Timken made in India?

[Zebaru]

Yesterday, I was looking at my new D44 pinion bearing, and noticed that the cup was made in India.

What is the point in shelling out more for Timken bearings if I can't count on them being made here in the USA?

Travis

 

[ECKSJAY]

Yesterday, I was looking at my new D44 pinion bearing, and noticed that the cup was made in India.

What is the point in shelling out more for Timken bearings if I can't count on them being made here in the USA?

Travis

What year do you think this is?

 

[Zebaru]

I know that we have to deal with a global economy, and I don't really have a problem buying parts manufactured overseas.

However, my understanding was that part of the reason I was shelling out a bit more for these 'quality' Timken bearings is because they were made here in the US.

I guess the big question is why should I trust an India made Timken any more than any other brand?

 

[ECKSJAY]

I know that we have to deal with a global economy, and I don't really have a problem buying parts manufactured overseas.

However, my understanding was that part of the reason I was shelling out a bit more for these 'quality' Timken bearings is because they were made here in the US.

Unfortunately for some folks this isn't the case any longer.

I guess the big question is why should I trust an India made Timken any more than any other brand?

Got pics of these Indian Timkens? I just checked my shelf and every single part I pulled off of it was USA made...and they're fairly new.

Where'd you get them?

 

[slowrider]

A freind of mine just bought some cheap unit bearings off ebay and the add used the Timkin name but he had all sorts of fit issues he had to shim and they make some odd noises. After rereading the add it said something like "Timkin quality bearings" but it didn't say " quality Timkin bearings". Every Timkin box I've opened had Made in U.S. on the product inside. I sympathise with Zebaru on this though, to pay for top quality but recieve something as critical as bearings from India would be dissapointment to me; It's not as though they are German, Japanese or some other place of manufacture with an equal quality reputation. bearings

 

[CRASH]

A freind of mine just bought some cheap unit bearings off ebay and the add used the Timkin name but he had all sorts of fit issues he had to shim and they make some odd noises. After rereading the add it said something like "Timkin quality bearings" but it didn't say " quality Timkin bearings". Every Timkin box I've opened had Made in U.S. on the product inside. I sympathise with Zebaru on this though, to pay for top quality but recieve something as critical as bearings from India would be dissapointment to me; It's not as though they are German, Japanese or some other place of manufacture with an equal quality reputation. bearings

I'm trying to determine why the country of manufacture has anything to do with the quality of workmanship? By-and-large, the production of bearings and races is a machine-driven process, so the same machines working on the same materials will make the same bearings in the U.S., India, or Japan.

And yes, certain timken bearings are made in India.

CRASH

 

[5-90]

Which is all well and good, until you get to the Chinese steel "industry" - which never fully recovered from Chairman Mao (he had some dumb ideas for distributed industry...)

Besides, even if the macining is spot-on (with CNC and all, that's a possibility,) what about heat-treatment and QC? Doesn't matter how well-made the bearing race is, if it's only 20HRc, it's little more than a doorstop or a paperweight.

Stll and all, I'd take Indian over Chinese any day of the week. I'm not too impressed with Korea or Taiwan - most of the Pacific Rim just doesn't do much for me. Although there is something to be said for Japanese precision...

Of course, if congresscritters would do something more practical than raising the minimum wage every alternate year, "Made in the USA" wouldn't cost so damn much, and it would still be tops. The increases in minimum wage seem to run right behind increases in tax percentages - meaning more tax dollars keep getting collected (but are constantly devalued.) The dollar would be stronger if the minimum wage was lower, the costs of production would be much lower, and it woudl be far easier to make a "living" wage.

Go figure.

5-90

 

[RichP]

I remember some of those mainland china M1a1 actions that tended to blow apart, forged in china has a double meaning.

 

[Dirk Pitt]

I get tired of the mindset that if it's not made in the USA then it's inferior.

I'm all for being patriotic, but this is a big stereotype.

That Timken bearing was no doubt designed in the US. Whoever designed it, no doubt has a standard to which all it's suppliers have to comply.

What that means is that if the print and statement of requirements for the part require the part be of a certain dimension, a certain hardness, a certain surface finish, made from a certain material, etc., then it had better conform to all these standards. If it does not, and it still makes it's way to the customer then it's not the fault of the entity who makes it, it's the fault of the entity who designed/spec'd it. Or more specifically, the quality assurance system from the parent company.

The point of this post is, even though it may have been manufactured overseas, it's still subject to the quality standards that the parent company specifies, so it should be just as good as it would have been had it been made in the US (and probably cheaper). If it is not as good, then that's the designing company's fault, in this case, Timken.

I guess what I'd really like to know is...

Knowing that Timken has a high quality standard, (assuming this really is a Timken bearing), what are you worried about? Why do you care where it's made as long as it doesn't fail due to a quality issue?

 

[5-90]

I've got no trouble with overseas - I'm just picky about sources.

Precision Instruments? Germany, Japan, England. Taiwan is a "very maybe" - depends on how much precision I need.

Surgical Tools? Germay or Pakistan.

Knives? Germany, Japan. Spain (Toledo - also good for swords.)

Hand Tools? Germany, Japan. Even that French stuff from FACOM/Armstrong isn't bad.

