Timken, united states = China

Talkwrench

Talkwrench

Well-known member
I had a discussion today with a member of our early Ford club, he owns a large trucking company and more than just a few really nice early Fords. He said that the wheel bearings in his trucks have been failing and its cost him about $20 K so far and he couldn't work out why as he has always insisted on Timken bearings. He looked a little further into it and the supplier here fessed up and said that even though it says 'united states' on the boxes [and his do say just that] they are in fact from China and there is a Provence [or town] named 'united states' . So beware if you think you are getting stuff from the good ol' USA . Timken boxes with 'united states ' are made in China..
= rubbish.
 
Timken has a factory in Lebanon, N.H. and they do make bearings there. for what, I'm not sure . maybe some are made off shore but not all
 
Here is an article that I posted in the Model A forum a while back. It may help explain things. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/business/timken-bows-to-investors-and-splits-in-two.html Another push by the brilliant Wall St. community.

What is interesting to me is that Henry Ford was one of the first industrialists to plow money back into the business and not give all the profits to the investors. He was all about improving efficiency and expanding. His investors, primarily the Dodge brothers, took him to court about this and the ruling was that he had to issue higher dividends than he had been, even though his original investors became very wealthy. The Dodges wanted to use the dividends to invest in their own automobile company, something Henry was not interested in doing.
 
Who is the vendor for his bearings? If he sources from a reputable distributor then he
can get the quality bearings he needs.
 
The New York Times article scares the hell out of me. Private Equity firms and their ilk seem to be the ones causing all the problems in this country. Who can fault Timken in this example?
 
I live 15 miles from Canton Timken. Have both friends and relatives who worked there.
They recently closed the bearing plant. Have no idea where they are made but I do know Timken fought the Government since 03 trying to get tariffs on China bearings and finally gave up. I recently read an article about a Timken plant opening in china. Who's to blame for this??? you guess it.
Another very interesting article on fake Timken bearings found in Canada. Same dimensions and all.
http://www.canadianmanufacturing.co...eit-bearings-seized-at-toronto-airport-81870/
 
tubman said:
The New York Times article scares the hell out of me. Private Equity firms and their ilk seem to be the ones causing all the problems in this country.
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Ha......it's the 150m low-info types that should be scaring the hell out of ya. DD
 
Putting aside the politics, I actually got some Japanese Timkens and the quality was very good. Then again, Japan is known for quality today unlike 40 years ago. Now China and others have taken the low rung on the ladder of quality.
 
Quality bearings have been made in Japan for many many years.
Most people were just not aware of it. If you check the ball bearings you have had for years, you will find they are metric not fractional.
Bruce
 
Mike51Merc said:
Either way, the point is taken. It's the COUNTRY of origin, not the city, so unless China has changed its name lately, the story is a myth.
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Amen. There are ways to quality for 'Made In America' but renaming cities in other countries isn't among them.
 
Well ,I think our customs are doing their job,
While picking up my mates 33 from the customs shed in Brisbane,I saw a pile of boxes being unpacked right next to where the 33 was stored.
As I had to make a couple of trips back to our car to get a new battery for the 33 ,I noticed there was about 5 or 8 people unpacking boxes and grinding something off the article inside.
I asked the customs guy who was looking after us and the 33 what the go was.
this is what he said, the boxes were imported from China with NO country of origin on,but had a map of Australia and a Kangaroo on the product.
He said they had 3 choices,send the boxes back,customs could seize them, or remove the Australian logo,thats what they were doing.
On a lighter note,as I got the 33 going and manouvered it past the tables where these people were working,one said to me," nice car" I told him this was not made in China.
Lawrie
 
The last Timken bearings I got where from France, Timken are made all over the world, certainly in China and India now. Point being what was on the boxes I will endeavour to see if I can get Butch to take a picture of what was on the box.
 
I checked with my local bearing supplier and was told USA or Japanese bearings are good. Not so much for China and tiawan
 
Anybody have a recently purchased Timken handy? I seem to remember last Timken bearing I purchased, maybe a couple of years ago, said something like "made in a Timken plant in one of the following countries", followed by a fairly extensive list. Box is long gone, so I can't refresh the shreds of my memory.
 
In my experience the Chinese can make good stuff if IF they are asked to and payed to do. If you want um to make something for 50c and it's got to look like it's ment to, they can/will. If you ask them to make this part, and it has to be within a certain tolerance again they can/will, but it will obviously cost more $$'s. With the big profit margins being more important than big quality. Which option do you think they get asked to do the most?
And of course, when a customer who buys the cheap part, complains about the quality, the blame goes straight to the Chinese.
Think about it, if a manufacturer really cared about the quality over the profit, he'd make the stuff himself, in house. Or sub it out to another manufacturer close by where the quality would be what it's ment to be.
It's all about profit for a Big chunk of companies now unfortunately.
Martin.
 
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scooder said:
In my experience the tiddly winks can make good stuff if IF they are asked to and payed to do. If you want um to make something for 50c and it's got to look like it's ment to, they can/will. If you ask them to make this part, and it has to be within a certain tolerance again they can/will, but it will obviously cost more $$'s. With the big profit margins being more important than big quality. Which option do you think they get asked to do the most?
And of course, when a customer who buys the cheap part, complains about the quality, the blame goes straight to the chinks.
Think about it, if a manufacturer really cared about the quality over the profit, he'd make the stuff himself, in house. Or sub it out to another manufacturer close by where the quality would be what it's ment to be.
It's all about profit for a Big chunk of companies now unfortunately.
Martin.
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I agree with your analysis but racial slurs are not needed.
 
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