bearings-the good,bad and the ugly

['round n' back again]

some day im going to do an expose on bearings, the what, who and watch out of the bearing business. rollers, tapers, ball and needle.
yup, gonna do it, unless some one else beats me to it.....


lets start here
koyo is timkin
but timkin is chinese except in japan
thats the first dirty rumor:

skf is chinese thru an thru

 

[Toasty]

So when it's a Timken from Japan it's branded Koyo? Or the Koyo plant makes the Timken bearings for Japan?

 

['round n' back again]

So when it's a Timken from Japan it's branded Koyo? Or the Koyo plant makes the Timken bearings for Japan?

" or something like that.
not 100 percent sure, but i guess timken owns koyo to get access to oem markets in japan which are heavily regulated.
who makes what where is a very confusing map to draw.
one fact is sure; its becoming increasingly difficult to buy quality bearings that are trustworthy.
ntn, timken, are two that are sort of available locally, but you have to look.
the bearing distributors, are helpful, but not always convienant to get to.

napa is skf.
one note; chances are that your oem bearing in the automobile now is superior to any replacement you can readily buy

 

[plh]

Koyo (JKETK) owns Timken, and SKF does not solely make bearings in China, they make them in several countries, like most OEM suppliers, they tool up near their customers.

Oh and NTN also owns Bower, BCA & SNR with manufacturing sites global.

 

[plh]

****** is Schaeffler (German) who owns many OEM subcontractors. Luk, major owner of Continental etc.

 

['round n' back again]

this is interesting!
i have taken to shopping bearings by international number on ebay. when u mentioned bower, i just got some vintage bower bearings off ebay. i chase vintage bearings in the foolish belief they are better, and its just cool to get them in their corrosion paper inside a funky old box

i was told timken bought koyo, but its other way round! note: timken sold only its needle roller bearing division as i read the press release.
the thicket thickens!
ntn, koyo, timken skf are the only bearings i seem to find locally