double row rear wheel bearing

seattle##gs · May 10, 2023

The double row rear wheel bearing comes in two choices....Phil Radford sold one that dropped in with no machining......Old Britts sold one that did require machining. Does anyone know the bearing # that Radford used? Sealed ,of course. And who stocks it?

texasSlick · May 10, 2023

The first sealed bearings were a little thicker than the unsealed equivalent, thus required machining to fit. Later sealed bearings were made to the same thickness as the unsealed version.
Ask your bearing supplier to provide a sealed version to the overall dimensions of the original unsealed bearing. I do not have those dimensions off the top of my head.

NOTE: unsealed bearings fail from foreign material (dirt) getting in the raceways.
Sealed bearings fail from their own wear products in the raceways.
Take your pick of the bearing poison. I prefer unsealed ..... I can wash out and repack if I so desire.

Slick

CanukNortonNut · May 10, 2023

seattle##gs said:
The double row rear wheel bearing comes in two choices....Phil Radford sold one that dropped in with no machining......Old Britts sold one that did require machining. Does anyone know the bearing # that Radford used? Sealed ,of course. And who stocks it?

I believe Walridge Motors sells these sealed double row bearings.

Tornado · May 10, 2023

CanukNortonNut said:
I believe Walridge Motors sells these sealed double row bearings.

Thats where I got mine.

As for cleaning, I believe the seals can be lifted out for washing/re-greasing the bearing, then seal reinstalled.

ashman · May 10, 2023

I service all my sealed bearings as part of major maintenance the seals are easy to remove clean, inspect and if all good repack with grease and put the seals back in, I do wheel bearings at 40k in good conditions and less in bad conditions like dirt roads, dusty or wet conditions, it's just part of maintenance look after your moving parts and less chance of failures, it's called preventative maintenance.

Ashley

L.A.B. · May 11, 2023

texasSlick said:
The first sealed bearings were a little thicker than the unsealed equivalent, thus required machining to fit. Later sealed bearings were made to the same thickness as the unsealed version.

Wider because it was a different double-row angular contact 3203/5203 bearing.

5203 | National Precision Bearings

National Precision Bearing 5203 (REF 5203) Ball Bearings Angular Contact Ball Bearing Double Row Shop/request a quote

www.nationalprecision.com

The original (16mm wide) bearing now available sealed (2RS) is a (double-row deep groove) 4203.

marshg246 · May 11, 2023

seattle##gs said:
The double row rear wheel bearing comes in two choices....Phil Radford sold one that dropped in with no machining......Old Britts sold one that did require machining. Does anyone know the bearing # that Radford used? Sealed ,of course. And who stocks it?

4203-2RS

I stock them and I get them from 123Bearings in France.

The original bearing was 4203 (unsealed) 4203-2RS is the same but double sealed.

daveforty · May 11, 2023

Is there much to choose between bearing manufacturers? Looking at (UK) bearing suppliers, the 4203-2RS seems to be readily available, but none of the suppliers mention the bearing manufacturer for that type. Other bearing sizes mention the manufacturer, i.e. SKF or FAG etc.

kommando · May 11, 2023

If no maker name is mentioned then assume Chinese maker unless the seller will provide the name after a query.

marshg246 · May 11, 2023

daveforty said:
Is there much to choose between bearing manufacturers? Looking at (UK) bearing suppliers, the 4203-2RS seems to be readily available, but none of the suppliers mention the bearing manufacturer for that type. Other bearing sizes mention the manufacturer, i.e. SKF or FAG etc.

Most likely they come from China. They are unobtanium in the US but UK and EU has them. AN only has the unsealed version and in their picture, it is KOYO (Japan) but AFAIK, Koyo has no -2RS version. The ones I get from 123Bearings are simply marked 4203-2RS. I've found nothing wrong with them.

marshg246 · May 11, 2023

kommando said:
If no maker name is mentioned then assume Chinese maker unless the seller will provide the name after a query.

Generally agree, But then there are many with a name that are also China. VXB (California Company) has lots of bearings, but I'm 99% sure that those that are marked VXB are from China. PNG is a Florida Company, but I'm guessing that there is no bearing factory in Florida. Even FAG and Timken are made in multiple countries. According to the Internet, Timken is still a US company but has bearings made in 33 countries (some worse than China).

So, I'm not sure it matters much anymore and I'm pretty sure that unless marked with the country, we don't know where a particular bearing came from.

double row rear wheel bearing

seattle##gs

texasSlick

CanukNortonNut

Tornado

ashman

L.A.B.

Moderator

5203 | National Precision Bearings

marshg246

daveforty

kommando

marshg246

marshg246

Similar threads