1941 Cadillac Front Wheel Bearings

[J. Russo]

Please see attached photos.

I recently purchased inner and outer front wheel bearings and a kingpin repair kit from a very reputable vendor.

These wheel bearing were manufactured in China. I was surprised when I opened the new bearings as the balls are encased in plastic.

Has anyone had any experience with this type of bearing? I'm wondering how reliable they are.

Thank you

[Jay Friedman]

The plastic is not under pressure and is just to keep the steel balls separated.  In my experience it works OK and lasts long enough. With Chinese wheel bearings, I'm more concerned with the quality of the steel balls and races.  Who knows what the level of quality is?

In my opinion, the best place to buy bearings is https://southshorebearing.com/  As far as I know, they only sell US made bearings. I just bought from them a set of New Departure (GM subsidiary) wheel bearings for my '49. In these bearings the separator is metal. 

[Poncholover]

Real quality bearings come out of so many other countries.
Life is too short to put up with that crap.

[Daryl Chesterman]

Bearing quality is not determined so much by the country of origin is it is quality control in manufacturing.  I am old enough to remember when "Made in Japan" was indicative of a product being of poor quality, but now Japanese made products are equated with top-of-the-line products.  The life of a bearing will be determined by the quality of the steel, quality of manufacturing, quality of the lubricating grease, and the cleanliness of assembly.  A shortcut in any one of those processes will shorten the life of a bearing.

This is some good reading concerning the manufacturing of bearings in China:

     https://www.bearing-news.com/buying-chinese-bearings-know/

This is a YouTube video of how the balls in bearings are manufactured—this will give you a greater appreciation for how quality control determines the quality of the final product.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4qDdk6BMNg

Daryl Chesterman

 

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Thanks for posting that Daryl,

Very interesting.

Bruce.

[J. Russo]

I appreciate the input and the information. I realize that the quality of manufacturing matters. I was mostly concerned with the plastic as I never saw a wheel bearing of this type before.

[fishnjim]

Pretty clear your '41 did not have plastic races.   
Wheel ball bearings aren't that big any more so those type products tend to get outsourced.
There should be a bearing number on what you take out, so you can rack down a comparable set at the local auto parts or bearing store.  In some sizes they make roller wheel bearings to replace the ball type.
I'd be concerned with the king pin set too.   

[Roger Zimmermann]

Usually "made in Germany" means that the product is first quality. But, not always as I found with the inner race from my '56 Biarritz!