As the saying goes you get what you pay for. Cheap bearing are cheap bearing. Cheap women are cheap women and a lot of fun to take to church with you.

I use Full Force RC. They sale raw bearing pack of 10 for $10.00. I've had good luck with them. Got all sizes available. For me they are what I consider local but they are delivered vis usps. I like to keep the money in the little guys that are close to home vs the big companies. I am guilty of an order to Hobbycity omce in a while too.

http://www.fullforcerc.com/bearings.htm

The owner at full force. I will probably spell his name wrong but Roland went out of his way for me on one Friday afternoon. Had to drive to a LHS theatwas accross the state line for parts and he drove some bearing and a set of the dual rate springs for the Savage down to the LHS from his shop farther up north. Just so I could bash the XL over the weekend. Otherwise the savage would of been down all weekend.

Support the local shops closest to you if you can. Every little bit helps them stay a float.

so i went ahead and bought them avid revolutions. now my question is, what side should i have the rubber shield facing? on the website they said you run the rubber side towards the outside and the metal towards the inside. but im not sure if im understanding them correct. are they saying that on the inside and outside carrier, both bearings should have the rubber shield visible?

Towards the outside, towards the wheel, put that side the rubber.
You want as much sealing as possible, and rubber is for that.

so if i took off the axle carrier, both bearings (inner and outer) should show the rubber side right?

I would believe so.

Both bearings should have the rubber side visible.

I'm purchasing my bearings directly from the factory, usually about 2500 pieces at a time.

Jeeesus, what do you need 2500 bearings for!?

I'm assuming you resell them?
Let me rephrase that:

You BETTER be reselling that?

Exactly, I'm reselling them. Fortunately, 1/8 offroad is very hard on the bearings, especially on nitro clutches... .

BTW, you can buy good bearings for 99 cents and bad bearings for two bucks. Quality depends on the specifications of the bearings and prize is mostly a function of how many resellers are in the chain between the factory and the end user, and how much profit they want.

So true. I've had Traxxas bearings ($1.50 each or so) that failed after a few hours of use, since replacing with Avid Revolutions they have hundreds of hours without locking up and I very rarely even oil my bearings. Usually if I need a bearing I'll buy some from Amain though, they aren't as good but I hate paying shipping.

I need to get some bearings myself, for my Tekno Neu. What would be the best? I know they're 5x13x4. Should I go ceramic? Abec 5 is better than 3 right?

Vbx
 

I purchase my bearings from VBX.com, which is one of the main suppliers for a lot of the R/C dealers. They have a pretty good supply with fair pricing, and they even do kits for a lof of R/C models. Plus I usually get the sealed steel shielded bearing for loner life. Rubber and plastic shields will melt if you get them hot enough.

For very high revs, you need a bearing with small tolerances, so ABEC 5 is better than 3. The ceramic balls will have less drag.
Engine and motors are two of few applications where I would NOT use 0.99$ bearings.


Jerry, if they are steel shielded, they are not really sealed. If you want rubber shields that can handle high revs, you need non-contact rubber seals. These are often used in front engine bearings, along with low-friction cages and high-temperature grease.

I have had five different specifications of 5x10x4 mm bearings (for clutches) from the same manufacturer, and different they were.