Best shell bearings (2020)

Hortons Norton

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What would you guys think are the best shell bearings for an Atlas?? And what would you stay away from?
 
I think Kommando will chime in , he was involved into , and normally advised Vandervell and /or Glacier ........if you could find them ?
 
For racing the you want a Trimetallic shell, Vandervell NOS or current Clevite. High strength copper lead inner lining for good resistance to high combustion pressures but with a soft overlay to protect the copper lead from attack by acids that form in the oil. The soft overlay is only microns thick and once its gone then you need new shells.

Aluminium Tin is a bimetallic shell, good for road bikes, lower fatigue strength but lower wear rates under road conditions as no need for an overlay as not attacked by acids in oil. This is the most widely used bearing material in automotive applications, as it has a hard surface it does not like dirty oil, so an oil filter is required. Glacier, Glyco are good current makers of these shells. Wassells have just entered the market with a Hepolite branded Aluminium Tin shell bearing, Hepolite never made shell bearings as their parent company owned Glacier, so who makes these is unknown but it is not Glacier, could be Glyco but not seen them close enough to be sure.
 
i have seen King bearings for Norton (RGM) but all the other offerings are unbranded if Glacier / Glyco / Clevite are still producing why do we not see them sold in these brands ?
New stock shells i have purchase sold as Genuine Glacier are non branded plain white boxes all fit and work ok but bear no makers marks on the product
 
There was never a Trademark stamped on Glacier bearings, the nearest you get is a G inside a square stamped on the back of the bearing but it was never registered. The white box was used for sets when the buyer did not have their own boxes to supply or would not pay for printed boxes. Velocette the parts distributors bought them in white boxed and waxed crepe paper.
 
I have King bearings in a couple of Nortons. As Frankie 17 points out they are from RGM. The bloke who grinds my crankshafts told me that King make some of the best quality bearings available.

Martyn.
 
can you give us a clue where to buy the ' Trimetallic...Vandervell NOS or current Clevite ' shells?
 
Anyone know anything about brand/quality of the shells that Andover Norton supplies?

Ed
 
With few (next to none) bearing shells are made by Federal-Mogul in the states, I did hear that that division may have been sold so the name may not be right,

I had some problems with new AN rods and one of the questions they asked was who made the bearings, when I told them Federal-Mogul they said, "Oh that's where we get them too".

Best.
 
Federal Mogul is the parent company of Glyco in Germany, but they also got the Glacier plant in South Africa but cannot use the G in a square on the shells they make but they use the Glacier AS15 aluminium/tin process. They also got the heavy duty Clevite plant in McConnelsville, OH but sold it to Miba Bearings.

King Bearings is based in Israel, they do not do much if any OEM work and mainly do Aftermarket and were low price competitors. Have no experience of their quality.

can you give us a clue where to buy the ' Trimetallic...Vandervell NOS or current Clevite ' shells?

NOS are rare but can be sometimes found on eBay, I believe AN had a batch of trimetallic bearings made in the last couple of years, these may be Clevite or from Glacier Racing, the base steel and leaded bronze will be the same but the overlay will be different. Clevite is a harder Lead/Tin, Glacier Racing is a softer Lead/Indium. You need to contact AN, but remember they are best suited to racing.
 
With few (next to none) bearing shells are made by Federal-Mogul in the states, I did hear that that division may have been sold so the name may not be right,

I had some problems with new AN rods and one of the questions they asked was who made the bearings, when I told them Federal-Mogul they said, "Oh that's where we get them too".

Best.
Hi Scholar,
What problem did you have with AN rods?

Ed
 
seems a little strange for Velocette to request packing them in white boxes , commercially it does not make sense to not pay a slight premium for Vandervell packaging
selling branded product would be much easier than selling a white box with especially with no manufacturers branding on the product

unbranded white box normally points to Asia Made , the only new stock bearings i have seen with the makers branding are King all others sold as Glyco / Clevite / Vandervell / Glacier racing
have no makers mark or any sign of original packaging and do not appear in any of the makers product listings

A good freind of mine works for a motorsport engine component supplier and work very closely with Federal mogul , Norton bearings were de listed many years back no Glyco / Mahle / Glacier / clevite
part numbers currently exist on their data base they have even checked for any N.O.S with distribution in Kontich Belgium and they have no records of ever supplying in Europe
 
seems a little strange for Velocette to request packing them in white boxes , commercially it does not make sense to not pay a slight premium for Vandervell packaging

Well they were Glacier bearings not Vandervell as Velocette asked for and were supplied Aluminium Tin, they could have had printed boxes but they could not have said Glacier or Vandervell as Velocette had no rights to the use of the names as they are trademarked and owned by Mahle, who sadly have no use for them as they think Mahle carries more weight.

