Bearings. You'd think I'd know better by now....

Tom Bond · Sep 21, 2013

After all the years working on machinery, you'd think I'd know better. This is what's left of the bearings on my Swisher Rough Cut mower after 1 season. I've had the mower about 7 years and replaced these bearings for the first time last season after the originals started whining some. I figured after 6 years with all the abuse, I would do some preventative maintenance. I was at the local Farm and Fleet and all they had at the time was these Chinese imports so I figured what the heck? They were 1/2 the price of anything online. Yea....I sure saved...cost me all this wasted weekend without a mower for the food plots. I bet you can guess where the new bearings will be made when I buy them come Monday.....

Gambles · Sep 21, 2013

I used to turn wrenches at a factory that had about 30 forklifts, about a half a dozen with a 10,000 capacity. The masts for these largest lifts took a fairly hefty bearing and the management always complained about the price of the American-made ones that we ordered. One day, a big-wig in management decided to save us some money by finding a source for off-branded Chinese-made bearings of the same dimension. Except we started to replace these bearings frequently. It turned out that the Chinese bearings had fewer rollers in them, so each roller was carrying more of the load and bearing failure was happening early.
Ever change these bearings on a multi-stage lift of this capacity? It takes time and manpower, not to mention downtime on a lift that was used about 18 hours a day.
Management soon got smart and started ordered the good bearings again and the frequency that we replaced these bearings again went way down.

Dalex · Sep 21, 2013

I have done that job , on 30' const. lifts. Definitely not a place for chicrap bearings ......

retired farmer · Sep 21, 2013

Mexico.

Cas · Sep 21, 2013

Japan

retired farmer · Sep 22, 2013

Don't forget to let us know where they came from tomorrow.

Leroy · Sep 22, 2013

Will not be the USA.

dustycoal · Sep 22, 2013

Look for US made first but, I like the Mexican vs china. Plus I feel better supporting our southern neighbor vs a communist country on the other side of the world. Maybe drill and tap a grease fitting in or repack with some good high temp grease more often. Old saying the squeaky wheel gets the grease!

T in NE · Sep 22, 2013

I read a claim from a Timken exec who claimed their tolerances and QA are so tight, that you can set up a differential with a bearing from their US plant, then replace it with one randomly taken from the line in their Polish or Chinese factory, without having to make any changes and setting it back up.

But that was about 10 years ago, too.

Bearings. You'd think I'd know better by now....

Tom Bond

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Gambles

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Dalex

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retired farmer

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Cas

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retired farmer

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Leroy

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dustycoal

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T in NE

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