SKF bearings are now all made in China. They no longer produce them in other countries. It appears the the chinese company manufactureing them will stamp "what ever the customer wants" onto the bearing.
SKF are definately off my shopping list for bearings. I have had a "gut full" of this chinese crap. It really craps me off when you get one of these "good quality bearings" and you can file them with a good pommy or aust file.
I wonder how long before Timken and other manufacturers will be also getting there stock from china

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

Hi David,

Just wondering where you are getting your info from here.

I am a Reliability Engineer for SKF, and although SKF have setup a Manufacturing plant in China about 5 years ago to cater for the huge demand in Asia, 99% of these bearings are sold within Asia.

SKF bearings continue to be manufactured in Europe perdominantly, as this is where most of SKF's resources are based.

There are many sub standard bearings lately that have been manufactured in China making their way on to the Australian market that are being sold branded as SKF, FAG, NSK and many other reputable brands, but these are considered counterfeit and SKF (along with all the other companies mentioned) take this very seriously and legal action is often persued.(Although it is very difficult in China)

The reason for this influx is the often very long lead times for many bearings (mainly large sizes) which can be up to 24 months. The chinese can supply bearings with much shorter lead times, usually much cheaper. But, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Many of the chinese bearings we see do not meet ISO standard geometrical tolerances, let alone the quality of the steel used.

If you or anyone else has concerns with any SKF bearings that they have purchased, please contact myself or visit www.skf.com.au to list a complaint so it can be followed up.

Rant over.

_________________
-James.

Toyota 4EFTE Powered Minivan.
102 Kw @ The Front Wheels....Oh What a Feeling!

That is interesting James, I just pulled out some taper roller wheel brgs that were stamped SKF. they wre fitted to this car about 9 mths ago and the brgs were completely worn out, They were as soft as butter.
I normally specify taper rollers made in a recognised country. When i bought the replacements the company that I deal with said that there are a lot of these "chinese" brgs being sold in Aust. He showed me some SKF that appeared to be different to most of the SKF brgs that I have used. I use some 6004 &6904 sealed brgs in my twincam conv, and the last eng I built I used SKF and after about 5 hrs running the grease had come out of the seal and they were stuffed. I have used others like FAG,NSK and have not had a problem.
I know that the chinese just copy anyone's product, and it is impossible to stop them. They just stamp them with anything.
If these brgs are illegally made and sold as SKF then how is the customer to know. I spent 4 years in china building factories for tubemakers and I know exactly what the chinese are like.
Maybe the brg retailers are buying these "brgs" from china and the customer is unaware of the quality and they are not a genuine company product. The fact that they have SKF stamped on them does not mean that they are genuine SFK brgs.
Over the years I have used a lot of different makes of brgs [inc SKF]repairing machinery on ships, with no problems with quality but I have recently noticed that the ships that are being supplied in asia have stocks of these "butter brgs".
I am just pi**ed of with chinese rubbish what ever name it is marketed under.

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

Believe me, I am Pi$$ed off with it too.

There have been several instances that I am aware of where bearings (especially in kits such as trailer bearing kits etc) are being sold as SKF through official distributors when clearly they aren't SKF manufactured.

The best way to make sure you are getting what you pay for is to buy from a SKF branch or an A level distributor. These guys get all their bearings through the SKF head office in Melbourne where as some others buy them in from O/S and often through dodgy channels that are not supported by SKF Australia.
I can find out the one closest to you if you need.

_________________
-James.

Toyota 4EFTE Powered Minivan.
102 Kw @ The Front Wheels....Oh What a Feeling!

I agree entirely, whenever there is a choice of the country of origin I make sure that what I buy is not from china because if it is then it is destined to be rubbish.
That said it is getting harder and harder to find things that aren't made in china, even brands associated with reliability and quality such as ingersoll rand, etc. are now manufactured in china.

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The 850 Man

I also helped set up a joint venture factory in China back in 1994.
The only way to get quality products out is live there and control everything.
Even the Japs are using cheap Chinese bearings in some automotive products now, and the quality suffers.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Maybe they've added melamine?

The Japanese were once famous for cheap crap, then they got better. The U.S. used to be known for quality and technological innovation, then they got worse.

Give them a few years, they can do it when they need to.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

China does not mean crap. I travel and work up there every month and like anywhere, you get what you pay for. If the company specifies crap and has no real quality control, gusss what, like anywhere else you get crap. We make quality products, no melamine, and they meet the same quality standards as identical products made in Europe, US and OZ.

By the way, we don't make stuff to export, it's for the Chinese market and we pitch at the quality, high margin end.

_________________
1964 Cooper UK 970 S 'CZ 4289'

The chinese earn their reputatation from many sources. Melamine beeing a popular one at the moment, (but by no means a modern issue only, it's gone on for years but the African children have bourne the brunt of this evil), chinese sweat shop factories, coal mine fatalities, the distinction of the most polluted cities in all the world, the proliferation of industrial dies in chinese baked goods all over soth east asia, formaldehyde in 2 minute noodles etc etc...please add any cases you know of below this post.

When they see an opportunity for money, they seem to have no guilt as a nation when it comes to tainting their products. when caught it's all "sorry, sorry, sorry" and they line up a random donkey against the wall for a bullet.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I've just been chasing this up with SKF Australia Engineering Manager.

