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Pivotworks bearings

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 Over Black Friday weekend I noticed Amazon had pivot Works bearings for my Honda 500’s for around $22. I ordered a few sets and they came in yesterday. 

 

 We have discussed the fact that the same conglomerate owns all balls and pivotworks, and it looks like they might be going down the road thay we hate to see when a big company buys a smaller company that makes a good product.

 

The first set that came in were carded, And the package had been torn so it had been taped back up. Wasn’t impressed but they looked like I remembered pivot works bearings looking.

 

The next couple of sets I opened Were in newer packaging and the bearings had seals on the sides. There was also a sticker on the individually wrapped bearings that just happens to be the all balls part number for the foreman Bearing. This part number was also etched on the inner race of the bearing.

 

 Then I got a set in newer packaging that did not have seals on the side of the bearings and had a part number sticker on them, same as the others, but had “PW” After it.

 

I’m going to call them today and ask what’s up. I have not been impressed with all ball bearings, but Pivotworks works seemed to last longer than anything else I’ve tried other than OEM.

 

My guess is they are going to simply re-package all ball bearings now and sell them as pivot works. All of the packaging that I got had the “lifetime warranty” at the top of the package, but I would rather pay more for bearings that last than have to be constantly swapping them out

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Edited by jeepwm69

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Just got off the phone with Pivotworks. The guy there confirmed that for a couple of years now All Balls and Pivotworks have been the same bearings in different packaging.

I have a set in the wife’s Rancher that have held up well (not a tremendous amount of use, probably put them in around 2013) and the set I put in my buddy’s Rincon lasted 5 years, but looks like it was as I feared; taking a reputable brand, sticking a lesser product in the packaging, and hoping to sell a bunch before the consumer catches on. 

 

The guy said “Well they have a free one time replacement” and my response to that was “Yeah but I don’t want to spend all my time swapping out bearings. My time is worth something too”

 

I got these cheap so I will use them and then take advantage of the free replacement but the next time I have to buy bearings  I will be going back to OEM Honda

Edited by jeepwm69
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I noticed while browsing Hot Rods web site a few days ago that Pivot Works is listed as being one of their companies now. So Hot Rods is probably owned by a venture capital firm now too.

 

We all screwed up many years ago on that day that we each bought our first china knockoff.

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@jeepwm69, i'd be willing to bet, that life time warranty wont cover abuse !!, riding in mud will void that warranty, what ya wanna bet ??.

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The warranty is good for one time free replacement. They did send me new ones on the one set I’ve sent back in. That said, I don’t care if they send me infinite sets, I’d rather pay more and not have to change them out all the time 

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16 minutes ago, jeepwm69 said:

The warranty is good for one time free replacement. They did send me new ones on the one set I’ve sent back in. That said, I don’t care if they send me infinite sets, I’d rather pay more and not have to change them out all the time 

soooooooo..how does the lifetime warranty fit in ?. they figure you will only change them out once ??..lol.

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I only run boss bearings if they have them ?, other than this ?, I use oem all the way if they are still around ?, I WILL NEVER...EVER..USE ALL BALLS AT ANY COST, unless thats the only bearing I can locate ?. I simply refuse to use all balls bearings, been there, done that !..lol.

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Pivot Works , few  years back when I bought them they had PIVOTWORKS embossed deeply into the race , I don't now what is going on with them now , do you see Pivot Works engraved on the ones you just got  , I too have heard the same thing you are saying , that All Balls and Pivot Works are the same now -------- I kind of think they were better quality bearings back when , but not so any more 

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Boss is another All Balls rebrand, they can say boss on the package but it's All Balls on the inside now lol. I'm not sure if Boss got worse or if All Balls got better, but I know the All Ball's bearings are different from the older style. Remember the older style I think had the split inner race, and blue seals. But now they have a solid inner race and black seals, just like BOSS. Though the sets I bought, the Boss had less grease packed in behind the seals than the All Balls did. I typically pack them full of my own grease anyway.

 

I buy OEM only. and if I can't get OEM I'll go to a bearing shop and try to get them right from NTN, IIRC that is who Honda sources for their bearings.

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1 hour ago, Mac102004 said:

I buy OEM only. and if I can't get OEM I'll go to a bearing shop and try to get them right from NTN, IIRC that is who Honda sources for their bearings.

National, Timken and Nachi are 3 other very high quality bearings. KBC isnt total garbage either. Bearings are something i have had the chance to test alot. We have ran almost all brands in frontload washers through the years when doing rebuilds.

