Differance between Timken and Bower Bearings

Was wondering in your opinions, is there a differance between Timken and Bower bearings. Most all the numbers interchange that I have found, and rescently the price for Bower bearings is about 15% or less than Timken. Are you just paying for a name. Here in WA state bearings always fail for us due to water before use.

I am working on a used Knight manure spreader and surprizingly they never had zerk fittings in the hubs from the factory. The engineer who desinged that should be shot. In my opinion, if it moves, it should have a zerk. Needless to say we installed zerks in the hubs.

Oh, for heaven's sakes, use the Bowers!

Just how much do you want to spend but what ever ya do buy a spare set as for some reason or other you will need them . My one buddy has one of them spreaders and it seem's like it just likes to eat bearings .

Which is why we added the Zerk fittings to the hubs. All of our equipment we install zerk in and keep them full. Keep pushing new grease in and the water out. Manure spreaders are especially bad, you wouldn't think that thick manure could get in the cracks that it does, but it can get in.. Keep pushing it out...

Yep same here BUT it still eats bearing.

I always say cheaper is never a better value.

Everybody has their ideas..about bearing maintenance. And that"s fine.....I don"t need to listen to a harangue about why they are right and why I am wrong...etc., etc.

But after observing machinery for the last 40 odd years in various applications and environments...I am satisfied that a sealed bearing.....you know...ZERKLESS...is the way to go. Quit worrying about greasing the bastards and when they fail....replace them and move on.

WHY?! The crowd shouted. I"ll tell you why:

Every time you zealously force grease out of that bearing, past the seal, you just defeated the seal forever. That is why water and dirt get in. I know, I know...grandpa always said.... and I also know that grandpa was a nnalert and your daddy was a nnalert and that is why you"re a nnalert.

Grandpa had good intentions, but his ideas weren"t always sound.

I have a 1987 Toyota pickup with 200K miles and it has NEVER, EVER, been greased. No, not ever. Why? It came with sealed, ZERKLESS, fittings. I decided I would just run it until the ball joints and other front end parts wore out and then replace them. Well.......I"m still waiting (for the parts to wear out) and I"m still driving it.

If the bearing was properly filled with grease when assembled and then sealed.....then the grease can"t get out, and the crap can"t get in.

BUT..if you decide you"re going to FIX things and strong arm grease into a joint until it squirts out past the seals (just to make sure you got enough in, you know) then you shouldn"t waste your money on sealed bearings to begin with....you just destroyed the seal, Brutus.

Timken or Bower, it really doesn't matter which you use, both are well made bearings. Sounds like if your having water problems your best solution is going to be finding a grease that doesn't "wash out" or loose it's abilties when facing water. My recomendation is to give your local Lubrication Engineers rep and see what they can do for you. We heard about their products from a customer that has used their stuff for over 40 years with NO lube related failures in all those years. His thought about their stuff was "I can afford to buy junk so i buy junk and then put LE products in it so it doesn't get any worse." I can vouch for that, I've seen it happen with many of his machines, and they run worn out using LE stuff until he can afford to repair them back to spec. We use their products in outr service trucks and other equipment ourselves and over the years I've turned on other customers, that were having lube related problems, to ther stuff. Once they start on LE about the only lubrication related failures I've see in any of them since they started using LE stuff is from lack of greasing. Give them a call and they should be able to solve your bearing problems no matter what brand you use.
Lubrication Engineers

Mark, you are correct IF you are talking about a factory sealed bearing. The seals in the sealed bearings are not made to let excess grease come out when you force it out. However, some bearings like on my John Deere offset disk are triple lip, greasable bearings with zerts. There are 3 seals on each side of the bearings and they are msde to allow grease to ooze out during pumping with grease gun. The clean grease exiting cleans away the dirt that would otherwise ride under the outside seal. On these, you spin the gang while pumping and make sure you get good volume of grease out both sides. I have never lost a bearing since I rebuilt it years ago. Tom

Tom,

You are correct IF the bearing was meant to receive regular servicing and delivered as such.

I think you know what I am saying though. Folks decide that every joint..regardless of what it is..has to have a Zerk inserted...the reason it didn"t come that way from the factory was just to save 24 cents and to cause you to have to buy replacement parts. That, just ain"t so.

If the manufacturer provides zerks and says.....Grease every X number of hours, then by all means, do it. If they install sealed zerkless bearings...leave them alone!

Many years ago, my now elderly father, bought a new JD riding mower. Determined to make it last forever, he washed the underside of the deck out every time he used it. The second season, the bearings in the deck spindles, ceased.

Mad as hell, he carts it to the dealer and begins to pontificate the whys and hows and there was no excuses and so forth.

The mechanic tears it apart and asks....do you wash this thing out every time you use it? ABSOLUTELY, the old man replies. The mechanic says, well, don"t. You"re washing the grease out of the spindles with high pressure water and then showed him the dry bearings. The mechanic went on to say...just run the damned thing. The spindles have never failed since. Yes..those were "sealed bearings" but the seal was never intended to withstand high pressure water being forced against it...just dirt and grass clippings. The moral is: anything can be defeated.....and over maintenance is sometimes worse than the opposite.

Try marine wheel bearing grease that will solve your water problems