Bearing missing a ball

Bought 6 P5 angular contact ball bearings and they arrived today. Upon inspection one of them is missing a ball from its cage.

Spins fine by hand, anyone got advice on how badly a missing ball could effect performance?

Rainbows, as these were supplied new, I would be onto the supplier, tell them you are a ball short, and ask what they are going to do about it.

Chris Gunn

Would do that straight of the bat if it were not a chinese seller. Its somewhat of a pain making conversation.

The worst thing about being a moderator is having to pass when offered such a wide-open goal for double entendres.

Neil

I think you should call that bearing Hitler.

Mike

Was waiting to see who would go for it first

.

Send them a photo. That I should think would be a universal language.

Nick

Contact by email? No conversational problems that way? Paid by paypal? No real problem with a pic? Mind you, it makes one think about the quality of the rest of them! Try filing the race - you may find they are all real carp.

I can say that a missing ball will not enhance its performance - and very likely the opposite. Personally, I would not buy a bearing from a chinese supplier as I cannot rely on Chinese quality to be adequate for purpose.

Many years ago, my brother and I replaced the rear brake shoes on an Austin 1100. The balls dropped out of the bearing as we extracted the hub and when we put them back, found that we were short of one ball. We wondered if it would matter, but Dad wanted the car for work, so he drove the car as normal with no obvious problem. A couple of weeks later, we found the missing ball stuck in the heel of my brother's work boot. As the car seemed OK, we left it and sold the car 7 years later- still one ball short.
BobH

Adding a touch of old age. I remember my first introduction to an N17 jap big end reconstruction, which was of crowded roller design, there was always a nagging suspicion that an extra roller was required , with a forked rod V twin the feeling was in triplicate as each part went together. Happy days.

For goodness' sake, don't use no-name Chinese bearings. They are all too often rubbish. Even if you get a fully-balled replacement, how good do you reckon the materials and machining are if they can let one through their QC with a ball missing?

Bearings are cheap. Buy good brand names such as FAG, SKF, Timken, etc. or the Japanese Naachi and they will give good service and last many years. Install the Chinese cheapies and you will be doing the job again in short time, and possibly replacing other expensive parts damaged by their failure.

+1 for what Hopper said. Simply Bearings, in the UK offer top quality bearings at a sensible price, with reasonable postage, even for us up here in Australia.

Simple.

cheers

Bill

These people have excellent bearings (here in Australia). **LINK** They only stock the top brands so not as cheap as some importers, but the service is excellent and I am happy to pay for the quality. Fortunately, there is a local branch in Wodonga (just 25 min up the road).

When a small order did not arrive on time (due to a transport delay) a staff member phoned me, organised a suitable time and the company van delivered them to my home (on time). That is service which is rare nowadays!

* Danny M *

+2 for Hopper. You don't say what the intended use is. Cheap bearings can have soft raceways and poor finish. If it is for slow low load use you can get away with them. But if you expect to run at speed for long periods forget it.

Guess where the top brand bearings are made---------.

Ian S C

I tried to buy stuff from Alli Express in China,was able to add to my cart ok but could not proceed to the checkout.

Tried everything including trying to get in touch with them,pointless,you just end up talking to a robot. After a long while I gave it up and made a cup of tea and went to bed. Maybe I,m just too old for this kind of thing.