I'm assuming the ones on a narrow body are the same as the wide body ones but oldest 780 here with over 1500 hours on it and not changed any of the major ones yet.

 

Claas usually sells good name bearings. The non drive bearing on the impeller has been giving us poor life after we put the sunny book impeller in. If you increase the weight of the impeller by 50% you increase the load of the bearing by 50% which decreases the life of the bearing 4 times faster. The problem with all the new sealed bearings is they have very little grease in them. I always try to add grease to them through a needle fitting before install.

 

I replaced the big bearing behind the variable speed drive pulley for the rotors last winter. The original bearing was made in Slovakia and the replacement from Class was a Peer brand bearing made in China and cost over a $1000, I was not impressed.

 

China can make quality stuff same as we, but at the same price level so there is no advantage.
China because of the way it has handled its manufacturing is now synonimous with cheap-poor quality stuff
and if they stopped now making that cheap low quality it would take them 1 generation to overcome the stigma.
Japan was in the same situation after WW2, but they realized very early on the problem, acted and see where they are now.
That chinese bearing "may" be as good as any, but I'm surprised that Claas sales & marketing dept does not realize the image lost
in using chinese made parts in their machines. What would be the added cost per machine if they used US or EU made bearings?
$100 or $1,000 when dealing with a machine costing half a mill what does that represent?

 

I’m hoping this was a supply shortage gap fill. Chinese bearing is better than no bearing?

 

That’s what I was told. They are using what ever they can find

 

Our 2011 740, if it has any Chinese labelled bearings, I don't think I have come across them. I would be unhappy if Claas is now using China crap.

Often times when it comes to a bearing failure on a machine, it is from the operator and/or bad design.
Some operators don't grease or leave equipment out in the elements all year.
Some designs (rotor bearing setup) is simply not made right.

 

I agree with trillion farms . I buy a claas over the deeres we used to run because of the longer lasting parts but lately I’m wondering why there cutting corners and things aren’t lasting as long as they used to.

 

I have a 2019 740TT that I've been disappointed in bearing life. The chopper bearings and the big bearing on the main counter shaft failed in the 300-400 hour range. The chopper bearing looked like it had SNR stamped on it. Is that French? The big bearing on the countershaft got destroyed when they took it out so I don't know what make it was. Was wondering is it the bearing quality or damaged when built? I never owned a combine with such short bearing life.

 

SNR Sh*ty Not Reliable lol

 

Trex, What did the new Bearing Say. Just got some new clean grain elevator sprockets that say made in China.

 

Sorry I don’t remember, but not Chinese. This is first machine I’ve had with automatic grease. Wondered if that’s my problem. I thought automatic would be good because it greases when bearings are warm and spinning. Had set on highest frequency of greasing.

 

Actually the reliability, or lack of, is turning into a deal breaker for me. I’ve had a lot of downtime and expense with this machine. Usually the last in a series before series change are the best ones as they get most of the problems solved. Not so with this machine. I loved the separation and throughput and tracks. Hated the chopper, both with plugging and spreadability. Yield monitor was impossible to get any accuracy. Lack of concern over impeller issues was a big concern, having to go to third party to solve. Cost of parts and service were really high which I knew going in, but thought throughput and reliability would outweigh. Deere dealer is pushing hard to change back. Hardest part would by far to give up would be Convio. Never had anything so good. Think whoever designed that should be put in charge of combine development. Also, to me, if Claas is serious about keeping combines in NA, they need to have their own dealerships. My dealer sells so much other stuff, and now Fendt, that I don’t feel any of my concerns ever got noticed by Claas.

 

I have dissected a couple different brands of bearings and the peer triple steel seal seemed the best to me

 

That's interesting. In 6 years with 3 claas machines. 4000 Ac per machine per year. Have only had 2 bearings go bad.

 

That is amazing. What year machines are they? I know someone else with a close serial number to mine that also had countershaft bearings fail at fairly low hours. Must be inferior bearings or faulty installation.

 

Torriem over greasing is much better on a Lexion than under greasing. Many of the bearings have felt seals and can not be over greased. Over greasing is a problem on sealed bearings but there are very few sealed bearing that are greasable on a Lexion

 

Mixing different types of grease can also cause problems.

 

2021 and 2022 machines seem to definitely have a different quality of bearing. Running 8700’s of both years and have had more fails in the last two years than the previous 10.