E39 M-Sport Diff carrier Bearings: are they really this expensive?!?

[jdobro22]

I recently purchased a M-Factory Helical LSD and some bearings from rockauto for a 2003 540i....well the bearings that i got in the mail seemed to fit, but the races were about 5x thinner than my original bearing races. after doing some more research i found out that 540s came with 215k diffs and that the bearings for it are practically impossible to find and only came on the early 335i and Z8. M-factory and difflab both sell these bearings.......but for a small price of $300.for a set of bearings. no way. why are they so expensive???the Timken bearings i purchased from rockauto were maybe around $50-$60. maybe someone knows the part number or bearing and race sizes for this diff.

These are the bearings i need. also i cant wait 3 weeks for these to ship and my old bearings are showing signs of wear so im definitely not putting them back in.
Ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MFactory-BM...oAAOSwOrpbteXI
Difflab: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BMW-E39-...-/332013988116
Any help would be appreciated greatly. thanks.

also my original bearings are KOYO japan, i looked up the numbers on the bearing race and found nothing.

Edit: this is my new Helical LSD :https://www.ecstuning.com/b-team-mfa...xoCUrAQAvD_BwE

[masbury]

A suggestion:

Look at the inner race/support, you may find a SKF, FAG or Timken number on it. Check industrial bearing supply houses or try entering the (whichever manufacturer) number in Google search and see what comes up. I have found in the past that when they don't have a BMW/Merc/Audi/Ford etc. connection, bearings are usually pretty cheap from industrial suppliers.

Just a thought

Mike

[masbury]

Apologies, I didn't read your post through. You already did it.

I'm assuming you already started here... https://jtekt-na.com/products/koyo/

Sorry,

Mike

[jdobro22]

Apologies, I didn't read your post through. You already did it.

I'm assuming you already started here... https://jtekt-na.com/products/koyo/

Sorry,

Mike

Thanks for the reply. i managed to find a bearing supplier near me that has bearings similar to what i need, just need the dimensions of the bearing now......i guess ill be buying a digital micrometer now -_-