Stainless Steel Wheel Bearings.

[mixyblob]

Are they available?
If so, why can I find no mention of them on Ribnet?
Surely they would survive dunking a lot better than non stainless bearings.

[jeffstevens763@g]

never heard of them i would say there aren't any as stainless is too soft might be wrong but if there are i bet there expensive.

[Pikey Dave]

Stainless steel is not good bearing material. Stainless bearings are available for industrial applications, never seen them for trailer wheel bearings. I'd assume that the market is too small to justify production & the cost would be prohibitive.

[beamishken]

I work for an offshore contracting company & all our bearings are ss so I guess they are available but I suspect in a limited range of standard sizes & our equipment is engineered around what is available.
Mainly deep groove ball bearings but possibly some taper Bearings will be available.
I'd very much doubt you'd get the sealed for life double bearings that are popular now.
Possibly worth scrolling through manufacturers catalogues to see if there is a stainless version of the popular taper Bearings fitted to millions of smaller trailers.
But at about a fiver a pair it hardly seems worth it as you'd probably still need to strip them to clean the salt crystals out annually

[camelgas]

I have a small stainless thrust bearing on route to me at present, it's coming from the states, as it proved impossible to source here !.

The bearing was £8 and shipping was £20 to give you an idea of costs.

As said above, not sure that stainless would be suitable for trailer hub's.