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You can stop worrying about Clevite Bearings

J

justa2pt5L

CEG'er
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
56
Location
Shelby Twp. Mi
I spoke with Bill at Clevite and got his permission over the phone to quote him on the email he sent me...

Here is your straight answer: " We have over 1000 sets in stock ready for immediate delivery! We have no plans to discontinue the trimetal mains and rods for the Ford Duratec engines! Any Clevite Distributor who does not stock these can order them for you. We are planning to add aluminum versions of these bearings later this year for the rebuilder market place, but will continue to product the trimetal P series for enthusiasts like yourself." - I believe the confusion got started because NAPA changed from selling Clevite engine bearings to selling Federal Mogul brand. The feds have primarily bi-metal AL material, not nearly as good for performance.

Regards,


Bill McKnight
Director of Brand Development
MAHLE Clevite, Inc.

I will continue to do the GB if there is enough interest...
 
Hence why I didn't post in the other thread. Sounded like a mix up to me. How many Ford models have 3L's? About a billionty.
 
Well I can see why it was a mix up. NAPA supplied Clevite bearings for over 20 years. It might have been mistaken that NAPA was the only supplier of Clevites so when they decided to go with Federal Mongul after the bankruptcy some may have thought Clevites were no longer available.

Maybe the person who started the rumor never shopped at Murrays or Carquest for bearings...
 
Last edited:
justa2pt5L said:
Maybe the person who started the rumor never shopped at Murrays or Carquest for bearings...
Click to expand...

I probably started the rumor. When I built my last 3L in December of 2006 I could not find a set of bearings for the life of me so I started a thread. I tried several NAPA stores. They all claimed that they were discontinued. I also tried a few Orileys stores. All they carried were Federal Mogul bearings. At this point I called a friend of mine who happens to work for the probably the second biggest engine reman company in the US. They usually have these sort of bearings in stock but for some reason had none. So he personally called the company and he said that they had no intention of putting them back into production. I opted for a set of ACL bearings which are probably equally as good. The only quality that tri-metal has over standard aluminum bearings (like the stock fords) is that they have a better imbedability quality. ACLs are good for that.

It might have had something to do with the company taking over I don't know. But then again when I worked for Ford I don't ever remember having to replace a rod (or any engine bearing for that matter) bearing or heard of anyone else doing it either. Outside of this site and reman factories (well maybe NECO) noone rebuilds these engines. I doubt that their is a high demand for hi po bearings. Which is maybe why they stopped producing them for a while.

I'm curious myself as to what happened. I will have to do some research.

Mike
 
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