Morgan has first right of refusal to them. He said he wants them, just need some money from him. I'll see how few I can order and maintain the same pricing.
Jim Dulaney
AI 117
I might be onto something, need time to research and test this out unless someone here already figured it out.
The late C4 corvette guys figured out that our 4th gen fbody hubs bolt up to their spindles, and some of them have had extremely good fortune with the SKF 4th gen hubs (part # BR930186) compared to the other brands, including the Timkens some of us run and repeatedly warranty at Autozone ; we're talking claims of entire seasons on big grippy tires and still no play in the hubs; these guys were having the same longevity issues we had with the other brands of hubs.
By chance I found a guy on ebay that had a few "new old stock" SKF hubs for fairly cheap, but I didn't get them with their original SKF boxes, and the hubs don't have SKF markings on them, just the markings of a Korean manufacturer called ILJIN. I've ordered other SKF parts (seals, pilot bearings, etc), that don't bear SKF marks so this doesn't bother me.
Things I have heard but need to research/verify:
1. SKF makes these particular hubs in Korea
2. Some research shows ILJIN of Korea ships a ton of crap to SKF USA
3. The "premium" line of NAPA hubs are in fact just SKF hubs
I intend on taking my hubs to the NAPA store to see if they match what I have right now; so far all known pictures of the SKF 4th gen hubs show them to be unique compared to the shape/color/design of all of the other 4th gen hub offerings, and importantly, match the two hubs I bought very closely.
From there I'm going to temporarily replace my Timkens with these hubs and see how long they last. If this experiment fails I'm out $110 and I'm back to warrantying out Timkens until I pony up the $$$ to get the nice setup; felt it was worth the gamble.
Last edited by Pranav; 11-19-2013 at 03:51 PM.
This is the thread about the BR901386 hubs that got my attention:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...-get-them.html
I recall this vaguely when I had both a C4 and 4th gen. However, given the C4 common issue w/ hubs perhaps this gives Jim another market to explore and reduce overall production costs. More buyers for those hub adapters with only minor adjustments being the mounting (bolt hole treads) of the adapter to the C4 spindle.
It may take a redesign to adapt the rear hubs w/ the drive flange.
edit: or maybe no changet at all for the fronts
c4 quoteFirst off, contrary to popular belief there is absolutely zero drilling required to put the F-body bearings on the front. Somebody said it before (and was absolutely right) that all you had to do was put the bolts in from the back and thread them into the bearing flange just like you would put them on the F-body.
Last edited by y5e06; 11-20-2013 at 02:37 PM. Reason: edit
Dust Collector
Went to my local NAPA store and compared their premium hubs to my hubs, and answered my few questions
1. SKF makes these particular hubs in Korea (The SKF box clearly said MADE IN KOREA)
2. Some research shows ILJIN of Korea ships a ton of crap to SKF USA (my ILJIN hubs are the same as the SKF Hubs down to the machine marks all over the body and the wheel studs)
3. The "premium" line of NAPA hubs are in fact just SKF hubs (I went to NAPA and asked to look at their premium $219/pop hub, they handed me an SKF box)
So that answers that, I have SKF hubs and you can get them at NAPA with a 3yr warranty for $219 each, or online for $160 each.
Only thing left to figure out is how long they'll last; the C4 guys were getting plenty of life with no reports (yet) of play so this is looking promising...
ONE spare hub? Psshhh with these SKFs I'll have FOUR! Two Timkens and and the Two factory originals off my car. Anyone that has seen me unload the truck this year knows I bring enough spares for myself and 4 other cars.
Last edited by Pranav; 11-24-2013 at 12:12 PM.
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