The difference is in the QC. The MOCO = zero - All ***** = more than zero. As far as I can remember, I've yet to read or hear anything about multiple, repeated failures of the All ***** products.

 

Yea, i don't know why some are going out early, some are not, seems odd, i have 36,000 on my bike, Knock on wood, and they are fine, Is it the bearing's, the assembly process, lack of grease, or just mixed batch's of bad bearings ?

 

all of the above is the problem.

 

They are KML bearings which are manufactured in China. However, KML is an industry leading bearing manufacturer. Motion Industries is owned by the parent company of KML, Sunmotion Industrial Service, and they provide bearings to a lot of industries in the US, including most of the chemical & oil refineries in the Greater Houston area. I would trust their bearings on my bike.

 

That is good to hear. It is not always the country of manufacture as much as it is the specs they are required. If i ask you to make the bearings for 5cents and that is all i want they will be crap. But if my specs are that they last x amount of years/miles and exact tolerances they can make them excellent.

 

I put AllBalls on my 883 since the metric/US measurement mix is hard to find outside of a Harley dealer, but AB has them. Yes, they're Chinese made, but they're heavy duty, including sturdy steel ball cages, have plenty of Chevron synthetic grease in them, and the ones I've seen had double seals. I pop the seals off any bearing I get (don't try that with the newer metal shielded Harley bearings though) and have found many with hardly any grease in them. I think most of the failures are poor quality grease and not enough of it, or both. A lot of bearings for a long time have had some clear stuff that looks like vaseline; I've cleaned that out of bearings that otherwise looked fine, and replaced it with a premium brand synthetic. Never had a bearing I installed fail once I started doing that back in the 70's. I doubt a dealer would check a new bearing even if you asked.

 

Really???? When did that happen?

I have worked in the industry 40+ years now and my brother works for Motion. It has for as long as I can remember been a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts.

I know KML and they make a good bearing. It is not the country but the company that is important. It is a world market and has been since the 80's on bearings. Every major bearing manufacturer makes bearing on every continent.

 

They do! However it does not necessary have to be on he actual product. It can be on the packaging and paper work. For example I just imported 100k grade 25 chrome steel ***** from China for a customer. They cannot put anything even a part number on a chrome steel ball. But the package clearly states China and we clearly quoted them as "Made in China". You can get in a world of trouble otherwise.

 

It's very confusing and I may not have all my facts straight, but this what I found:

KML Bearings is owned by Motion Industries. Motion Industries is owned by GPC. Sunmotion Holding Limited is the parent company of KML. There is also KML Auto Parts and KML Motion Industries. All of them are based in China.

 

I have close to 30K on my bike and the front wheel bearings are fine. They will be replaced with the All ***** I referenced earlier when I need new tires. I have to pull the bearings anyway at that time so I can get my wheels powder coated.