Thread: 1955 86" restoration 'les'

Originally Posted by shaunh

Just wondering if anyone has any info on where I would be able to find bearings, and gaskets for both front and rear diffs and swivel hubs

All of the bearings, except for the axle bearing for the semi-floating axle, can be found in a good bearing shop - take the race and the bearing in with you and buy good brands such as Timken.

I bought the kits from the mob in Melbourne, but some of the bearings have no brand name on them so I will have to wait and see if they are any good. They had the axle bearing, however, which is good.

For gaskets use Loctite Black Maxx or similar; sparingly used,

Cheers Charlie

Originally Posted by shaunh

Just wondering if anyone has any info on where I would be able to find bearings, and gaskets for both front and rear diffs and swivel hubs

As Charlie stated, 4-Wheel Drives in Melbourne carry all the parts you need but a lot are 'no-name' brand.
I recently got a bearing for the diff from them and it was a Timken part with a Bearmach sticker on the box, swivel hub taper roller bearings are no-name.

The problem is some of the sizes are now considered as non-standard so the Land Rover suppliers in the UK (Bearmach, Britpart etc.) get the bearings made in India or China in bulk.
I priced up a set of taper roller wheel bearings, genuine Timken at mates-rates a while ago and they were $300. The no-name brand are $55 the pair including the hub oil seal, lock washer & felt seal.
The no-names are sometimes 'County', not sure where these are made or 'Karsons' which are Indian. Sometimes there are no boxes so who knows where they are made.

A couple of things to consider are :-
Just because they are no-name doesn't mean they are automatically rubbish.
How many Kms per year will you be doing in the finished vehicle ?


If you want I can check out which of the diff bearings are a name brand when I'm next at 4 Wheel Drives.



Colin

Hi Colin,
The car won't do all that much traveling basically a few weekends here and there formals and stuff for a few friends
Not too fussed on generic no name brands
Is there a website or something to view there products?

Originally Posted by gromit

As Charlie stated, 4-Wheel Drives in Melbourne carry all the parts you need but a lot are 'no-name' brand.
I recently got a bearing for the diff from them and it was a Timken part with a Bearmach sticker on the box, swivel hub taper roller bearings are no-name.

The problem is some of the sizes are now considered as non-standard so the Land Rover suppliers in the UK (Bearmach, Britpart etc.) get the bearings made in India or China in bulk.

As you say Made in China does not necessarily mean poor quality.
A lot of Timken bearings are made in Asia.I got the following paragraph off the web.

Construction of Timken’s aerospace and precision products facility in Chengdu also began in the fourth quarter of 2006. The facility will manufacture bearings and related products for global customers and China’s rapidly growing commercial aviation industry. Timken, which established a presence in China in 1992, also has plants in Wuxi and Yantai and will soon begin construction of a new joint-venture facility in Xiangtan to manufacture ultra-large-bore bearings for China’s wind energy market.

Timken employs more than 4,500 people in Asia and has operations in six Asian countries. The company had revenue of more than $400 million in the region in 2007.

Originally Posted by shaunh

Hi Colin,
The car won't do all that much traveling basically a few weekends here and there formals and stuff for a few friends
Not too fussed on generic no name brands
Is there a website or something to view there products?

You can download the catalogue from here.

Four Wheel Drives

It is getting out-of-date and they are in the process of putting together a new one. If what you want isn't listed just email/phone and speak to Jim.
They also carry a lot of secondhand parts.

I'll be calling in later in the week if you want anything checked out.....


Colin

Originally Posted by B.S.F.Nut

As you say Made in China does not necessarily mean poor quality.
A lot of Timken bearings are made in Asia.I got the following paragraph off the web.

Construction of Timken’s aerospace and precision products facility in Chengdu also began in the fourth quarter of 2006. The facility will manufacture bearings and related products for global customers and China’s rapidly growing commercial aviation industry. Timken, which established a presence in China in 1992, also has plants in Wuxi and Yantai and will soon begin construction of a new joint-venture facility in Xiangtan to manufacture ultra-large-bore bearings for China’s wind energy market.

Timken employs more than 4,500 people in Asia and has operations in six Asian countries. The company had revenue of more than $400 million in the region in 2007.

The Chinese/Indian bearing debate was covered in this old thread.
4-Wheel Drives, Blackburn moving

Just to give a background to some of the other comments in the above thread...... A lot of people are very critical of 4-Wheel Drives but I haven't had any major issues, if I have had a problem they have always been quick to resolve it but ......I am a regular personal shopper.
The staff have changed there significantly in recent years, Anda is in the background running a separate operation (same building) selling soap, towels & crystals, Jim runs the Land Rover side of the business.

Quality is no different to most other Australian suppliers, in fact I know that they actually supply some of them. Most stuff nowadays is Bearmach or Britpart.

They have quite a stash of secondhand parts.


Colin

just wondering if i can buy a wiring loom or harness from somewhere my original wiring is well pretty average to say the least haha

With the exchange rate
get one from the UK
mine cost 125 quid
The same made by Vintage is available for 3 times the cost in Aus
you order it, they send the details to the UK get in 2 weeks, then charge you 3 times as much
cheers
Ian