An extract from his email reply:
...........................
"To my knowledge, that Chinese company (and an infinite number of similar operations) has no connection to SKF.
SKF will not be distributing product from that source, nor from other similar sources.
Any products distributed by SKF under the SKF brand are made in SKF facilities (or occasionally official joint ventures) with appropriate product development, design, manufacturing & quality control standards.

CJB (One particular Chinese company in question) may say they sell SKF branded bearings.
That does not mean there is any connection between the 2 companies.
It does not mean they are manufacturing the bearings which they sell under SKF brand (but they might be ...)
Some possibilities:
-CJB buys authentic SKF product from elsewhere then exports to Australia, selling at a price which undercuts authorised SKF distributors (unlikely)
-CJB manufactures bearings and brands them SKF (FAG ...) prior to sale (possible) - i.e. engagaing in product piracy
-CJB buys pirated product from elsewhere and sells it outside China (possible)"
...............................



Bearing piracy is an issue and when inferior bearings are used in our cars it can be a safety issue.

Whatever brand bearings you buy, make sure you use reputable brands (Generally European, Japanese, USA manufactured) and buy them from a recommended distributor. ie: SKF branches or major distributor, or CBC is excellent for other brands.
Reputable manufacturers have distribution details on the net (think Timken, SKF, FAG, NSK) as well as after sales support such as advice on correct installation methods, suitable grease etc.

If anyone has any issue with bearings they have bought or thinks they might have a counterfeit, please forward the info to me.

OK, back to your regular programming!

_________________
-James.

Toyota 4EFTE Powered Minivan.
102 Kw @ The Front Wheels....Oh What a Feeling!

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:47 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The chinese earn their reputatation from many sources. Melamine beeing a popular one at the moment, (but by no means a modern issue only, it's gone on for years but the African children have bourne the brunt of this evil), chinese sweat shop factories, coal mine fatalities, the distinction of the most polluted cities in all the world, the proliferation of industrial dies in chinese baked goods all over soth east asia, formaldehyde in 2 minute noodles etc etc...please add any cases you know of below this post.

When they see an opportunity for money, they seem to have no guilt as a nation when it comes to tainting their products. when caught it's all "sorry, sorry, sorry" and they line up a random donkey against the wall for a bullet.

But hang on, over 60% of the Chinese exports to Europe, the US and here are made by overseas owned AND controlled businesses. Yep, the Eoropeans, Yanks and Ozzies own those businesses. It's just the same rant 'the Chinese are stealing our jobs'. The thing is it is our companies closing the factories down here and exporting the work chasing higher profit margins. Stuffed if I know how you can blame the Chinese.

_________________
1964 Cooper UK 970 S 'CZ 4289'

Where I work we use many UBC (Chinese) bearings on low speed conveyors. Cost is peanuts compared to name brands.
Whilst OK for this use, if the customer specifies SKF or Nachi or whatever, we use that instead.. with the price adjusted.
There is no way I would use these UBCs in a car...

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Its not the chinese manufacturing that is the problem.

Its the fact that when someone buys a product that they expect to be good quality (and pay for the quality) and it isn't. Its not the manufacturers in most cases that are the problem. its the retailers that sell the inferior product as top quality.

By all means go and buy the cheapest product you can find, but you then can't necessarily expect it to give the performance of a product manufactured to higher standards.
If it costs 1/3 of the cost and lasts 1/2 as long and your down time or secondary damage due to the failure is negligible then you are still up.
Its horses for courses. Just be careful with safety critical parts.

In my job I get this all the time (especially lately): A major piece of equipment bought for 500 000 instead of 2 000 000 from a chinese source. 6 months later it fails and a gold mine is down for 4 days chasing parts. I measure up all the bearing journal and housing bore tolerances and they are all way off the standard recommendations. The shaft is way undersize so a new shaft is required (400mm diameter eccentric machined shaft $$$$) and the housings are all undersize and wavey. I tell the client I am suprised it lasted this long and they get upset and want someone to pay for their jaw crusher which lasted 1/4 of the time they expected and the 4 days downtime, but its really their own fault as they bought a cheap product. If they would have bought what they thought was quality and paid accordingly and it failed prematurely due to inferior manufacturing, then its a different story as they have not got what they paid for.

_________________
-James.

Toyota 4EFTE Powered Minivan.
102 Kw @ The Front Wheels....Oh What a Feeling!

I'm sure the contracting companies don't specify lead, melamine, GBH, formaldehyde, ddt or human suffering as an ingrediant in any of their products. I'll be damned sure they stipulate otherwise. The current toll of victims for Melamine is 300,000 btw. Heparin contamination in pork, diethylene glycol in toothpaste, poisonous pet food(melamine again, 3600 animals), cyanuric acid, cheaper industrial chemicals and dyes in foods food human consumption.



Poor buggers, maybe they thought the GHB would make kids play a little quieter.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Mick, am not disagreeing that some horrible things go down. Am saying though that the foreign owners are accountable for quality and that quality standard should be a global one.

Zzzzip, sound of me pulling my head in.

_________________
1964 Cooper UK 970 S 'CZ 4289'