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

When I first started pulling Nortons apart, I didn't know about sealed wheel bearings.
I washed out the original bearings, which were almost always in great shape, and installed them with new felt seals.
I made a custom punch which cut both diameters of the new seal in one shot.
The seals were punched out of an old felt hat brim that was the perfect thickness. Worked great.
A good British bike parts supplier can supply new felt seals.
And no worries about bearings made out of chinesium.
 
Mike40M said:
Stumbled on this thread. Did a google search on fake bearings. Was horrified.
Click to expand...
Fakery is everywhere these days unfortunately.

You can never protect yourself against it 100%. But buying from trusted / respected sources GREATLY stacks the odds in your favour.

Conversely, buying from random retailers who have no Norton connection, or from those with a chequered history / reputation, or from faceless sellers on the internet, definitely increases your likelihood of obtaining fake, and thus poor quality, goods.
 
For those that insist on brand names, I can now get SKF 4203-2RS. They cost almost 3 times as much as the generic ones I sell. PM or email.
 
I am pleased to say that with an internal bearing puller I got the bearings out first
try by heating the hub a bit with a propane torch.

The new sealed bearings of good quality are now installed

Doing the rear bearings will be easy now!

Many thanks to all
Dennis
Vancouver
 
Stephen Hill said:
What do we know about the bearing supplied by Don Pender?
Click to expand...
I know about the one fitted to the brake hub (4203 2RS). I fitted one of Don's rear hubs in November 2020. I had it collapse last year after just under 13,000 miles.

I did approach Don about this and did get a reply saying all his earlier stock bearings have been used up. So they are out there somewhere. It’s maybe a bit unfair to post this without him knowing so @madass140

A friend who knows a mechanical forensics engineer looked at what I recovered.

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Steel is not all the same, when I was tasked with buying steel for shell bearings the spec included an allowable level of manganese inclusions, not normally a requirement for other components. If the level was not met the each inclusion was a weak point, on a shell bearing this produced a 'tick' where a piece of steel lifted away. Ball and roller bearing manufacturers have the same requirements, if an inclusion is just below the surface of the track it lifts and reveals a hole which then starts the failure of the bearing. The lowest inclusion steel makers were in Germany/Sweden and Belgium. When I asked a Chinese maker a decade ago what their inclusion level was I got a 'what's an inclusion' reply. They will have moved on and improved as otherwise the bearing makers would not be in China but its does show the cheaper bearings have more than just dimensions to get right.
 
Resurrecting this thread as I just pulled apart the hub on Muttster and the Pender supplied generic 4203 i installed not long enough ago was weapy and rough.

I ride my bike a bit hard, and do all day rides in crappy weather here in NZ. I would prefer a sealed bearing.

The 6203 AN sell are nice FAG 2RS C3.

The Koyo 4203 they sell are open and do not appear to be C3.

Steadfast advertises that same bearing in a C3.

As noted above, you can get a good SKF 4203-2RS.

You can also get a nice open FAG 4203B-TVH with better specs than the Koyo, and I think in C3 as well.

What you can't seem to get is a 4203 2RS C3.

Why a single row C3 and not the double row in the front hub?

Would a 4203 C3 be preferable, or does it just not matter?
 
gortnipper said:
Resurrecting this thread as I just pulled apart the hub on Muttster and the Pender supplied generic 4203 i installed not long enough ago was weapy and rough.

I ride my bike a bit hard, and do all day rides in crappy weather here in NZ. I would prefer a sealed bearing.

The 6203 AN sell are nice FAG 2RS C3.

The Koyo 4203 they sell are open and do not appear to be C3.

Steadfast advertises that same bearing in a C3.

As noted above, you can get a good SKF 4203-2RS.

You can also get a nice open FAG 4203B-TVH with better specs than the Koyo, and I think in C3 as well.

What you can't seem to get is a 4203 2RS C3.

