Should I be concerned about quality of these new sealed wheel bearings?

I just sourced sealed wheel bearings but wonder if I should be concerned.

1) The single row bearings are made by FK of China. Is this a quality bearing from a quality company?

2) The double row bearings have no markings on them and I have just asked the supplier who makes them and
where from and why are they not marked? They have not come in factory packaging but in ziploc bags.
Both the double row bearings run smooth but clearly one has far more grease in
it than the other as there is significantly more turning resistance.
I am concerned that one may be over greased or one may be undergreased.
There is no way to know but since these are for wheel bearings, I am concerned
of failure.
I don't want to save money on sealed wheel bearings and get lower quality
I am grateful for your thoughts
Dennis

DennisMo said:

I just sourced sealed wheel bearings but wonder if I should be concerned.

1) The single row bearings are made by FK of China. Is this a quality bearing from a quality company?

2) The double row bearings have no markings on them and I have just asked the supplier who makes them and
where from and why are they not marked? They have not come in factory packaging but in ziploc bags.
Both the double row bearings run smooth but clearly one has far more grease in
it than the other as there is significantly more turning resistance.
I am concerned that one may be over greased or one may be undergreased.
There is no way to know but since these are for wheel bearings, I am concerned
of failure.
I don't want to save money on sealed wheel bearings and get lower quality
I am grateful for your thoughts
Dennis

Click to expand...

How much time ya got?

Yes, be concerned.

No idents = no traceability, or accountability.

The new world way.

Unless it's for critical mission application, not much choice.

A lot has changed.

The bearing you describe is in my rear wheel, 25,000 on it.



Like an "oil thread" only BIGGER!!
Bearing & lubricant show! Together under one roof!

My friend Pete ran a crew that built a new sawmill a few years ago. This was a medium sized operation that was powered by two 500 hp Caterpillar gensets. The mill was very complex in design. It used a lot of new robotic technology so that it could be run with a very small crew.
There were hundreds if not thousands of bearings involved. There was a huge savings in using bearings sourced in China vs North America or Europe.
On startup they expected there would be many computer problems and also some machinery problems. To their delight, with just some minor timing adjustments, they had the new mill working at full capacity in just two days.
Then the Chinese bearings started failing. Within the first week they experienced something like seventy bearing failures. At that point they had no choice but to disassemble the mill and replace all of the Chinese bearings throughout the mill.

Fortunately they had not used Chinese electric motors or their problems might have been even greater.
Having said all of that, the Chinese starter sprags have been good in the Nortons.
So it is still very hit and miss with Chinese goods.

Fushi Bearings are good and are Chinese, but only one example, significant proportion of the rest are junk commodity bearings.

Even if they are marked major manufacturer you have to wonder if they are knock offs or
even if real made to less than rigorous standards in a second world country.

As I recall, there are limited suppliers of sealed double row bearings that fit the Norton hubs.
Any I bought in the past were Chinese, sold by (Walridge, I think).
I have never had any issues with them.
What did your supplier say about them?

Even Timken, who us still US-based, and sells "US Made" bearings is not what old people would call US made.

"Timken bearings are primarily assembled in the United States of America, where the company has been in business since 1899. However, the company also distributes its product in 42 countries and manufactures components of the bearings in different countries like China, India, Romania, Taiwan, and more. Timken wheel bearings are made in the USA."

I consider PGN Bearings to be good and they are a Florida company. I seriously doubt that they make bearings in Florida! https://pgnbearings.com/ They have most bearings needed for vintage Norton and Triumph at good prices.

Sealed wheel bearings today are, to put it simple, junk. almost all made overseas. I've read multiple tests concerning wrong grease type (and amount), poor quality races, etc. I gave up on cheap bearings and on my 21" on a springer (my ironhead chop) I went to ceramic bearings sold by Boco Bearing out of Florida. You have a choice of races, grease, etc. Spendy- $67 each- but they run almost forever. I just replaced the ones I had after 7 or 8 years, more out of GPs than real wear. Cannot recommend more highly.

Where is everybody getting sealed double row name brand 4203 2RS bearings?
I kind of doubt they exist or why would CNW be selling the wider version (probably a 5203 RS) that requires machining?

Or pop the seals out and add grease to the one that needs it and see that the tight one isn't just junk.

Stephen Hill said:

Where is everybody getting sealed double row name brand 4203 2RS bearings?
I kind of doubt they exist or why would CNW be selling the wider version (probably a 5203 RS) that requires machining?

Wheel Double Row Sealed Bearing

High quality SKF sealed ball bearing High load version Great replacement for the stock open wheel bearing Maintenance free Note: This bearing is wider than the stock bearing and requires that the center spacer is machined down

coloradonortonworks.net

Click to expand...

The machining on the disc brake hub for the 5203 2RS is only to the spacer tube. (It is a little 'trickier for the rear drum hub)
The front (disc) hub itself is already machined deep enough to take that bearing (There is a space ( Single row bearing seated, double row floating) under the narrower stock 4203 from the factory)
The outer dimension remain stock so the wheel is not moved sideways and there will still be a 0.002" or so free space under the 5203 so it floats (seats on the inner spacer tube just like stock)

At the time I could not find a 4203 2RS bearing that was not made from Chinesium or unbranded so used a 5203 2RS after machining the spacer tube.
At least a 2RS will retain grease and should be a fit and forget item.
It would also be an off the shelf item at near any bearing / seal house country wide.

