Cheap source for bearings?

[scoob]

I am only realy looking for 3/16x3/8 bearings for front wheels and rear hubs on my 1/10th off road vehicles. All the other bearings last forever but I wear these out in no time. The best deal I've found so far are Duratrax- 10 3/16x3/8 bearings for 17.99 at Tower.

Thanks.

[XXXNTMAN]

Avid (http://avidrc.com) this is where i get my bearings. Cheapest place i could find.

[Deschain]

I am part owner of a bearing distributor and I would suggest contacting Boca bearings.

They don't sell the highest quality bearings for the hobby (few care to pay or can afford the best ones) but they should have some pretty good ceramics at a decent price.

If you cant find what you need send me a pm.

[dhutch]

Avid (http://avidrc.com) this is where i get my bearings. Cheapest place i could find.
Thats a pritty kick-arse site, bookmarked. (shame its not uk, but still)

[Deschain]

I would be careful about what Avid says about bearings. I havent read their entire site but I noticed a few things in the first paragraph that aren't correct.

#1 - "If you are running in any sort of debris always use a rubber sealed bearing." Any sort of contaminate that gets into a bearing it will cause problems at some point.

#2 - "Sealed bearings cause more friction due to a tighter seal." This is also incorrect. Sealed bearings cause more friction because the rubber seal of MOST bearing manufacturers touching the balls of the bearings as they rotate. Most sites like these sell cheap Chinese bearings that do not offer non-contact seals so beware of them. But they are out there so if you want the best look for them.

We sold bearings to the the USA Olympic team for their inline skates and I assure you they used sealed bearings (from a top of the line manufacturer who's bearings have non-contact seals) and they still flushed and re-lubed after every heat and tossed them out after every race.

Just what I have learned from 10+ years in the business.

[adrcracing]

You can't beat this deal with a stick! I got two full sets of BB's shipped from Japan for $11.98, that's 20 BB's. My hobby shop wanted $50.00 for the same BB's. So what if there not the best? For the price, if I ever need to I will buy more.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=34063&item=6009120795

[Deschain]

LOL, being you could bend the inner race of these bearings like clay. You will need to buy alot of them.

We sell this grade of bearing as well and we often have to buy them in great numbers when we send them to our machine shop because of inner race failure or bending when shafts are put in.

You get what you pay for in the bearing world.

[adrcracing]

LOL, being you could bend the inner race of these bearings like clay. You will need to buy alot of them.

We sell this grade of bearing as well and we often have to buy them in great numbers when we send them to our machine shop because of inner race failure or bending when shafts are put in.

You get what you pay for in the bearing world.




One set is going into a Lunchbox kit, witch I will be stretching out the chassis to fit a 12th scale 69 Camaro body, and will be more for show than a driver. The other set is going into Tamiya's The Hornet kit. My first R/C ever back in the 80's, and will not be driving it much. So, why should I buy the USA Olympic team BBs for their inline skates from a top of the line manufacturer for that? One other thing, any BB set cheep or expensive needs to be taken care of once in a while to last. Clean and oil.

[scoob]

Thanks guys. I think the Avid bearings look about the best for what I'm doing.

The bearings in the front wheels and rear hubs aren't really wearing out, they are taking side impacts from barriers. I don't think I'd want to spend too much for bearings that will get damaged.

[Deschain]

Yeah adracing I would hope I know a bit more about bearings then the average guy. Yes cleaning and lubrication is needed. I think thats pretty common knowledge.

If you just want cheap bearings that will fail as quick as an impregnated piece of bronze then enjoy yourself. As I said, you get what you pay for.

[adrcracing]

Forget the USA Olympic team! I want NASA Space Shuttle BBs on my buggy! Lol

[Deschain]

Dont think you could afford those. Best stick with oil impregnated bronze for your ride.

[adrcracing]

Yeah, sure, right, whatever, anyway welcome to the forums! :mad: :) :rolleyes: :cool: :p ;) :D :confused: :o :eek: :(

[Deschain]

Well Ad if you need FAA-PMA eligible bearings let me know. the cheapest run about 300 a pop for 5 mm bores.

Thanks for the welcome too.

