? Wheel Bearing or something else ?
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 6,127
Likes: 6
Here is a recent post on bearings:
69cj
My view: your experience may not apply for 2 reasons:
a) the amount of fakes and scams have exploded in past 2 years
b) truck and car bearings are different animals
Car bearings can be real cheaply made --- e.g. the Tata Nano had bearings speced for 50,000 miles as a cost saving measure
Heavy truck bearings? You risk a lot.
There is virtually no way to visually tell a fake / off brand / below spec new bearing apart from the real McCoy.
On a car bearing, who cares, the margin is small enough to limit fakes.
You got to sell a lot of fakes at $15 to make $$$
But on a $300 assembly, there is pretty large incentive to use a used part, "reman" it by cleaning / installing look-a-like needle bearings, and fob it for $75 wholesale... and have it end up on eBay with nicely faked packaging for $350.
The biggest rise in fakes on eBay are those that have got the original factory packaging, etc. all copied exactly.
Partsguyed.com will do the part for a good price, and he has never sold a fake part to a customer.
The market is flooded with knock-offs, clones, reconditioned (cleaned etc.) parts, and junk.
Wheel bearings / hubs are among the worst --- some guesses are as much as 15 of all stock out there are counterfeit.
Then there are people who "acquired" good parts and fob them off on ebay cheap (even if wonder how they got them).
IMHO, the rap is now so bad that the only sure way to get real parts is off the most trusted / reliable dealer in your area, or use a reputable dealer like Partsguyed.com who have never known to fob a clone or fake part.
Is saving $100 really worth it?
If you have to fix it again... what does it cost in labor, time, and shipping to claim on the warranty?
Advice --- NO.
Wheel bearings / hubs are among the worst --- some guesses are as much as 15 of all stock out there are counterfeit.
Then there are people who "acquired" good parts and fob them off on ebay cheap (even if wonder how they got them).
IMHO, the rap is now so bad that the only sure way to get real parts is off the most trusted / reliable dealer in your area, or use a reputable dealer like Partsguyed.com who have never known to fob a clone or fake part.
Is saving $100 really worth it?
If you have to fix it again... what does it cost in labor, time, and shipping to claim on the warranty?
Advice --- NO.
69cj
My view: your experience may not apply for 2 reasons:
a) the amount of fakes and scams have exploded in past 2 years
b) truck and car bearings are different animals
Car bearings can be real cheaply made --- e.g. the Tata Nano had bearings speced for 50,000 miles as a cost saving measure
Heavy truck bearings? You risk a lot.
There is virtually no way to visually tell a fake / off brand / below spec new bearing apart from the real McCoy.
On a car bearing, who cares, the margin is small enough to limit fakes.
You got to sell a lot of fakes at $15 to make $$$
But on a $300 assembly, there is pretty large incentive to use a used part, "reman" it by cleaning / installing look-a-like needle bearings, and fob it for $75 wholesale... and have it end up on eBay with nicely faked packaging for $350.
The biggest rise in fakes on eBay are those that have got the original factory packaging, etc. all copied exactly.
Partsguyed.com will do the part for a good price, and he has never sold a fake part to a customer.
