OS 91 rear bearings for £0.30 each.

[Nooby]

https://www.partzilla.com/product/honda/91008-KPS-900

Considering SKS bearings are ~£ each, This is quite the deal

Shipping to the UK is ~£7

Deal was posted to nitro nation by Ian Rickard

[coolice]

Hey buddy.

Being honest I probably wouldn't use this as a rear bearing, not because it's a bad bearing as such, but because the ball cage is metal.
OS bearings use a phenolic bearing cage, which is a form of plastic. The latter if it fails should not cause much damage if any, but if this metal ball cage starts to break down and break up it will cause damage.

Also, as corrosion sets in which it will do to some degree, the race holder is going to corrode as well. So will sound rough early on.

For the yearly rebuild of a well maintained and looked after IC engine, by burning the fuel out at the end of a session and closing off its air supply, a more genuine bearing will pay off.

Ian Contessa

[electricsceadu]

I have been experimenting for a while using sealed bearings in my nitro engines
I do however only use a quality bearing and not cheap alternatives

my findings are very good in the last couple of years using a sealed bearing I have had zero issues and zero bearing failures
I do use a shielded bearing on the nose of the crank as standard
the rear bearing is the only sealed bearing I use
and the bonus is the nitro fuel does not effect the seal on the bearing (I've pulled a couple apart to check this)

[waveydavey]

Contrary to Ians findings the bearings you link to have served me well over the years. They all rust and the balls rust at the same time as teh cage, the cage will give way before the balls but if you haven't heard the death rattle by then you're in the shit anyway. Balls are mostly case hardened and this comes away and can cause failure as well as some typed of bearings have clips on teh cage in place of the little pins/rivets you can see on yours. Avoid these, the clips come off and go through the engine. I do however agree 100% with Ians shutdown regime, I don't run the engine dry, I shutdown at the end of the flight, bung the pipe and make sure the throttle is closed. No air equals no moisture equals little rust and longer bearing life

[Gixxer]

Hey buddy.

Being honest I probably wouldn't use this as a rear bearing, not because it's a bad bearing as such, but because the ball cage is metal.
OS bearings use a phenolic bearing cage, which is a form of plastic. The latter if it fails should not cause much damage if any, but if this metal ball cage starts to break down and break up it will cause damage.

Also, as corrosion sets in which it will do to some degree, the race holder is going to corrode as well. So will sound rough early on.

For the yearly rebuild of a well maintained and looked after IC engine, by burning the fuel out at the end of a session and closing off its air supply, a more genuine bearing will pay off.

Ian Contessa

I've used metal caged bearings in every engine I've owned, and never had an issue. I do use after run oil, though.

[coolice]

I've used metal caged bearings in every engine I've owned, and never had an issue. I do use after run oil, though.

Evening Mate.

I'm sure fuels have got much better in recent years than before. I'm remembering back when I ran IC engines exclusively and back then, having tried metal caged bearings in the OS 61SX-H's & WC's of the time, they didn't last so well compared to the proper phenolic caged stuff.
I seem to recall having a failure, it's been a few years so the memory is vague, but would probably explain my reluctance.

Again though, as you say proper after-run care of any IC engine will prolong it's life span overall, combined with a good fuel.

Ian Contessa