Bearing suppliers

RCinNC

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Aug 30, 2014
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2,816
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North Carolina
Have any of you guys sourced quality wheel bearings for the S10 from an online retailer? I don't mean something like All Balls, more along the line of a place that sells something like Koyo, Nachi, SKF, etc. If you have, can you tell me what retailer you used? I've been trying to find a site that sells bearings at retail and gives the actual price of the bearing on line, so I can compare the price to the OEM bearings, but all I can seem to find are wholesalers that don't sell to the general public (and don't even provide bearing prices). Online retailers like The Big Bearing Store do sell bearings in the right size, but they don't disclose who made them, which always leads me to believe that they're Chinese made ones of unknown quality. The nearest brick and mortar bearing suppliers are a couple hours from me, and their websites don't provide prices; you have to email them for quotes. I'm really curious to know if there's any real savings over sourcing bearings from a bearing supplier as opposed to buying OEM ones from someplace like Rocky Mountain ATV. A full set of bearings and seals is about $147.00 on Rocky Mountain; is it really worthwhile money-wise to try and source bearings from a bearing supplier?
 

SparrowHawkxx

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Joined
Dec 9, 2012
Messages
203
Location
Oklahoma
Have any of you guys sourced quality wheel bearings for the S10 from an online retailer? I don't mean something like All Balls, more along the line of a place that sells something like Koyo, Nachi, SKF, etc. If you have, can you tell me what retailer you used? I've been trying to find a site that sells bearings at retail and gives the actual price of the bearing on line, so I can compare the price to the OEM bearings, but all I can seem to find are wholesalers that don't sell to the general public (and don't even provide bearing prices). Online retailers like The Big Bearing Store do sell bearings in the right size, but they don't disclose who made them, which always leads me to believe that they're Chinese made ones of unknown quality. The nearest brick and mortar bearing suppliers are a couple hours from me, and their websites don't provide prices; you have to email them for quotes. I'm really curious to know if there's any real savings over sourcing bearings from a bearing supplier as opposed to buying OEM ones from someplace like Rocky Mountain ATV. A full set of bearings and seals is about $147.00 on Rocky Mountain; is it really worthwhile money-wise to try and source bearings from a bearing supplier?
I just recently ordered some Nachi bearings for my tractor from VXB.com Ball Bearings. They show Nachi for some bearings but some are like you say, they don't show a brand. Maybe you could call them and find out more.

If you haven't seen it, look at the thread, Wheel Bearing Sizes. It is an old thread but has some wheel bearing sizes.
See Reply #1 and Reply #15 also has links to some bearing size information.
 
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RCinNC

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Joined
Aug 30, 2014
Messages
2,816
Location
North Carolina
Thanks, Sparrowhawk. I actually already know the wheel bearing sizes, both by nomenclature and dimension.

I looked at the VBX site. They don't identify the bearing manufacturer of the bearings in the sizes I was looking for; I'm not keen on buying an aftermarket bearing without knowing who made it. If that wasn't a concern, it would be simple just to get a front and rear bearing kit from All Balls. My main goal in starting this thread was to see if it was true (as I've seen guys on various motorcycle forums say) that they were obtaining quality aftermarket bearings at a better price than OEM. So far, I haven't found that to be true. When I have found a bearing by someone like FAG or SKF, it was more expensive than just getting OEM ones.
 
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