Quality wheel bearings are getting harder to find. Use to be there was an abundance of German bearings out there, but times have changed. Now bearings are on the market made in India, Sri-Lanka, Mexico, Brazil, as well as the USA & Germany, the latter being harder to find. When we were running the Things in our outfitting business we found out in a hurry the abuse we were putting on these vehicles took its toll on the wheel bearings and shocks. The distributors were the next items to fall victim.
The bearings from Mexico failed the most, followed by the ones from India. We always tried to get Bower, or Timken if available. These were US made and served very well. The German FAG bearings did great and were supplied in some of the boxes labeled Federal Mogul who at that time was buying out Bower. As most of you are aware, the front and rear bearing sets consist of two bearings and a seal. The bearings are ‘inner’ & ‘outer’ along with a seal. The bearings come with the ‘race’. The rear bearings are used with two seals, one outer and one inner…..both the same size and part number. Bearing numbers for the VW Thing application are as follows. These will be NAPA Auto Parts numbers as they seem to be in most markets. If you don’t have access to a NAPA Parts store your supplier can ‘cross over’ the numbers to the line they do carry.
VW Thing Bearings
Front Inner Bearing ………… BR1
Front Outer Bearing…………BR2 These are Mexican SKF Brand
Front Seal…………………….66510
Rear Inner Bearing …………. 6206-J SKF USA
Rear Outer Bearing…………..MA 1206-UV SKF Germany
Inner Seal ……………………..66710 USA (Takes two.)
– Mike