Why a single row C3 and not the double row in the front hub?

Would a 4203 C3 be preferable, or does it just not matter?
Click to expand...
Can you provide a link to a SKF 4203 2RS?
I’ve tried and failed to find any decent quality 4203 2RS of any make. I’m on my 3rd Pender Hub bearing now. The first collapsed at around 13,000 miles and the second was rumbling at 10,000.
I’ve just fitted a Zen bearing, German owned make but made in China.
I’d be happy to fit an open bearing with all the felt seals and steel washers but there’s no room. I’ve thought about getting the hub machined out to take them and a longer top hat spacer made, but just thoughts were as far as I got.
I’ll be watching this thread.
 
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Mark Savage said:
Can you provide a link to a SKF 4203 2RS?
I’ve tried and failed to find any decent quality 4203 2RS of any make. I’m on my 3rd Pender Hub bearing now. The first collapsed at around 13,000 miles and the second was rumbling at 10,000.
I’ve just fitted a Zen bearing, German owned make but made in China.
I’d be happy to fit an open bearing with all the felt seals and steel washers but there’s no room. I’ve thought about getting the hub machined out to take them and a longer top hat spacer made, but just thoughts were as far as I got.
I’ll be watching this thread.
Click to expand...
Front or rear hub?

I don't know where online.

marshg246 said:
For those that insist on brand names, I can now get SKF 4203-2RS. They cost almost 3 times as much as the generic ones I sell. PM or email.
Click to expand...
 
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Absolutely be concerned. Most sealed bearings made overseas,including quantity and quality of grease, races, etc. is subpar. Some years back, I got tired of the cheap crap, and did as much research as I could, talked to those with knowledge- and decided ceramic was the way to go. I found a company, Boco Bearings out of Florida that not only makes quality brearings, but allows you to choose your options- type of grease, chrome or stainless races, etc. They aren't cheap- it just cost me $130 for a pair for my spool wheel on my ironhead- to replace ones I put in a decade ago. And to be honest, they probably didn't need replacing. Highly recommend if you want the best.
 
Stephen Hill said:
When I first started pulling Nortons apart, I didn't know about sealed wheel bearings.
I washed out the original bearings, which were almost always in great shape, and installed them with new felt seals.
I made a custom punch which cut both diameters of the new seal in one shot.
The seals were punched out of an old felt hat brim that was the perfect thickness. Worked great.
A good British bike parts supplier can supply new felt seals.
And no worries about bearings made out of chinesium.
Click to expand...
I did the same thing but used thin silicone sheet which seals very well. To regrease you just lift the silicone and squirt some grease under it. I'm using the same oridinal bearings that came in the wheels.
 
Really looking for an answer re:

Why a single row C3 and not the double row in the front hub?

Would a 4203 C3 be preferable, or does it just not matter?
 
Onder said:
How do you know the name brand bearings are not fakes?
Click to expand...
If you buy off ebay then you don't, best way is to go to your local Bearing Factor who supply local industry and buy there at their sales counter. They have direct buying routes back to the bearing makers they can depend on. Eriks is one, Bearing boys is another.
 
If I were to go the Time Warp route and machine the spacer down, you can find a very good 3203 2RS C3 - SKF, FAG, NSK - under $40 US.

I just want to double check that the 3203 is same same as 5203, just the metric naming? Google says so...
 
Onder said:
How do you know the name brand bearings are not fakes?
Click to expand...
If it comes with a serial number or bar code then the bearing can be checked against their database. It was a problem some years ago where fake bearings were making it into brand name distribution systems. I have spoken to a brand name technical advisor and from the fake bearings he has seen some cannot be identified by eye alone. These days I suspect a non branded made in China bearing is far superior to a Chinese bearing made in China 5 or 10 years ago. The west has not spent all those years training, rightly or wrongly, Chinese engineering students for nothing, they come to the US and europe and train, learn another language and go back home and thus the quality improves.
 

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