That is global sourcing for you, a complete mess and the legal paperwork carries more weight than the original factory and product development sites.
 
federal Mogul group re branded all the Glacier / AE components range some years back to Glyco / Mahle all the original shell part numbers are kept on a international data base
and can be cross referenced / re manufactured to special order if they still have tooling and you hit the required batch production numbers for a classic fitment you can purchase batch production in the Glyco brand and they will refer customer enquiry`s to you as a stockist but have no current records of supplying any classic motorcycle shells

how long ago did Velocette commission this new production batch it may have been possible some years back
 
Federal Mogul and Mahle are direct competitors, so FM never had anything to do with Glacier Vandervell except during the 6 months they owned Glacier Vandervell after they bought T&N who also owned AE Autoparts the outlet for GV at the time. The European competition authority only allowed the purchase of T&N if FM immediately put Glacier Vandervell up for sale. FM sold Glacier Vandervell to Dana Corp and there was an interim agreement for I think 2 years Glacier Vandervell to supply FM AE Auoparts with Glacier Vandervell bearings but they stopped ordering earlier as they set up other sources. Dana Corp sold Glacier Vandervell to Mahle some years later after falling into chapter 11 so Mahle never had any contact with FM or AE Autoparts as the sale to Mahle was years after the interim agreement.

The AE Autoparts catalogues and their part numbers, which were originally for Glacier Vandervell parts, they continued in use after they no longer used Glacier Vandervell, as they were AE Autoparts numbers. The AE Autoparts numbers were not trademarkable and were copied by other aftermarket outfits. Hence the confusion over who supplies the parts as several aftermarket outfits use them if only as a cross reference.

Velocette ordered parts back in the 2000's, could have ordered more later but I no longer have access to the info.
 
Federal Mogul is the parent company of Glyco in Germany, but they also got the Glacier plant in South Africa but cannot use the G in a square on the shells they make but they use the Glacier AS15 aluminium/tin process. They also got the heavy duty Clevite plant in McConnelsville, OH but sold it to Miba Bearings.

King Bearings is based in Israel, they do not do much if any OEM work and mainly do Aftermarket and were low price competitors. Have no experience of their quality.

can you give us a clue where to buy the ' Trimetallic...Vandervell NOS or current Clevite ' shells?

NOS are rare but can be sometimes found on eBay, I believe AN had a batch of trimetallic bearings made in the last couple of years, these may be Clevite or from Glacier Racing, the base steel and leaded bronze will be the same but the overlay will be different. Clevite is a harder Lead/Tin, Glacier Racing is a softer Lead/Indium. You need to contact AN, but remember they are best suited to racing.

I have only used AN supplied shells...in my race motor with Maney short stroke crank and JSM long Carillo rods.....I was just asking to see if I could aactually find a vendor for what might be a slightly more suitable product....they are changed every time the bottom end is pulled apart!
 
I have only used AN supplied shells...in my race motor with Maney short stroke crank and JSM long Carillo rods.....I was just asking to see if I could aactually find a vendor for what might be a slightly more suitable product....they are changed every time the bottom end is pulled apart!

can you give us a clue where to buy the ' Trimetallic...Vandervell NOS or current Clevite ' shells?

NOS are rare but can be sometimes found on eBay, I believe AN had a batch of trimetallic bearings made in the last couple of years, these may be Clevite or from Glacier Racing, the base steel and leaded bronze will be the same but the overlay will be different. Clevite is a harder Lead/Tin, Glacier Racing is a softer Lead/Indium. You need to contact AN, but remember they are best suited to racing.

If you are changing every time the bottom end is apart then if AN can confirm they are trimetallic then stick with AN.
 
seems a little strange for Velocette to request packing them in white boxes , commercially it does not make sense to not pay a slight premium for Vandervell packaging
selling branded product would be much easier than selling a white box with especially with no manufacturers branding on the product

unbranded white box normally points to Asia Made , the only new stock bearings i have seen with the makers branding are King all others sold as Glyco / Clevite / Vandervell / Glacier racing
have no makers mark or any sign of original packaging and do not appear in any of the makers product listings

A good freind of mine works for a motorsport engine component supplier and work very closely with Federal mogul , Norton bearings were de listed many years back no Glyco / Mahle / Glacier / clevite
part numbers currently exist on their data base they have even checked for any N.O.S with distribution in Kontich Belgium and they have no records of ever supplying in Europe
Correct.
 
Not clearly knowing the maker of AN's white box bearings, I have decided to purchase the Kings.
Will see over time how they compare with the excellent service life I've received from NOS originals.
 
Kings supplied by RGM are Trimetallic, but they use sintered and rolled leaded bronze not cast leaded bronze. This will make the King bearing have a slightly lower fatigue strength, down by 5% so not much but if you use them on the limit they will fail sooner. For road use Aluminium Tin is just as good as long as an oil filter is used.
 
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