[FESTER2004]

hey check out this seller on ebay: walawala

they have decent bearings at great prices.

[Danno]

Deschain , chill Man, You`re not making friends very fast .
Avid has great bearings for a BUCK . $1 , for almost any size bearing , I run them and get WAY more than what I paid for .

[Deschain]

Hey danno,

I am not upset with anyone. I just know alot more about bearings, where they come from and the types these companies sell. I know what these companies sell and they are all the same bearings from different chinese wholesalers.

You can research chinese bearings on the net and find the same bearings these companies are selling for cents. If thats what you are looking for.

I sell over 2.5 millions dollars of ball bearings a year. So I know what I am talking about. I wouldn't tell adracing a thing about painting a body thats for sure.

There are bearings that set world records for how long a yo-yo will sit there and spin and they are the same size of the ones many RC cars use. Once again my point is that you get what you pay for. Thats all I am saying.

[dave mac]

Sccob I run avid, as do a lot of our crowd they work great, Brandonn Melton even run them in his touring cars I beleive.

[hirme]

hey, deschain you seems to know a lot about bearing!
How do you clean and or lubricate sealed bearing???do you simply remove the seal and add oil? and what about metal sealed bearing?

thanks :)

[Deschain]

Hirme,

If you are using a metal shield bearing I do not recommend the removal of the shield. 9 times out of 10 you will do enough damage to the metal shield so that when its replaced it will not seal properly and you will have a product thats worse off after the cleaning.

If you are cleaning a RUBBER sealed bearing I suggest picking up an o-ring pick (http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=nb_ss_hi/103-5527440-6288661?url=search-alias%3Dtools&field-keywords=o-ring+picks&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go)

These picks have a fantastic point on them and can easily be slipped under the seal to pop it with little to no damage to the seal (practice makes perfect).

Once you pop off the seals you need to wash out the bearing. I suggest using a solvent to clean your bearings. NEVER use water, wd40 or any citrus based cleaners. These types of liquids can damage the integrity of the seal and can also stop your lubricant from sticking to the steel balls and inner race, thus causing further problems.

You can use kerosene to clean your bearings if you do not have a commerical solvent available. I suggest soaking your bearings for several minutes (I do not suggest over night because rusting may occur). Remove the bearings and then put them in another clean cup of solvent and begin to agitate. If you dont want to do this by hand you can purchase sonic cleaners all over the place.

Once you feel the bearing is as clean as you can get it, dip the bearing into isopropyl alcohol (higher the concentration the better). Go through the agitation process a couple of times and then let your bearings dry. They alcohol will provide a great surface for your lubricant to adhere to.

When the bearings is COMPLETELY dry apply your lubricant and carefully put your seals back on. That should give you as close to a new bearing as you can get.

Ohh, and just for the record. Every single major bearing manufacturer does not recommend the removal of the seals.

[evaderstman]

The new rcca has an article about maintaining bearings.

[hirme]

nice info deschain!! thanks a lot! :)
a last question...how often do you clean them? :S

[nmt6789]

CHECK OUT RcBoyz.com.....

[Deschain]

Hirme,

How often you clean them depends on what sort of debris you are running your vehicles in. If you are serious racer I would suggest cleaning your wheel bearings as much as possible. If you are just bashing around I would do them far less.

Good bearings have good seals, the better the seal the cleaner the bearing. Just remember the more you take off the seals the more likely the bearing will need to be replaced.

[atm92484_3]

Wouldn't it be easier to just use inexpensive $1 bearings and chuck them when they get gritty rather than spending all of that time trying to clean and recover a more expensive bearing?

[quicklimegirl]

Any town bigger tha Mayberry has a nut-n-bolt dealer that sells U.S grade bearings.Asian countries can only make toy bearings.

[adrianderekluna]

http://www.amainhobbies.com/index.php?cPath=25_63

amain hobbies has the best deal beyond the avid site. $1 a piece.

[adrianderekluna]

can you hook us up with some url links please?

I am part owner of a bearing distributor and I would suggest contacting Boca bearings.

They don't sell the highest quality bearings for the hobby (few care to pay or can afford the best ones) but they should have some pretty good ceramics at a decent price.

