Anyone know how I could get a cat bearing part number to cross for a timken or ntn part number. Most of the time I just take out the bearing and it has already been replaced with a timken but some haven’t and I’d like to be able to just get timken bearings instead of dealer parts or cheap Chinese ones. There is no cross reference for cat parts on timken website so has does the person or whoever has changed them previously know which part number will work?
Generally Cat bearings have something about them that makes them "different" to a standard bearing of the same basic dimensions from one of the big bearing manufacturers. The bearings are made for Cat by Timken, NTN, or whoever but they are only available from Cat dealers because they are classed as "special" bearings made to order for one particular customer, Cat in this case. Whether that "something" is the make or break factor to determine whether the bearing works satisfactorily or not in the specific application I have no idea but I suspect not, except in some very special cases. What it does though is remove the ability to cross-reference the Cat Part Number to a Timkien or whatever, because a bearing with all the properties of the Cat P/N does not exist in their "official" catalogue of bearings available to Joe Public. Best I can suggest is you take the measurements of the bearing you want and go looking in the online catalogues. I think you will find something identical measurement-wise even if it doesn't have exactly the same bells & whistles that the Cat P/N has.
Just be sure you look real close at the original Cat bearing, seems I recall some where Cat had a notch in the bore that lined up with a dowel in a housing. Might have been a bearing for a planetary in a transmission. Another thing to look for is the radius on the bore of the bearing. Could be the housing has a larger radius than a standard bearing might be designed for and bearing would not fit all the way to the shoulder of the part. Hope that makes sense. I'm only half way through first cup of coffee this morning at quarter to six AM!
Ya gotta love proprietary information(or lack of)
JD gets the good bearings and the rejects go to the bearing house. At least that's what they try to tell you.
A lot of OEM's use slightly different bearings than generic bearings that are the most common. Some differences are: fit, running clearance at a specific temp, running clearance at a specific speed, type of grease(if applicable), volume of grease, type of seal and seal material, number and size of balls, high load-carrying, high side thrust, etc, etc. Tapered roller bearings have a lot of the same criteria. I went to an SKF bearing presentation once and learned some useful information and came away with a couple really good bearing catalogues. Bearing supply places want to sell bearings and usually only stock fast-moving inventory in my experience. Just because it will fit doesn't mean its the right bearing for the application. A lot of bearings unfortunately are only available through the OEM because of the limited production of that specific bearing that meets that OEM's specifications for that machine in the extreme operating conditions that the machine was designed for. Sometimes when i have requested a specific bearing from a bearing supply, it has been more expensive than the OEM or it is a month away. Supply and demand usually bites us all in the ass at sometime or other
It would kinda help to have the Cat bearing number. I have an old Cat bearing interchange but not for new ones. Most of the time Cat bearings are completive priced anyway. Bob