wheel bearings and seals? Good ones?

[JMortensen]

Been taking a little break from my project, but I just called Nissan about these bearings in preparation for getting back into it.

 

Here's what I found:

 

front bearings and seals both sides $166

rear bearings and seals both sides $197

 

WOW! That's a lot of moola for bearings and seals.

 

And I looked at clutches for the LSD, get this: $30 EACH!!! There are 13 clutches in there!!! Think I'm going to try shimming the diff instead. I could buy a brand new LSD for $500, and I'll probably spend $10 on shim stock.

 

My understanding is that NTN or Nissan are the only way to go on wheel bearings on a Z that is raced...

 

So I called MSA just for kicks, and got basically $162 for front and rear with seals. VB was $150. Asked about the brand, and I was told "Inter-American" by MSA, VB wouldn't tell me who makes them at all. Inter-American is not a brand I've ever heard of. Anyone have any idea if MSA or VB sells halfway decent bgs? Should I just bend over for the Nissan stuff? Anyone know a source for NTN bearings?

 

Kinda depressing to spend close to $400 after shipping on wheel bearings, but if that's the best I can do, I'll just have to bite the bullet.

 

Thanks all.

[Bluto]

I picked up timken for my fronts.. with seals it was under 50$ if i remember right(cant find my recipt at the moment).. you can get those at autozone and its one of the better oe replacement bearings out there..

 

for the rears i went to bumper to bumper for federal mogul bearings.. that one hurt a little bit more coming in at around 140ish. not a bad price for a dam good bearing set, less expensive than the nissan stuff but still priced competitivly with the no name stuff..

 

I also tried to call vb and ask about and what brand bearings (engine, not wheel) they sell/stock, the customer rep gave me the "we switch from time to time depending on pricing and other factors and blah blah blah.. " I asked what I would be reciving if I ordered them right that moment.. they wouldnt answer.. very un profesional imho

 

Sam

[Synlubes]

Does anyone have info on the name brand / quality of parts from http://www.nissanpartstore.com ?

 

I am now buying some nissan branded parts from a local shop.

The thing is, these parts are some of nissans inventory that they dumped and the parts have the brand name ground off.

They are being sold by "resellers" and come new in a zip lock bag (no nissan box or wrappings).

I also know that most of the "after market" parts are made buy same manufactures that supply parts to the name brands.

Even after saying this, some are better than others.

 

Ck with a local bearing supplier in your area for bearings for the rear.

[Guest JAMIE T]

FWIW, Timken is one of the most respected names in bearings. I'd run'm. Matter of fact, thats what I bought.

[johnc]

Nissan OEM

NTN

Timken

or Japanese made SKF

 

'Dems de only wuns I buy.

[JMortensen]

OK, I didn't think that Timken was an option here, or else I would have asked my old employer who stocks about $500,000 in Timken at any given time.

 

Question though: In looking at the Timken website, they show the following:

seal - 224270 1 required

inner bearing - RW116 1 required

outer bearing - RW117 2 required

 

On the RW117 they say 2 required??? Probably a misprint... but since I'm calling in a favor I want to do it right the first time. Anyone know for sure? Anybody have a Timken book to look at?

 

Also they show the same rear bg for 240 and 280Z, but the guy at Nissan I spoke to said that 240 and 280 rear bearings were different. I thought they were the same, but the 280 stub was 27 spline instead of 25. They don't have different diameter axles, do they?

[JMortensen]

OK, I've figured out that the wheel bgs are the same. Now I just need to see if I can get that special order from the old employer.

 

Thanks for all the help everyone.

[Bob_H]

Dragging this back up from the dead.

What bearings did you end up going with?

And to clarify - the RW117 bearing is the same for inner and outer - i.e. you need 4 total? Or do you need two RW117 and two RW116?

[JMortensen]

2 RW116 and 2 RW117. I can't remember which is which but the inner is sealed and the outer is not, hence the seal part number as well. You need all 3 pieces, one set of 3 for each side.

 

I should also tell you that I ordered Timken fronts and rears and the box came with Timken fronts and Federal Mogul rear bearings in it. I opened up the bearings and they were Koyos (OEM) inside, so I went ahead and used them. I seem to remember being charged quite a bit less than expected too.