Chinese bearings in stumpgrinder.

Had some new bearings for our Rayco 1625. They're the taper roller ones in the main pivot so take the weight of the engine and cutting head along with associated stresses from cutting. Couldn't read the nombers on the old ones as they disintegrated so ordered some from Rayco.

They're Chinese. Does this mean they'll fall to bits? Do Rayco know they're up to the job or are they cost cutting?

I,ve always used bearings made in Bulgaria for all my kit . Only because my local stockists has them in plentiful supply and all sizes . No probs at all . If you've had them from the dealer I wouldn't be to worried

In the mid 70s I ran a bearing distribution site for a major company. Our preferred brands were English and European, ( RHP, SKF, Fafnir, INA etc). Price in the market place forced to use firstly Japanese and latterly eastern european bearings for the OE customers we were tendering to. The OE buyers are driven by one thing, price.

We never had a single warranty claim on any of the bearings we sold. The chinese can make good gear, the problem is we go over there demanding rock bottom prices so we get rock bottom quality. I am aware that in some sections of some industries they are providing an excellent product but I am not aware of the situation with their bearings. Taper roller bearings generally are a pretty robust type of bearing, on an odd occasion I have seen some break up when the case hardening shears.

I would not worry about it.

A

Difficult to say on here.

On one hand you've got people on here slating stuff because it's chinese cr*p- such as the chinese chainsaws. And then the same people say stihl saws are the best thing since sliced bread- which are fitted with Zama chinese carbs and increasingly a load of other chinese sourced/made components.

Depends if there's an "R" in the month and which way the winds blowing.

If it was a bearing at the business end you might have cause for concern, however it seems to me that bearing should not come under too much strain, compared to the ones at the top and bottom of the cutting head. Ps i have a 1625 but I'm no engineer!

In the mid 70s I ran a bearing distribution site for a major company. Our preferred brands were English and European, ( RHP, SKF, Fafnir, INA etc). Price in the market place forced to use firstly Japanese and latterly eastern european bearings for the OE customers we were tendering to. The OE buyers are driven by one thing, price.

 

We never had a single warranty claim on any of the bearings we sold. The chinese can make good gear, the problem is we go over there demanding rock bottom prices so we get rock bottom quality. I am aware that in some sections of some industries they are providing an excellent product but I am not aware of the situation with their bearings. Taper roller bearings generally are a pretty robust type of bearing, on an odd occasion I have seen some break up when the case hardening shears.

 

I would not worry about it.

 

Sure all mine are branded SKF . Got SKF bearings in the TW flywheel housing atm

If you got them through rayco then you probably paid a fortune for them but they shoudl be gauranteed for a while?

I know vermeer charge a fortune for theirs. A set of four front end bearing for my 252 was 400+vat from vermeer. I got the lot for 80 inc vat from my local bearing place, not chinese bearings either.

But, generally, as said above, chinese does not mean crap. The chinese would make the best bearings in the world if thats whats was asked for and paid for.

Thanks for replies. Just that you hear so much about Chinese stuff that it makes you wonder. Just put them in so we'll see how they go.

I wouldn't bother going to Rayco, (unless they are very near to you). I'd get them from a local supplier. In fact I do get them from a local supplier. We have a 1625 too.

Most machine parts are value engineered these days. The likelihood of component failure depends on the percentage pass rate in the quality control system. I.e. A batch of a hundred parts will be tested for an amount of time deemed to represent the average usage. If the pass rate is set at 97% and 99% pass some of the metal or plastic will be removed from the next batch and the test is repeated until the 97% pass rate is achieved. This means that some metal or plastic is saved from every component. If you're making 1000's or 1,000,000's of components the saving in the cost of commodities can be quite significant.

What this means to us, who tend to use their machinary quite hard, (well it has to earn its space in the lock-up), is that things fail more often, on average, especially the carbs on Stihl saws. Mercifully they have a years warranty so will replace the bits. So keep it local incase it breaks.

We'd have bought them locally if the old ones hadn't disintegrated. No numbers were visible. Got a record of the numbers now:001_smile: The machine is now ten years old so I reckon the original bearings gave good service.