Are Japanese OE wheel bearings still available for a 620?

[SWFL]

I'm planning on cleaning and repacking my front wheel bearings and would like to have some new bearings on hand, just in case. 

 

I'm not too excited about buying new Chinese bearings. If OE Japanese bearings are gone, maybe I can luck out with some old US made ones from Rockauto. These are the brands they have listed, which I'm sure some are reboxed:

 

AC Delco

BCA

Beck/Arnley

Centric

National

Schaeffler

SKF

Timkin

WBJ

 

Any thoughts on those. I'm tempted on the Timkins, as they used to be US made.

 

What's the current hotness with synthetic grease? I used to use Mobile 1 or Redline.

 

[Wildcat Walker]

Japanese Bearings are still available across the globe. Koyo, Nachi, NSK, NTN, just to name a few. Call an industrial bearing supply house, they will help you. Make sure they are an authroized dealer of the brand you want, as there are many counterfeit Japanese bearings in the market. 

 

There are several phone apps that you cann use to scan the code on the bearings box. They can I.D. counterfeits. If the box doesnt have a barcode, qr code, etc, dead giveaway that its chinese crap. 

[SWFL]

18 hours ago, Wildcat Walker said:

Japanese Bearings are still available across the globe. Koyo, Nachi, NSK, NTN, just to name a few. Call an industrial bearing supply house, they will help you. Make sure they are an authroized dealer of the brand you want, as there are many counterfeit Japanese bearings in the market. 

 

There are several phone apps that you cann use to scan the code on the bearings box. They can I.D. counterfeits. If the box doesnt have a barcode, qr code, etc, dead giveaway that its chinese crap. 

 

If you replaced your fronts, what brand did you use for your 620, and where did you get them from? Do you know what Datsun used originally for the 620? It seems like the US Nissan dealers have purged all the 620 data.

[datzenmike]

For sure they were made in Japan. Nachi comes to mind as I used one in a transmission recently and they say made in Japan on them. NGK is common back in the day but no idea where made today. Timkin is another but unknown what the quality is today 50 years later.

 

Ah! a '78 so the Nissan part number for the front wheel disc brake truck bearings is

 

Inner...... 40210-F1700

Outer..... 40215-F1700

 

An automotive supply shop should be able to cross reference this number to NGK, KOYO or Natchi. Or perhaps contact a Nachi supplier directly.

[fiveoneO]

Both Timkin and SKF make good bearings, I wouldn't have a problem running either of those.

[paradime]

For my $.02 worth, during my years of repairing and restoring motorcycles, for crank roller bearings Koyo were cheeper and easier to get from Yamaha dealer parts, but were very poor quality. NSK were more expensive and we had to order them from an industrial supplier, but would generally last more than twice as long. Not sure if this translates to wheel bearings, but worth considering. 

[Wildcat Walker]

Do you have pictures of your original bearings? I haven't done many Datsun bearings lately, but I have replaced several Toyota FJ40 bearings of the same vintage. What I discovered, is that the OEM bearings are NLA because manufacturers have developed new materials, and sealing types, making the old units obsolete. Rather than update the catalogs with the newer bearings, they just NLA them. All you need from your old bearings is the dimensions, interference fitment info, and sealing type (if applicable). Usually the part number IS the relevant dimensions in mm. 

[datzenmike]

Bearings and seals tend to be 'off the shelf'. Nissan didn't go to all the bother of designing a purpose built bearing or seal just for use on the 620 or any other vehicle. They are likely already out there. It likely fits something else as well. The part number can be used to cross reference it to a Timkin SKF.

[Wildcat Walker]

On 2/11/2023 at 8:50 AM, datzenmike said:

Bearings and seals tend to be 'off the shelf'. Nissan didn't go to all the bother of designing a purpose built bearing or seal just for use on the 620 or any other vehicle. They are likely already out there. It likely fits something else as well. The part number can be used to cross reference it to a Timkin SKF.

This is true in the vast majority of cases. The issue in recent times is getting a reasonably priced Japanese bearing that is not counterfeit. I have ordered several OEM bearings through Amayama recently, mainly because they are the exact same bearings I am replacing, and they are a fraction of the cost of going through a greedy US dealership and I know they are genuine Japanese products. Just today I ordered a whole slew of bearings, some of which are for my H233B narrowing project. The pinion bearings and differential carrier bearings were around $400 from a US dealer, and only $123 shipped from Japan. I am so sick of this greed-flation I could puke.