2nd time Torrington bearing failure
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 16,271
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From: Somewhere SW
Good grief that's bad. Just out of curiosity, are you replacing bearings and re-running the cams? The cam lobes have issues that I've seen over and over on QOE cams. Also, who is the source of the bearings. Please don't tell me they are buying EBay specials and having you install them. So as not to start a flame war I won't make any Amsoil jokes.
Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 741
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From: West Central WI
I can say I have literally installed hundreds of these bearings over the last few years without issue, however there was talk about a year and a half ago from one of the larger HD dealers here that a bad batch of bearings were out and they were having failures. Could be you got some of those. I buy my bearings through Drag specialties.
I think I've posted at least three times about verifying the bearings because the first pictures looked like no-namers - others have also suggested bearings.
The pictures you just posted appear to have different bearings than the ones that failed. They are Koyo in the ones that didn't fail.
So, my thoughts are still the same. I highly doubt they were pushed all the way in crooked or the tool is to blame - especially if it has been used successfully before and since the failures.
We have already covered depth and making sure the rollers roll.
So I'll ask again - please let us know who the bearing manufacturer was of the failed bearings.
The pictures you just posted appear to have different bearings than the ones that failed. They are Koyo in the ones that didn't fail.
So, my thoughts are still the same. I highly doubt they were pushed all the way in crooked or the tool is to blame - especially if it has been used successfully before and since the failures.
We have already covered depth and making sure the rollers roll.
So I'll ask again - please let us know who the bearing manufacturer was of the failed bearings.
Last edited by Ed Ramberger; Apr 6, 2018 at 07:15 AM.
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From: Okc
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Okie, Here's where I land with it. Personally, I don't think you installed them incorrectly. I'm not 100% with all the bearing makers, and typically will go to a bearing house to really get the best info on manufacturer and quality info. I have never had a failure like that, but I have only used Torrington, Koyo (I believe they bought Torrington) and Ina manufactured bearings.
From looking at your pictures of the installs and the tools, my suspicion is the bearings were the problem. However, in the one where you installed new bearings on a 50K OE cam, I would not recommend doing that as it opens the door to a failure after the two materials were run together for so long. If you had only posted that failure, I would most likely be saying I believed that was the cause, but you also have a brand new cam with the same failure.
That's just one guy's view from what he can see from here.
From looking at your pictures of the installs and the tools, my suspicion is the bearings were the problem. However, in the one where you installed new bearings on a 50K OE cam, I would not recommend doing that as it opens the door to a failure after the two materials were run together for so long. If you had only posted that failure, I would most likely be saying I believed that was the cause, but you also have a brand new cam with the same failure.
That's just one guy's view from what he can see from here.
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Joined: Mar 2018
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From: Okc
Much appreciated. I'm going to talk to the guys at the bike shop where I get my parts again and let them know and ask that they only sell the koyo bearings and return their off brand stuff. Earlier this week, I went in and bought 2 sets of caged and 2 sets of non caged bearings for installation measurements. They only had one set of koyos and 2 sets of the ast.