(There might be 4203 2RS available these days that is from a known manufacturer)

Stephen Hill said:

Where is everybody getting sealed double row name brand 4203 2RS bearings?
I kind of doubt they exist or why would CNW be selling the wider version (probably a 5203 RS) that requires machining?

Wheel Double Row Sealed Bearing

High quality SKF sealed ball bearing High load version Great replacement for the stock open wheel bearing Maintenance free Note: This bearing is wider than the stock bearing and requires that the center spacer is machined down

coloradonortonworks.net

Click to expand...

French company, US web site: https://www.123bearing.com/

That's where I get the ones I use/sell.

I asked the supplier for details of who made the double row sealed bearing and the reply was that
they have been used successfully for a long time. I have sent them back.

I have sourced known sealed bearings from the fellow I bought the bike from who
has been so kind to answer my constant technical questions as this is my first Norton

Thanks to all

Dennis

It’s been many years ( 2005, maybe) since I replaced wheel bearings and rebuilt gear box , I sourced everything from Walridge Motors in Ontario , no issues while kept bike until 2021 , can’t remember brand names but I do remember no brands unfamiliar , which I guess means zilch these days , best of luck !

Considering the amount of bearings made in China both for the Big branded names and white box market I would be more concerned with cheap branded item which could be fake than a bearing with made in China on it. The Chinese sprag is shown and proven by members here to be far more reliable than the branded names, having travelled to many manufacturing shows attended by global manufacturers we notice the quality of products from China improves at a rapid rate. In years past even fake bearings have made it into the branded names logistics chains, that is why many branded bearings now have hidden batch numbers on them.

Time Warp mentioned that only the spacer tube needs machining for the 5203 2RS bearing on the disc brake hub.
Worth nothing that on the rear wheel, the hub needs to be machined to take the wider bearing. A little trickier operation.

News to me. I thought the sealed bearings can go in with no mods needed?
Dennis

DennisMo said:

News to me. I thought the sealed bearings can go in with no mods needed?
Dennis

Click to expand...

4203-2RS can. Some sell 5203-2RS and they can't. Not sure who started it, but Old Britts explained how to go sealed as they couldn't find an easy source for 4203 so they used 5203. https://www.nwno.org/resources/OldBrittsWebsite/wheel_upgrade.html

This is one of the once important, now confusing Old Britts pages that I wish would go away - too many are confused!

DennisMo said:

News to me. I thought the sealed bearings can go in with no mods needed?
Dennis

Click to expand...

Just get 4203 bearings in 2RS (fully sealed) if you can, its that simple.
The stock 4203 was an open bearing with felts, 2RS if you can find them will be fit and forget given the average age of the members here.
#
I personally do not use Made in Timbuktu bearings in my bikes and some years back the only 4203 bearing I saw available were the sets from Don Pander.
The complete unbranded set I bought (both wheels) is "rusting" away on a shelf somewhere.

Luckily I found the fantastic Old Britts website (Hello Fred and Ella) and there was a quality fix.
As far as the front disc brake hub, the 5203 bearing (same OD and ID as the 4203 but around 1.5 mm wider >iirc) could be used and even for me Downunder was available off the shelf from the closest bearing/seal retailer (Industrial in my case)
I doubt anyone would be confused with, remove the extra width (1.5mm iirc) of the bearing from the spacer tube and fit the 5203 bearing so the outer measurement across the left and right bearing is retained as it was with the narrower 4203 bearing.
Its that easy.

Infact if there was a quality 4203 2RS bearing available now (I have not checked) I could simply buy a new spacer tube from Andover Norton (US$5.57) to replace the one I machined and fit that 4203 after removing the wider 5203 I have in there. (Not that I would)

If you have the means (machine tools at home) , is it worth fitting a 5203, probably not if a decent (2RS) 4203 was available unless you consider the 5203 an improvement.

My 850 also has taper roller steering head bearings (with the spacer tube shimmed to set the clearance so the lower stem nut can be torqued to spec)
Is that better than the stock ball bearings, I think so and because I could do so easily.
In hindsight I could have used a taper lower bearing and a ball upper bearing.

I simply try to make the most of what is there while retaining the outward appearance of the motorcycle and nothing is to much time or trouble and that applies to all my 'old motorcycles where possible.
#
One for Al.
Could they be the only set in the world.
1973 Moto Guzzi drum brake forks (steel sliders with welded on axle block) modified and jig re-welded to take Showa 20mm cartridges.

I mentioned 123bearing.com They stock several brands of 4203-2RS and ship very quickly. One they call "generic" and they also have SKF, NSK, and others. 4203-2RS are very hard to find in the US, except for the 123bearing.com web site and the PGN website I also mentioned.

So, not as easy as some bearings to find, but not hard to find either. You can even buy many FAG, SKF, PGN bearings on Amazon and today name brand 4203 are available from several sellers there, but no 4203-2RS

Don Pender and I also sell them (generic).