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Fri Aug 05, 2011 10:24 am

i was reading through some posts and it looks like main bearings are hit or miss recently. i want to use a steal backed bearing and i was wondering which bearings seem to be the most reliable in terms of quality? if i end up ordering them online i would like to decrease my chances of having to send them back because they arent up to par.

thanks

Fri Aug 05, 2011 10:57 am

Ks, metal leve, mahle M series bearings on old stock. Available now good stock is silverline, clemex or ACL. Old stock ks , all bearings in the set are steel backed. Old M series mahle only the split are steel backed. I havent tore into any of my on hand silverline for which ones in the box are specifically steel backed, split or all. I havent gotten hands on yet on clemex or acl brands.

Fri Aug 05, 2011 1:18 pm

i've read the silverline seem to pretty good, maybe ill try them. do any of the quality issues apply to cam and rod bearings or are they isolated to the main bearings? if so whats a good quality cam and rod bearing?

Fri Aug 05, 2011 1:23 pm

from what I have seen the rod bearings seem to be a soft not hardened steel backing(they bend easy)Idont like that,I like a stiff bearing that holds it,s form,stays in the rod when you remove the rod, dont know if any good ones are like that any more as for the main bearing I want the non steel backed bearing,coated of corse.I dont like the steel backed bearing in an aluminum or mag case. click click, werrrrrrrrrrrrrr..rrrrrrrr click, hey look worms!!!

Fri Aug 05, 2011 1:25 pm

From what I've seen the Silverline mains are the way to go if you want steel back. NOS Kolbenschmidt would be best if you can find them.
For rod bearings Kobenschmidt is still good.

Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:15 pm

I would try the Silverline main bearings and I use Clevite 77 rod bearings.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=542335
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=310718

Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:49 pm

I have been useing the Silverline main bearings and they seem to be working great so far.I would love to find some German KS but nearly impossoble and very expensive too. I heard from a Warehouse Distributor that they have had some reported "issues" with Silverline
rod bearings.He would not tell me what just said use mahle, "trust me".
I said man i done built several engines with the Silverline main and Rod,
but he would not fess up any info.

Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:02 pm

vwracerdave wrote: I would try the Silverline main bearings and I use Clevite 77 rod bearings.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=542335
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=310718

Clevite - AKA Mahle.

Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:26 pm

They ain't the same yet
New mahle VS new clevite (with "Mahle group" printed all over the box)

same thickness but the clevite had a few tenths more excentricity and a more matte surface finish

So they are not the same thing just yet

Oh, and they were both too tight
WTF why do they make em so tight gosh darn it

Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:55 pm

http://vwparts.aircooled.net/Race-Main-Bearing-Set-T-1-Based-Engines-Std-p/4000-40.htm

are nice steel backed.

Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:57 pm

modok wrote: They ain't the same yet
New mahle VS new clevite (with "Mahle group" printed all over the box)

same thickness but the clevite had a few tenths more excentricity and a more matte surface finish

So they are not the same thing just yet

Oh, and they were both too tight
WTF why do they make em so tight gosh darn it

as far as bearing clearance being too tight??

Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:01 pm

uh huh
with crank right on the highside it only had .0008 or maybe .001 at the most.
it says max wall .055 and by golly it was .055 on the dot
i have not tried KS rod bearings, do they sometimes run less thickness?

Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:13 pm

so do you re size the rods to account?

my mahles are tight as well, from my rod bearing clearance thread.
by max wall, are you referring to the bearing thickness?

Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:19 pm

yes
says in the clevite catalog "max wall .055"

i just wish there were some HP rod bearings availible so we don't have to rework perfectly good parts to "fix" them

As for if it is best to

-try to polish the crank down
-grind .001 off the crank
-oversize the rod
-sand the bearing

I don't know, they can all work if done correctly
I oversized the rod .0004" since it was all I had time to do

Sat Aug 06, 2011 7:42 am

thanks for all the replies, i think ill go with the silverline and clevite 77

Wed Nov 30, 2011 1:26 am

nos german KS, all are steel backed? i thought only the centre main is.

Wed Nov 30, 2011 7:59 pm

The 1,3,4 bearings are aluminum, always have been all brands
Only late model WBX used all steel backed, and they totally different bearings

Far as I know all the (#2) center main bearings, WERE steel backed, in all brands up until a year ago when the all aluminum sets began to appear.
I have not seen them yet, I ordered mahle mains from my local shop last week and they arrived with the steel center main, which is almost a letdown, as I was looking forward to checking out the new center main.
oh well :roll:

Anybody order bearings from FP? they sell vw mains, ordered some two months ago and they did seem to be mahle old stock

Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:04 pm

I have got a good assortment of ks,ml,roka&some vw and they all look ok,some have toomuch removed from the back in the groves of the thrust bearing,some dont.and the ks rod's have a better stiffer shell than the soft steel crap were getting these days. and I have a set of old michiagain bearings that are dfl coated,I presume from the mfgr,and they have the aluminum center that I like.

Mon Jul 08, 2013 5:41 pm

modok wrote: The 1,3,4 bearings are aluminum, always have been all brands
Only late model WBX used all steel backed, and they totally different bearings

Far as I know all the (#2) center main bearings, WERE steel backed, in all brands up until a year ago when the all aluminum sets began to appear.
I have not seen them yet, I ordered mahle mains from my local shop last week and they arrived with the steel center main, which is almost a letdown, as I was looking forward to checking out the new center main.
oh well :roll:

Anybody order bearings from FP? they sell vw mains, ordered some two months ago and they did seem to be mahle old stock

Glen,

I guess I got lucky and got one of the last KS sets that were "Made in Brazil, Packaged in Germany" that still had the steel #2 halves.

Then I got to looking for the date a little more closely. All of the aluminum bearings have ink printed info on their backs. But the #2 halves had something very interesting: not only was the date of manufacture different between the sets (aluminum vs steel) the manufacturer logo and date were stamped on the back of the bearing halves: the Metal Leve logo.

This is on a set of new-in-the-box KS std/std.

M

Tue Dec 01, 2015 11:06 am

I will try the "Sintermetal" from Werk34 in Germany - steel backed 3 layers. Sound promicing.

/John