Like I said - I'll buy something made overseas, but it's still got to be a manufacturing capability I trust. I don't trust most of the Western Pacific Rim - and it's going to take a lot of work for them to change that. Meanwhile, I'm always willing to pay more to get something better - as long as I'm getting waht I pay for. I'd like to buy a lot more "Made in the USA" - but as long as Congress keeps ramping up the minimum wage, that's going to be difficult. I remember seeing the flaw in that logic back when I was twelve or so...

5-90

 

[Zebaru]

I don't have a problem at all with the part being made in India so long as it is being held to the same quality standard. If Timken had been making parts in India for decades, and still had their quality reputation, I would have thought nothing of it.

And for those that want to see it:

 

[Lucas]

... Chinese steel "industry" - which never fully recovered from Chairman Mao (he had some dumb ideas for distributed industry...)

How do you figure that? The Chinese steel industry is a monster right now. The numbers are heads and shoulders above every other country in the world.

Of course, if congresscritters would do something more practical than raising the minimum wage every alternate year, "Made in the USA" wouldn't cost so damn much, and it would still be tops.
5-90

Cost of production has a lot more to it than workers wages. The entire infrastructure of US industry can't compete with overseas markets and open trade/tax policies. Even if US workers agreed to work for as muuch much as the average *insert developing country here* worker in pay, the conditions are such that it would still make economic sense to move hard industrial production overseas...I'm certianly not advocating it, but just throwing that out for discussion.

 

[RichP]

How do you figure that? The Chinese steel industry is a monster right now. The numbers are heads and shoulders above every other country in the world.



Cost of production has a lot more to it than workers wages. The entire infrastructure of US industry can't compete with overseas markets and open trade/tax policies. Even if US workers agreed to work for as muuch much as the average *insert developing country here* worker in pay, the conditions are such that it would still make economic sense to move hard industrial production overseas...I'm certianly not advocating it, but just throwing that out for discussion.

Well, when your labor souce is pretty much from prisoner and forced labor camps then competetion is pretty hard when you actually have to pay people real money. Norinco as an example uses almost exclusively forced labor to manufacture in the chinese arms industry but they have been doing that for the past 50 years so it's nothing new. As long as it's not brought forward people don't give it second thought here. When they need to increase production they just go arrest a few more dissidents and put them on the line for a few years. Hasta

 

[WB9YZU]

Yesterday, I was looking at my new D44 pinion bearing, and noticed that the cup was made in India.

What is the point in shelling out more for Timken bearings if I can't count on them being made here in the USA?

Travis

So, did you have a problem buying them when they were made in Canada?

Really, this subject is old. The cry went out in the 70's "Buy American". We voted with our pocket books and corporate america heard "Screw America, we want it cheap" and they complied. You woke up 25 years too late, the deals are done

 

[uvaldetxj]

Hu-RRRy Uup An Buyyy!!!

 

[8Mud]

What bothers me more than where it was made, is who made it. I've run across a whole bunch of Spicer knock offs. I even bought an old primitive, Rockwell tester, about ten years ago, the problem got so bad. I've even bought Spicer knock offs from the dealer. There was also a big deal about, inferior hardware, being in the dealer inventories. Jeep once did a throw it all away and start over, house cleaning of some of there nut and bolt inventories. I doubt it's just a European thing.
I've gotten so I can often tell the knock offs from the packaging, better than by the product itself. Some of the printing is a slightly different size and/or slightly different font. Those are the ones I look closely at. Having U-joints fail, every other year is a pain.
In the early years of Globalization, the Koreans turned out some decent cheap tools. The finish wasn't perfect, the shape sometimes a little odd, but the steel was really good. I think there hardening process, wasn't the more technologically advanced surface hardening, but the old fashioned, through and through type. I've got some Korean tools, that have outlasted many name brands.

 

[slowrider]

Nothing wrong with many of the products from Tiawan, India or China for that matter except that they don't help us much, what is wrong is the attitude of so many who are ready to jump on someone who still tries to buy American products whenever possible, which is tough enough without all the U.S. hating selfish Americans trying to save 5% without concern for what's happening to the U.S.economy. Eventually we will be the worlds largest service economy like a giant resort destination with very few very rich people and very many very poor people. Heres a clue; not to many seats at the "very few, very rich table". Support yourself and you're kids while you still can.

 

[JaysXJ]

The phrase "Made in America" is used so losely now. 90 percent of everything that has this stamped on it is NOT made in America. It's assembled in America and manufactured in another country and now its called "Made in America. The only reason people use other countries for manufacturing is its very, very cheap labor. Plain and simply.

 

[goodburbon]

the problem is, as stated earlier, substandard quality controls, and inconsistient materials. In the oil industry we have to use domestic valves, made from domestic steel. we had an infusion of counterfeit valves once and the failure rate went through the roof. They were Identical in appearance, the steel they were made with was not consistient. different heats had different properties, and therefore the same types of valves from the same place had different failure rates and were made from dis-similar steel.

 

[Roxtar]

India is a giant in world manufacturing now.
They make products to whatever specs that are demanded of them so buying an American designed, Indian produced product is no problem.
Mittel Steel (Indian) is now the largest steel producer in the world, having just bought out ISG (Bethlehem & LTV) and Inland (Ispat).