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1 hour ago, Mac102004 said:

Boss is another All Balls rebrand, they can say boss on the package but it's All Balls on the inside now lol. I'm not sure if Boss got worse or if All Balls got better, but I know the All Ball's bearings are different from the older style. Remember the older style I think had the split inner race, and blue seals. But now they have a solid inner race and black seals, just like BOSS. Though the sets I bought, the Boss had less grease packed in behind the seals than the All Balls did. I typically pack them full of my own grease anyway.

 

I buy OEM only. and if I can't get OEM I'll go to a bearing shop and try to get them right from NTN, IIRC that is who Honda sources for their bearings.

I dont know who makes boss bearings ?, but I do know the boss bearings that I have bought in the past have held up great. your prob right, they prob got bought out by all balls ?. when we no longer can get oem from honda  ?, were gonna have no choice but to buy after market bearings.

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10 hours ago, jeepwm69 said:

Just got off the phone with Pivotworks. The guy there confirmed that for a couple of years now All Balls and Pivotworks have been the same bearings in different packaging.

I have a set in the wife’s Rancher that have held up well (not a tremendous amount of use, probably put them in around 2013) and the set I put in my buddy’s Rincon lasted 5 years, but looks like it was as I feared; taking a reputable brand, sticking a lesser product in the packaging, and hoping to sell a bunch before the consumer catches on. 

 

The guy said “Well they have a free one time replacement” and my response to that was “Yeah but I don’t want to spend all my time swapping out bearings. My time is worth something too”

 

I got these cheap so I will use them and then take advantage of the free replacement but the next time I have to buy bearings  I will be going back to OEM Honda

and what do you do when honda no longer sells oem bearings ?. we wont have a choice then. partzilla is already selling china seals that are suppose to be honda parts made in japan ?..BUT THEY ARE MADE IN CHINA !.

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6 hours ago, shadetree said:

I dont know who makes boss bearings ?, but I do know the boss bearings that I have bought in the past have held up great. your prob right, they prob got bought out by all balls ?. when we no longer can get oem from honda  ?, were gonna have no choice but to buy after market bearings.

 

Should always be able to get the bearings from NTN, I know that Honda sources they for wheel bearings but likely all of their bearings. Then your not technically buying “Honda” bearings but your buying the same product regardless. But my guess is you won’t like the price of them. Honda buys in huge quantity and usually the price from them is lower than if you buy the bearings from elsewhere, in my experience. 

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2 minutes ago, Mac102004 said:

 

Should always be able to get the bearings from NTN, I know that Honda sources they for wheel bearings but likely all of their bearings. Then your not technically buying “Honda” bearings but your buying the same product regardless. But my guess is you won’t like the price of them. Honda buys in huge quantity and usually the price from them is lower than if you buy the bearings from elsewhere, in my experience. 

you have a link to their web site ?.

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Website? Lol No website, I walk into their shop and order the bearings, this is old school analog purchasing man! Every town or major city must have a bearing supply place, machine shop something like that?

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23 minutes ago, Mac102004 said:

Website? Lol No website, I walk into their shop and order the bearings, this is old school analog purchasing man! Every town or major city must have a bearing supply place, machine shop something like that?

dont know if any bearing shops around me do this ?, i've always bought oem..lol.

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9 hours ago, shadetree said:

dont know if any bearing shops around me do this ?, i've always bought oem..lol.

 

That's what I try first, because like I said typically the bearing shops cost more. Unless it's a common bearing. Like IIRC the bearing for the steering stem on a 300 is like a 6004RS pretty common stuff those would be cheaper from a bearing supply.

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I had a pretty good bearing cross reference thread going at one time.  Need to put that info up here.

 

Common bearings are cheaper than buying OEM, but a lot of these bearings aren't real common, so it's cheaper to order from Honda that it is to order from a bearings shop.

 

I got the bearings to rebuild one of these 424's real cheap on ebay, for quality bearings.  Much cheaper than buying a rebuild kit (my cable etc were fine)

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They also know that the odds are low of them ever having to honor the lifetime warranty, not necessarily because the bearings won't fail but because most folks won't bother trying to get a free replacement.

 

I'll 2nd the Timken recommendation, they make high quality bearings, at least they use to. We have a local bearing supply store here that sells them and I've had good luck carrying bearings in and letting them match them up.

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