Just spoke to machinist today. Bearing 4 out of round. These are Silverline bearings. I'm thinking time to go German.

Anyone else have a similar problem?

Aren't these made in Germany?

Is there a Japanese equivalent?

Is it possible the machinist is out of round?

Silverline is made in Mexico. They have been making VW bearings for years. They are the ONLY steel back bearings made for VW air cooled engines. Mahle bearings are made in Brazil and are copper backed. There are NO German bearings at this point that I know of. Koblemschmidt has started making some new bearings but I saw CHINA on the box.

You haven’t provided enough info to help you. It very well could be your machinist

Split Bearings aren’t round and uniform thickness all the way around by design.

Likewise even a full round bearing like #4 will have a tiny bit of an interference or tight “push” fit into the case to help keep it from spinning along with the dowel pin. I’m not taking about any significant force but they won’t just drop in perfectly freely either.

Likewise, it could be the bearing bore isn’t round. Especially if case has bearing saddles that are hammered out and/or needing a line bore.

What is he using to base his decision off that the bearings are not round? If he’s using the crank itself as a gauge, has the crank journal been double and triple checked? Any sign of shipping damage or deformation to the bearing itself? Too many what if’s, not enough info to help.

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Case was checked for line bore and thrust. Saddles were not hammered.
Bearing 4 would not fit over the journal out of the box. I was not confident of my results with micrometer and bore gauge. Case, crank and bearings went back to machinist. I expected that the bearing was mis-marked. In any case, I ordered a new set of bearings.

I only spoke to him on the phone. Get more detail today when I stop by the shop.

Bearing was probably an undersize.

Out of round or stamped wrong doesn't matter. Bad out of the box. Ordered a new set of bearings.

On a positive note, I emailed AA Performance about my issue. Although they have a 7 day return policy and I purchased the bearings in November, They are going to replace them. That was kind of them.

I have had similar luck with AA. Your Silverline bearings were probably boxed or stamped incorrectly.