The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Rear end installation kit - Junk Bearings?

I ordered a rear end installation kit from classicparts.com and just received the kit. It is for a 1949 1/2 ton truck. It looks like most of the bearings are Auto Extra Brand or some other unbranded bearing stamped "China". Has anyone installed this kit and had any issues with the bearings or seals? I am a little worried about taking all of this time and effort to rebuild the rear end with junk bearings when a more reputable brand could be purchased for not much more.

Also, There are no instructions included in this kit or the 3.55 ring and pinion kit that classicparts.com sells.

Should I return this and buy a set from Patricks? Does anyone know what brand bearings he uses in his kits?

Call Patrick's and ask about the origin of parts in his installation kit.

Call Classic Parts and ask about installation instructions. Patricks provides a set (it was poorly copied when I bought a set several years ago).

Here is Chris Sweet's Tech Tip on the 3.55 installation.

Thanks for the link Tim. I found a few guides online and I think I have an understanding of the install.

I am mainly curious to see if there are any disaster stories with these bearings and seals as I really don't want to do it twice.

I would follow Tim's advice, give Patrick a call. He is a straight shooter.

We are installing my kit from classic parts today, the local shop is letting me help their mechanic, when i opened the gears there was a Filling Station Sticker in them. I was told by classic they don't purchase theirs from Patricks anymore. They said they have sold I believe 29 of the gear kits with two returns on the gears. I considered Patricks but kinda figured most all of them are probably coming from the same set of vendors. So far almost everything i have purchased for my truck other than maybe three things have came from classic and i have had zero issues with any of it, and there technical support has been great. They also said they dont have instructions but could get me a copy of Patricks which I already have along with Sweets page. The bearings do seem to be well made, we use bearings from all over the world at work with no issues, so i don't anticipate a problem.

Went together well, everything is working good, FYI we started with .028 shims as stated in patrics instructions but ended up at .040, I had read on line that one guy was at .032 and another at .040.

I installed a set of rear axle bearings from NAPA in my street rod several years ago. They were off shore brand but I thought NAPA, so they will work. Almost zero miles on them, on my way to the NSRA Nationals when going around a left turn I heard a clunk. The snap ring on the left rear bearing let go. Dropped the axle on the grease seal, then all hell broke loose. My rear end caught on fire. Ending up driving my wife's Honda to the Nationals. Took bearings, brake shoes, etc. with fire in my eyes back to the store. They replaced everything but the axle. Lesson learned...if it don't say made in USA, it ain't gonna go on my street Rod. Good luck with yours.

Glad to hear the installation went well for you smoloney. I have a question for you or anyone else for that matter since you were under the guidance of a professional installer if you don't mind. When you installed the bushing in the torque tube did you remove both the front and rear bearings and the oil seal from the tube before installing the bushing with seal that was included in the kit? The instructions that were on the bushing that I received said to leave the rear bearing and seal in place. My concern is if I leave the rear bearing and seal in place the bearing will get hot and eventually fail since there will be no lubrication to it now. Also the old seal will eat into the shift since there is no lubrication there either.

Beltfed thanks for your input. That is my concern with this. My experience with Chinese bearings is that some are great and some are terrible. Quality control is my main concern. In the past i have had more positive experiences with Japanese, us, and Swedish bearings.

I had two sets of instructions so we were not completely sure, we had originally removed them then after some measuring and further reading we found they could/should be left in so we put them back in as they were not damaged during our removal. Hope that helps not real sure why they need to be left in but it all fits.

Yellowboy

Please start another thread with your question. You will get a lot better response.

Carry on!