Bearing Brands - are some brands really better than OEM Dexter?

[Gronk1]

@Gronk1

None of us prefer buying poor quality products, especially considering the cost of trailers today. But what you are saying begs the question "do we really need the highest quality bearings considering the application we are using them in"?

In your situation, and probably for others, good maintenance is probably why you are getting good service out of your bearings.

I've always used Timkens, and I'm really not sure if they are USA made or not. I'll certainly look at SKF the next time I need any.

If I ever find one bearing bad when servicing, they all will be replaced with Timkens or other main stream vendor. Then have a bunch of spares for that oh-phoey moment on the road. The one I have now would, I hope get me home.

[callagp7552]

I just replaced the bearing on all 4 wheels this past weekend. I had gone 2 years on them and probably 12 to 15k miles. I decided to buy Timken bearings/seals. Perhaps got lucky as the bearings were all stamped made in USA. The existing bearings (all stamped China) and races looked just fine to me and I probably wasted money replacing them. My biggest motivating factor to initially buy them was Dexter's ridiculous 12 month 12k mile repack maintenance interval. My hope is/was that with better parts and good grease I could safely go 2-3 years without re-packing. I realize I went 2 years this time but the fact I hadn't done it was worrying the sh** out of me.


For anyone out there who hasn't replaced races before. Brass drift punches made it super easy to pound out the existing ones and a race set kit made it just as easy to pound in the new ones. The right tool...

[Tim2542]

I think the real danger here is getting name brand but counterfeit bearings. Any name brand like those you listed (NSK, BCA, TIMKEN etc), bought from a legit source, ie, NOT Amazon or eBay and you’ll be just fine. You’ll pay more but if you want to be sure the bearings are legit buy from a known source like Applied industrial, Kaman, Graingers, NAPA etc.
Id not assume Dexter is going to source bearings from any but the cheapest source possible.
My 2 cents

[terryriddle]

I have my new Dexter 7K axles, with 6K hubs (6 by 5.5 bolt) awaiting install. I usually like to carry a spare set of bearings with me. I have always like Timken USA made, but they are starting to outsource to China and elsewhere - not good. To be fair most other brands are doing the same.

Please no name bashing. Times have changed with supply chain issues, so companies have had to adapt. I just prefer USA made where possible, and do mind paying a little more. Its now becoming a lot more cost and I am wondering it its really worth it to be brand loyal?

from my Dexter build sheet
Bearing 1 031-029-02
Bearing 2 031-030-02
Seal 010-036-00

The above Dexter number cross over to secondary Dexter numbers for the following bearing/race sets
15123/15245 and 25580/25520. Theses numbers appear to be universal across the brands. For Timken they equate to set 43 and set 52. I hope I have this correct

Dexter seal 10-036-00 crosses over to National seal 412920 which matched Timken. Per the Timken site National makes thier seals.

Now to the discussion - Are the various other brands, Timken, National, SKF, NTN, etc all really superior to the OEM Dexter (whomever makes them for them)? Speaking of that does anyone know who makes the Dexter bearings?

In researching bearing failures here and elsewhere there appear always to be mitigating circumstances like improper install, lack of grease or maintenance, overloading, water immersion, grease quality, etc. I am not finding where just a bearing itself has failed!

This makes me wonder if it is worth paying an extra $30 to $40 for Timken set (one hub) over the stock Dexter OEM.

Pricing is all over the place too. For my bearing sets Iron Bear Trailer (where I got my axles) quoted Timken Set43 $29.14 and Set 52 $55.42 They have the USA made in stock. Local Napa quoted $103.99 and $90.99, but cant verify the USA made as they must order in. Amazon has the sets cheaper, but the seller verified the are NOT USA Made.

Which brings up another question. Given a specific brand like Timken - does it really matter where they are made? I am assuming thier overall quality control wold be the same - but who knows nowadays.

Thanks for any factual thoughts on this. Links on actual information would be helpful.

Safe travels

One has to purchase Timken bearings from a Timken dealer. If one orders them online, one will get fake China bearings. With each new RV, at the first bearing packing, I swap the bearings out for Timken. The first time I did this, the dealership said they kept getting "made in Chima" boxes and I gave them the address for the closest Timken dealer which was only eight miles away. That container said "made in USA". Safe travel

[bobmunro]

Correct, after receiving some counterfeits from Amazon in the past, I avoid them for most things.

[PTParker]

Dirty secret here guys, Dexter does not make bearings. Never has. They source them by specification and who has the ability to supply at the price they want to pay. So, if you buy from Dexter you might get a USA-produced Timken or a shiny SE Asia special. Half the fun of getting a loaded axle from them is discovering if you got the lucky pull with brand matched bearings and races or hit the jackpot with matching both sides!

The biggest factor here is the level of quality control. If you buy a generic Asia-produced bearing set out of thar monster barrel of them at the local trailer shop, you can be certain there's a reason they're so cheap and it include very little, if any, quality control in the raw materials or finished products. Buy a bearing with a big name on the box, you can at least have comfort that is was supposed to be manufactured to a specification and should have had some quality control. This is only as good as the policing by that big name though, and as I have multiple manufacturing lines throughout SE Asia, I can tell you it requires A LOT OF POLICING because quality is neither inherent nor a driving factor! Cheap is the accepted social norm...

I prefer USA or Mexico made Timken bearings, but it's hard to find them with next to no brick and mortar stocking the brand so you can open them and read the stampings... I have been mostly using SKF since they're more available (make NAPA house brand too) and seem to be effective at policing quality the European way.

I put Mexico in the same barrel as China! I have had quite a bit of experience with Mexico Manufacturing and I can tell you, Quality is not job one! They do not even trust their workers to check their parts, they shut down the line and take them to engineering to be checked, which is about a half a step above the people that can not read out on the floor! Engineering kept stealing out tools from our tool boxes every time we left the plant! With Mexico and China, like you said policing is everything! Remember firestone? Firestone did not even know the China Plant was not building tires to their specs! They just decided on their own to leave out the step with the bonding layer!!!!