big end bearings

[landcruiserjohnb]

the reason im asking is very simple.
i had to replace my big end bearings and have my engine overhauled when they failed while driving which caused a lot of damage some years ago which cost thousands and I remember someone telling me on the ELCO list (could have been Bosnia Jon) that I should consider replacing them again in about 100,000 miles or so.
There is a guy on Ebay selling them so just got me thinking really.

 

[Chris]

Apologies John, I misread who the original post was from. Your forum name is similar to another member who has just swapped theirs.

As far as we know, you really only need to swap them once. But it depends which make you put in and when. The original bearings suffer from a problem that aftermarket bearings don't. But Toyota seem to have modified their own shells at some point so that they don't have that initial problem any more. Most of us use ACL bearings and NOT Toyota ones.

So pretty hard to answer your question as we don't know the facts. If your bearings were swapped for original and old spec Toyota specifications then yes, I'd swap them at another 100k. If they were ACL or something like that then they should be good to leave in. But it's slightly unknown territory as not many people have pulled their second set of bearings out to see what they are like. The problem seems to be related to bearing metal that was designed to work with calcium based Japanese oils which are different to (magnesium?) based European oils. So putting EU oil compatible shells in solves the problem.

Most replacement bearings are one size. Toyota make a range of sizes, but the difference between them is overplayed in my view. Toyota don't make cranks with journals that are so out of spec that they need bearings that go up in 1mm increments; this is just a manufacturer virtually gold plating their standards. I would think that most people wouldn't be able to measure the difference between one shall and another.

Sorry again about the mistaken identity.

 

[landcruiserjohnb]

Hi Chris
No bother at all.
After that incident i changed to fully Synth oil and have periodic oil analysis done but still like to check.

 

[frank rabbets]

I would have thought that if you replaced them with toyota ones in UK and ran on UK oil you would be OK. Pity we have not got xray eyes. Problem is after 100,000 there is no guarantee that any big end shell is undamaged.

Frank

 

[Chris]

You're right Frank. Unless we have categoric proof of what causes this and a definitive answer on the upgrading of bearings from Mr T, the only way to know is if someone pulls their shells. My understanding is that fully synth oil doesn't not cause this in any case and BEBs don't naturally wear that much in a normal sense.

I'll never get that many miles on my engine so I'll never have to deal with it.

C

 

[BlackBetty]

Does anyone have contact details for am ACL supplier here in the uk that one can buy BEB from or even any other supplier?

Thank you

 

[Chris]

Our very own Karl Webster has them.

Chris