King versus clevite

[fishman]

Starting to see king bearings being sold out here on the island, most of us are only fimilar with clevite. Are they as good as clevite

[bentvalves]

they sure are.

[modok]

In my experience.... Clevite bearings to be amazingly consistent when it comes to the thickness, crush, and curvature of the shells. Even across decades. That goes forthe cheaper bearings as well as the expensive racing ones. Very high standard I doubt anyone can match.

King does NOT have them matched in that respect. More wave in the shells, thickness not as consistent, crush might be a bit more or less.

Their coated and tri-metal racing bearings seem to be a lot better in these respects compared the standard AL replacement sets, I guess you pay more you get a better product....tho I don't really see what "racing" has to do with it.

The thickness and squareness of the thrust flanges is not as good either.
The good news is the materials seem to be very good, perhaps even better.
And....if you will have some struggle with them or not depends on what kind of engine it is, oddball stuff they don't seem to have as much QC That's the main difference.

[1980RS]

Used King bearings for the 1st time last year in my BBC. After the first race started to see silvery flakes in the heads where the drain back is. The clearances were good and in all 3 times I have replaced bearings in that big block, never have I seen this, will have to go through it again. Won't use them anymore. Back to Clevites for me.

[modok]

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying they are bad.....lets say they are average for fit, and better than average far as materials.
Clevite was just tops for accuracy and consistency, but if you have grown accustomed to that you may have some adjusting to do.

[af2]

Used King bearings for the 1st time last year in my BBC. After the first race started to see silvery flakes in the heads where the drain back is. The clearances were good and in all 3 times I have replaced bearings in that big block, never have I seen this, will have to go through it again. Won't use them anymore. Back to Clevites for me.

Interesting. I am using a set in my build and they were all at .0023-0025" We will see how they hold at 9000 rpm.

[KnightEngines]

ACL race or clevite for me, won't use king unless I absolutely have to.

[swampbuggy]

Af2, if the bearings do not hold up at 9000 RPM are you gonna assume its the bearings fault ???? just asking ? Mark H.

[jed]

In my experience.... Clevite bearings to be amazingly consistent when it comes to the thickness, crush, and curvature of the shells. Even across decades. That goes forthe cheaper bearings as well as the expensive racing ones. Very high standard I doubt anyone can match.

King does NOT have them matched in that respect. More wave in the shells, thickness not as consistent, crush might be a bit more or less.

Their coated and tri-metal racing bearings seem to be a lot better in these respects compared the standard AL replacement sets, I guess you pay more you get a better product....tho I don't really see what "racing" has to do with it.

The thickness and squareness of the thrust flanges is not as good either.
The good news is the materials seem to be very good, perhaps even better.
And....if you will have some struggle with them or not depends on what kind of engine it is, oddball stuff they don't seem to have as much QC That's the main difference.

Every thing stated is absolute true. King bearing are not consistent when
it comes to manufacturing. They wear good. No problem there.

[engineguyBill]

Clevite has been in business much longer than any of the other engine bearing manufacturers and have decades of experience/involvement in all types of racing as well as OEM supplier worldwide. Clevite has been around for some 100+ years, they were originally known as Cleveland Graphite. Longevity and experience have much to do with product quality, in my opinion.

[af2]

Af2, if the bearings do not hold up at 9000 RPM are you gonna assume its the bearings fault ???? just asking ? Mark H.

Yep it's the bearings fault every time!!! There is no oil..... HAHA
That was what I was saying

[AC sports]

I mainly build vintage euro engines from fast road to race.
I too have found King bearing shells to vary in thickness and surface layer finish. The more expensive king racing coated type bearings are definitely better....but more expensive compared to other off the shelf bearings I know work without issue.
Yes! Clevite are spot on as are Glyco another brand I generally find very reliable.

[Alaskaracer]

I ran the King HP series bearings in my last two builds with zero sizing issues, but always had glitter in my oil. Switched to a set of their XP series rod bearings on a freshen because I had them, three runs later I kicked two rods out of my block. Had 80lbs of oil pressure the whole time so not sure why it happened.....Fast forward to more recently. Racing buddy has had an issue of killing engines, spinning mains...lost several engines over the last few years and has spent a great deal of money chasing the cause.....eventually found it was the bearings....he also was running the King XP series. Come to find out, they will delaminate and fail.....That was what caused my failure. My mains looked great but they were King HP...... started doing a little research and found this was a little more common than I had thought. Even Callies had told him that they will do this and not to run them.

He's back to clevite on the rods and ACL on the mains...ZERO issues. I'm running clevite on mains and rods, zero issues....and no glitter......

Nice thing about clevite is you can get them cheap through rock auto....just need to punch in the part number you need......

[novafornow]

Whenever I read a post about bearings I always seem to see the same brands mentioned. No mentions of the Daido bearings that Callies sells. I have almost exclusively switched to this bearing and I am very happy with them . Sizing is awesome and I absolutely love the “floating “ thrust. It’s almost as though I am the only one running them. Is there anyone else using these?

[engineguyBill]

Whenever I read a post about bearings I always seem to see the same brands mentioned. No mentions of the Daido bearings that Callies sells. I have almost exclusively switched to this bearing and I am very happy with them . Sizing is awesome and I absolutely love the “floating “ thrust. It’s almost as though I am the only one running them. Is there anyone else using these?

Daido bearings are very good quality, however they don't have very good coverage of high performance applications. They are a major supplier of OE engine bearings throughout the world. At one time Daido and Clevite had a joint-venture bearing manufacturing plant in Bellefontaine, Ohio and most, if not all, Clevite high performance engine bearings were manufactured at that location. Clevite high performance bearings are currently being manufactured in Atlantic, Iowa.