Should I be suspicious that this might be a cheap knock-off of a Torrington bearing, or do some bearings come from the Torrington factory with just "Torr" on them?

I just purchased a supposed Torrington B-138 inner cam bearing from Godspeed in Oakland, CA to replace the Torrington B-138 that's already in my bike (precautionary replacement because I had two lifters fail and take out my cam.)

The new bearing looks the same in all respects as the one I've taken out except that my old bearing has Torrington fully spelled out on the side of it, but the new bearing abreviates the name as Torr. The new bearing is marked with B-138 and the same small "s" that is on the Torrington bearing.



As you can see in the pic, the Torr bearing even seems to be a different color, though that may be due to the Torrington bearing having been exposed to engine oil and heat for an extended period.

 

Try to call or email torrington to get the official answer.

 

I emailed them last night but haven't gotten a reply yet. Your suggestion that I call is a good one. I'll do that now and see if I can get an answer, though I expect few there will really know and they'll just say "If you have any doubts, buy a new one."

 

all the ones ive got in stock were bought from my local bear. dist,came in torrington boxes,and just have TORR on them
kirby
vee twin racing

 

I can't tell from the photos but have seen the B-148 knock offs from China and know the knock offs are out there; you can trace them back to Advantage Bearing Technologies, I think. I get my bearings from Purvis but any reputable bearing house won't carry the knock offs and could probably answer your question. There is a vendor on Ebay that claims to sell genuine Torringtons for $11/pair but I don't have the link. I wouldn't take a chance unless I was absolutely sure the bearing was genuine Timken/Torrington and would be suspicious of the Torr knowin the knockoffs are out there; JMHO.

 

Excellent, that's the green light I was hoping for. Godspeed doesn't seem like the sort of place that would intentionally sell low qaulity parts: they're very much a performance oriented shop with seemingly good people running the place. This was my first transaction with them though, so I wanted to at least get some independent confirmation that known Torrington bearings do come like this. Thanks!

 

I just looked at the ones I have on the shelf and they are like your old ones in color and have torrington spelled out. also say made in usa on the boxes

 

the color is most likley from heat,but im going to check with TRI-STATE BEARINGS,cause if these are some china knock off,i aint gunna be happy!! like i said,they came in TORRINGTON boxes,lets wait to hear if you hear back from torrington
kirby
vee twin racing

 

KIRBY, DJL and MT:

Thanks for your feedback.

I haven't heard back from Timken yet, and won't be surprised if I never do. It's funny how consumer questions about $9 parts always seem to fall through the cracks at large corporations.

Hopefully, Kirby, your bearing supplier will be able to shed some light on this.

I installed the TORR bearing but won't be buttoning-up until tomorrow because my gearcase cover is at the machine shop to have the cam bushing pressed / pinned / reamed.

Chuck

 

KIRBY - you'll be interested in this...

To Timken's credit, within a few days of sending my query to them I received the following reply from a Timken Process Line Manager:

"The markings that are on the bearing that you have do not match our current standards; however, the bearing could be from some older stock that was produced before the current marking standards.* If you would like, we will exchange the bearing for you. *We would like the “suspect” bearing for our review if you would like to exchange.* If you send me your address, I will send the exchange bearing and a return envelope."

I've already installed the bearing. I'm not overly worried at this point, but it would be nice to get to the bottom of this for everyone's future referrence.

KIRYBY: I'll send you the PLM's contact info and perhaps you can send one of your bearings to him for review.