If you cant find what you need send me a pm.

[Just Gundam]

Any town bigger tha Mayberry has a nut-n-bolt dealer that sells U.S grade bearings.Asian countries can only make toy bearings.

Those are really unsubstantiated and irresponsible comments. :rolleyes:

[dhutch]

...a nut-n-bolt dealer that sells U.S grade bearings. Asian countries can only make toy bearings.
Unfortunatly thats really not true!!
- My uncal is 'in bearings' (he makes small runs off highquality bearing cages for specialist aplications)
- So i get most of mine off him, he can order a 'sample' of 100 bearings, which last me a few years! (or just straght balls for us in ball diff's)


Daniel

[TBone77]

Wouldn't it be easier to just use inexpensive $1 bearings and chuck them when they get gritty rather than spending all of that time trying to clean and recover a more expensive bearing?

That's what I do. I'll be dipped if I'm going to loose sleep over the bearings in my car. For $1 I get bearings that are good and will last me quite a few weekends. If they go bad every couple months (which they don't), then big deal.

[Deschain]

Couple of things about bearings.

#1 - "American Grade" bearings don't really exist. There is only a couple of American bearing manufacturers left and they aren't big in the ball bearing business. One is Timken and the other is Federal Mogul. Both are big in the taper bearing industry but have taken over other large ball bearing manufacturers. As for getting your bearings at a hardware store, about 95% of the time they will also be Chinese bearings. The reason is that manufactuers of quality bearings have a strict policy of who they allow to distribute their products, the chinese importers do not.

#2 - Asian bearings are good quality. Right now the top manufacturers of ball bearings are coming out of Japan. The Chinese however do make the bearings most see for $1.00 and under and they are junk. So dont confuse Japan and China when it comes to bearings and food.

#3 - The difference between a $1.00 bearing and a $25.00 bearing is huge. Bearings are rated by what we call ABEC. Very simply the higher the ABEC number the tighter and thus faster and more expensive it is.

Lets use what the R/C industry calls a 5X11 ball bearing. In the bearing world a bearing of this size has a part# (685 in most cases) with many different prefixes and suffixes which determine what the bearing is really all about (seals, shields, flanges,cage type, ball type, and many other things depending on brand.)

So whats the difference between a $1.00 5x11 and a $10.00 5x11 ? about 25,000 to 40,000 rpms. Thats quite a bit. A standard 5x11 bearing from a manufacturer such as NTN, ***, Nachi, NSK or SKF will have a max RPM of about 53,000. The Chinese dont come close to this or last for any amount of time at these speeds. Now look at a higher grade 5x11 (ceramics, hybrids and so on) and they will reach up to 80,000 RPM. These top of the line bearings are the ones that set world records. If you saw a difference between a brass or bronze bushing when you went to a ball bearing, they imagine the difference between a low quality ball bearing and a top of the line. So is that worth a $9.00 difference ? Thats up to you the racer.


As for links

here is bocas top of the line series for RC http://www.bocabearings.com/main1.aspx?p=product&id=4077&n=SMR115C-UU_#3

[MattHiggins]

And Matt H, if you read this, I tried to reply to your message but your Inbox is Full. Popular guy.
Problem solved

[quicklimegirl]

Those are really unsubstantiated and irresponsible comments. :rolleyes:
OK kid....All bearings made in USA are stamped with standardized part numbers by law to ensure identicle size/materials are made consistantly. Part of the american steel law that also makes all hand tools warranteed for life that are made in us...shakehead

[Deschain]

Lime is basically correct. However so few ball bearings are made here in the US that its hard to find them. About 90% of your ball bearings are made overseas. Most do come into the US with stamps of origin but you would be surpirsed how many do not.

The US can't compete price wise because of the cost of steel in this country. Ok this has little to do with R/C so I am going to shut up.

[Just Gundam]

Asian countries can only make toy bearings.

I was referring to that part above. And hey girl, I'm no kid! :p

[dhutch]

I was referring to that part above. And hey girl, I'm no kid! :p
Yeah, thats what i was refering to as well.

- You might not like it, but its not only america that can make good things!!