Recently bought a set of cams and the seller included a pair of Koyo bearings. These are full needle bearings (no cages) but I am unfamiliar with this brand. Did some searching and one spot mentioned that Koyo had bought Torrington. Does anyone have any info. on these bearings. Bearings aren't that expensive and I'm more than happy to buy a brand I'm familiar with.

 

I think that's right, Koyo bought out Torrington. When I changed out my cam chain tensioners the first time, I replaced all the bearings in the cam chest, and the inner bearings were Koyo.

You are right, they aren't expensive, but might as well hang on to them for the winter project someday.

 

The Koyo bearings are fine. I believe they still come with all the Fuel Moto Kits. I have them in 4 bikes now and no issues.

 

As mentioned above, Koyo bought out Torrington. The Koyo-Torrington needle bearing is a superior design to the OEM HD "INA" brand caged bearings.

Many people, myself included, won't go into a cam chest just to replace the OEM, INA brand bearings, but will replace them with the Koyo-Torrington bearings if they go into the cam chest for any reason.... Usually it happens when upgrading cams.. that's why most reputable shops (like FuelMoto) who sell cam installation kits will include Koyo-Torrington bearings... I'm unaware of any good shops offering INA bearings for a cam install...


Here is a comparison between Torrington (before Koyo bought them out) and the INA bearings

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I feel confident in using them now. Just wasn't comfortable with a bearing manufacturer I hadn't heard of.

 

So the new M8 Baggers INA Bearing has 23 rollers? Mine splits on removal, so I’m just trying to make sure I’ve got all the pieces.

 

I believe so... but I have no hands on experience with the M8 engines...

Check an online parts finder for your year/model of bike. If it uses a #9215 inner camshaft bearing... that's a B-168 INA cage bearing...

Examine the old bearing closely... accounting for the rollers is one thing, but it could be really hard to figure out how many pieces that cage broke into and then account for them...

Good luck...

 

It is the 9215 Inner Camshaft Bearing. I've got 23 pieces of cage and 23 rollers. I think that is all it should have. I just really don't want to have to split the crank case for 1 piece.

But it looks like I may have to.

 

Never mind, just realized the thread was 3 years old. I got caught, lol

 

I just upgraded my cam chest. Part of the items I used was an S&S cam chest bearing set and it came with KOYO rear bearings just like the ones you described. I havent had them in long enough to give an informed opinion but all is running real smooth and you will never have to pick pieces of bearing cages out of the bottom end,