I ordered a set of bearings from Boca Bearings and I must say it was a very pleasant experience. Great support and even answered my e-mail the same day! But what intrigued me was the option of bearings.

-Standard
-High Speed
-Ceramic

Does anyone know the amount of increased performance in the ceramic bearings? They are for a Thunder Tiger 54. The engine is old and the current bearings are toast! Crankshaft is still very straight and engine has plenty of compression.

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

rcgear

I'm pretty sure the performace difference won't be worth the $73 for the bearings.

I think the ceramic are made to give a longer service life, not better performance.

That was also my thinking... Ceramic won't rust... And ditto on Boca Bearings quality of service.

I agree with flatfour on it Ceramic bearings per your engine application being a overkill, at $73 Bucks....WoW! The major differance between ceramic,as aposed to your polished harden steel bearing is that Ceramic will not generate heat comparitivly. Bearing wear starts and ends with Heat & Friction, Therefor requiring better bearing performance on a 40,000 rpm engine as with 20,000 range. Standard bearings "usualy" do not offer longivity in anything other than "slow moving", "light duty" applications. Bob, I gota go with door number #2...The high speed bearing. I've changed a few.....thousand bearings in my time. Good luck! Pre1960

Boca sells cheap low quality Chinese imported bearings, The 3 levels offered I believe is a type of Marketing Hype Smoke Screen. The low cost versions will probably work as well as the other levels offered but when you take your bearings down to a local bearing supplier you can get far better quality at a lower cost than what Boca sells for. You can do the same on the internet as well if you have no bearing supply house near you.
The ceramic bearings Boca sells have poor quality races but good ceramic balls. Make no mistake about it Boca ain't no bargain.
You can do much better elsewhere.

Can you provide this list of suppliers? I am very interested in getting the best bearings available for my money...

Galen:Just do a simple search for bearings and you will be flooded with bearing companies
who will sell you excellent quality SKF, MRC (now owned by SKF), FAG, NTN (the brand OS primariy uses), etc. Johnson Bearings comes to mind and they have a toll free number if you look them up on the web. Look in your yellow pages under bearings
and you might be shocked to discover a nearby retail source
for all your needs. You will always need to refer to the numbers already engraved on your old bearings when looking for replacements and always bring the bearings with you when visiting a retailer so he can match them up.

Hate to burst your bubble, but I just replaced the front wheel bearings on my wife's Tahoe, and they were SKF made in China. Just because it was made in China does not mean it is flawed quality. I can remember a time not so long ago when made in Japan was associated with junk. No one thinks that today.

I am just as miffed as anyone with the flood of Chinese imports. I recently replaced the water pump on my 1990 Chevy truck. I didn't want a rebuilt one, so I sought out a new pump. Got one from the local NAPA store. Guess what, made in China. I was steamed when I got it home, but upon closer inspection it was obvious it was a quality pump.

Vince

I just bought a bearing for an OS 46 at the bearing supply house. They didn't have the rear bearing..said it would be in this week (no shipping or extra charge for special order) and the front bearing was $4.85. The rear will be another buck or so. I've bought bearings from Boca..but they do seem a little steep. I don't know about the quality..I've bought the Econo's and the HSHH versions I can't tell a lick of difference in the way they run or last. So I figure if I can't tell, I might as well just get them locally. The front bearing is a 608Z and the one I got was a NMB made in Singapore, the original was an NTN made in Japan. The rear is a 6000, the original is an NSK.

The high speed bearings that Boca sells are actually pretty good. I bought a set for my OS 50 SX and they come with phenolic retainers which make them almost rust proof and so far they have served me well. They were $ 34 with no shipping charges.

Well folks, I will stick with Boca! Their service was certainly worth a few extra bucks and I didn't need the bearing or no special numbers. They are tops in my list and if you think their prices are high, try buying them from a hobby shop or from the engine manufacturer. For me Boca is a great Value!

rcgear

I'll take a Chinese SKF made to their specs over some no name brand fom China.

As usual Chuck Auger has offered some useful info you can bank on regarding bearings and where you can buy them better and cheaper.

The local bearing houses didn't carry the front brg
I needed for my O.S., then I found these guys....
Applied Industrial Technologies...they have stores
all over the U.S., and specialize in bearings. They
have a toll free # where you can call, and get the
dealer in your area. They have every brg, in every
grade and speed you could want. There prices are
"normal"...read not O.S., or LHS prices.
The # is 1-877-279-2799

Dave.

I too am a happy Boca customer, and will continue to be.

I got to thinking..before somebody goes out and buys a 608Z and a 6000, these are for a 46VRDF...they probably won't work on any of the front intake 46's (the 6000 for sure won't, the 608Z might)

Applied Industrial Technologies is an excellent source. They used to go under the name Bearings Inc. I use them for some items I buy for work related projects. I really see no reason whatsoever to use Boca. Using a regular bearing supplier is just as easy and much cheaper. Like I've said before, the quality is controlled by the ABEC rating. ALL bearings are built to these standards regardless of the brand or country of origin. The only exception may be the "no-name brands" that do not carry a ABEC rating. Those bearings are not suitable for model engines. The part numbers are standardized too. A 608 is the same size regardless if it's an NTN, SKF, NSK, Fafnir, etc.

Dave: Excellent advice. Applied has an outlet near me in South San Francisco and the one time I visited there recently they seemed to offer quality brands, service and excellent prices.
Thanks for the toll free number as I knew they had an outlet in the LA area but I had no idea they were all over the country.
They have everything in the way of bearings that we all need.

Another source, if you have one in your area is Motion Industries. They are an industry supply house.

Vince

....I did a little checking at Applied....and it turns out
they have over 400 stores in the U.S., with some in
Canada, Brasil, and Mexico. The toll free # (hub) is at
my store in Victorville, Ca.

The guy said one of the stores in L.A. is the "Super
Small Bearing Emporeum Of Planet Earth", and usually
in one day he get any bearing I need. That's cool.

Dave.

"Another source, if you have one in your area is Motion Industries. They are an industry supply house. "

That's where I go. There is one here in town. The only downside is that they have a minimum order amount, which generally is no problem.