian made SKF that came in a four pack. It was perfect because I have two cars.
I’m still not sure I got it all right as far as the bearing specs go. My bearings are good quality but they aren’t the same as the SKF OEM I pulled out. Will I regret changing them out? I don’t know. I hope not.
Bringing the originals into a bearing house sounds like a smart way to go. They may be able to make sense of the specs on the original part.