Which is the Better Throwout Bearing?

[Red Delta]

When I was ordering my parts from Rock Auto, to save a few bucks on shipping I ended up with two throwout bearings. One that is already attached to the slave (it's a Dorman) and just the bearing that came in the Rhinopac clutch kit.

I noticed the the bearings are of different designs. One has a larger rotating area and the other (Rhinopac) has just the surface. It's kind of hard to explain, which is why I'm adding pics.

The bearing that was on the transmission is the same as the one in the Rhinopac kit.

Dorman on the left, Rhinopac on the right.

Dorman

Rhinopac

 

[4x4junkie]

I had one like the one on the right in my BII. It lasted maybe about 12,000 miles then started howling.
I replaced it with a Timken bearing assembly (kindof somewhat sortof resembles the one you have on the left, but isn't that exact one).

If you go offroad much, I would suggest trying to squirt or work a little extra grease into any TO bearing before you install it (lithium wheel bearing grease is fine), they often don't put enough in there to last the life of the clutch otherwise (had that bearing had more grease in it, I suspect it would've still been fine well beyond the 12K I got out of it).

 

[EVn17]

hate to bring back a dead thread but im wondering if anyone knows which throwout bearing would be best to get. Ive got a 98 with the bearing going out so I could use some info pretty quick. Thanks

 

[4x4junkie]

The OE clutch release bearing Ford uses is like the one on the right in the pic above (that is what's in my '94 4.0L Ranger anyway, which i know to be original).
IIRC, that's the bearing included in Luk clutch kits as well.

Again, give it an extra helping of wheel bearing grease before you install it. For whatever reason they just don't put enough grease in these things when they are manufactured (the bearings are usually not sealed around their inner perimeter, which may also contribute to them failing early, at least this makes easier to pack them with a more substantial quantity of grease if nothing else).