Parts


Ordering Parts

Some damage types require replacement of parts that can only be acquired through salvaged LDUs. Examples (Tesla may start carrying this as you read this):

Parts Order Lead Time

Following items can have long lead times:

Following parts can be gathered within 1-2 weeks:

Coolant Seal

Before buying seals, please read and understand the all important shaft preparation on this site. Seals only work with a properly prepared shaft. See also this thread @ openinverter. Also know that seal literature states that all seals leak. There is no silver bullet.

PTFE (Teflon) Seals

Tesla's OEM seal (30 x 55 x 8mm) is not available from Tesla. The seal manufacturer is unknown. PTFE Lipped (Triple) Tesla Old Stock seems to exist in limited quantities. A vendor was found, but it's not a normal for sale item. This is a gray market which can't scale in volume nor do they seem very eager. LDU rebuilders are trying various options below. All seals leak. There exists no "magical non-leaking seal". It's just about the correct seal lip material and the seal geometry. No fancy anti leak design is used in any seal including Teslas.

Triple-lipped Ceimin Seals from Chenming Seals

Currently, the only commercial off-the-shelf PTFE (Teflon) LDU coolant seal with the correct dimensions is sold on AliExpress under the name Ceimin. Ceimin is a namebrand owned by Chenming Seals in Ningbo, China. Chenming verified this in writing, so Ceimin is not a "middle-man". Shipping time to CA, USA is approximately 2 weeks. This seal is probably of similar quality as those made in US/EU made or from Tesla. Installation error and shaft surface are probably more important. Ceimin coolant seal options:

*From Parker, Fluid Power Seal Design Guide, pp 3-7: "Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) increases the hardness of the seal surface while decreasing friction. It is normally used in small proportions and combined with other fillers such as glass." In other words: It could be more abrasive (to the shaft!) than virgin PTFE. Generally, the seal should be the sacrificial component and not the shaft. The yellow seal is the softest one of the two, given the Shore hardness values. So hopefully the yellow seal is also the least abrasive one.

Buy 2x Seal if chosing this seal. PTFE seal with excluder lip is really really hard to get on properly. Buy and extra one for practice before installing a new one. Installation example on YouTube. So far the yellow Ceimin seal is the only working seal that community have shared with well prepared shaft surface (600->1500 grip sandpaper) But still early.

Cautions on the Ceimin seals:

But really no other seal option at this time

FKM Seals

The combination of this seal and a speedi sleeve was discovered to leak at 3500 miles - See also: Longevity.  FKM seals are the classical single V lip seal. This path was pursued for a damaged shaft surface. Since it didn't last, repair shaft and select other seal choices.

Alternatively there is a non-PTFE seal available. "FKM" refers to fluoro rubbers having higher temperature resistance than nitrile rubbers. Note that this seal was designed to be lubricated by oil or grease and not coolant:

General literature on the above seals at SKF. SKF also makes a matching 30mm speedi-sleeve if desired for matching shaft surface prep. These seals are cheaper (before shipping) and easier to source out of Europe than out of the US (same as SKF hybrid bearings below).

PTFE-lined Seals

Background on PTFE lined Seals here (contents have been mostly deleted). Examples:

Mechanical seals

Mechanical seals are generally superior to PTFE seals, yet far more expensive and larger. Discussion: here. The AX05 from EagleBurgmann comes close to actually fit, but requires several modifications to both the manifold and the reluctor wheel. Also its specs far from ideal.

Misc

Many people prefer reputable brand to supply the PTFE seal. We have aggressively pursued this. Large seal providers all have custom departments with millions of variations on specs and choices. I think its because seal usage is quite high in manufacturing equipments of all age and vintage and some equipment makers probably have long since disappeared. Factory equipment seals gets top dollars since they are income producing assets. It make sense to support the very high margin but low volume segment. We have called Saint Gobain's custom dept. Sounds like they are bound up by Tesla in some way. Wouldn't accept any custom effort.  Reached into Parker custom dept a bit. Even got a custom seal PN to inquire about but not much success beyond.

See also:

Rotor bearings

Early rotors had all-metal bearings which caused failures. Later rotors all have "hybrid ceramic" bearings, i.e. steel races and ceramic balls.

OEM bearing:

The closest matching commercial of-the-shelf SKF hybrid ceramic bearing with the OEM dimensions:

Authorized distributors @ SKF | SKF presentation about counterfeits @ youtube. This rotor bearing (inside Tesla LDUs) seems to be only manufactured at SKF

factories in the USA, Germany, and Italy. But no details on where the critical component silicon nitride ceramic balls are made. Since this is SKF brand, we can

probably trust all high quality ceramic ball sourcing and SKF's quality control over all of its factories.

Suppliers - USA (SKF authorized) $$$$$

Bearing cost $400-$500 (mid 2022) amongst US distributors if available at all:

Suppliers - Europe (SKF authorized) $$

The following outlines two price points ~$150 and ~$300. $150 is probably Italy COO and $300 is Germany COO (reference needed).

Acorn Industries Services Ltd

SKF listed authorized distributor in UK with many office/stores in UK. $109/ea with DHL international shipping (~$24 10/22 if adding the 2 primary shaft bearings). IT COO. 6007-2RZTN9/HC5C3WT (acorn-ind.co.uk). DHL delivered the product from UK to west coast USA in 2 days. At time of order (10/22), had 10 in stock, 37 in +1-2 days. 57 on backorder. (Plug in 100 quantity to see) Received bearings had valid SKF scan code and confirmation email from SKF Gothenberg no reason to suspect counterfeit. Note Acorn's SKF bearings seems to be mostly from cheaper IT COO instead of USA/Germany. Probably true of most European distributors at the lower price point.

Bolton Industries Ltd

Another seller in UK. They sell this bearing on webstore and ebay if you prefer (60k+ feedback, 99.7%) Not listed as SKF authorized seller. If buy from their website,

wait 24 hours after placing item in cart. May get a $10% off code as I did :) Boxster EV on openinventor purchased from this source. IT COO

6007-2RZTN9/HC5C3WT 35x62x14mm Single Row Deep Groove Ball Bearing (bepltd.com)

Bolton Bearings | eBay Stores

Maedler

This 100+ year old German company is both a bearing manufacturer and distributor and has a US distribution office. They quoted Germany COO 6007 hybrid at

$300+/ea. This hybrid bearing is not listed on their website so have to contact for sourcing quote

Drive-train specialist - Large metric inventory - Maedler North America

Non-SKF Hybrid Bearing Equivalent

KOYO

An Rev R LDU had a KOYO bearing in it.

Tesla Large Drive Unit (LDU) Motor Teardown and maintenance - Page 8 - openinverter forum

Unfortunately KOYO North American sales said bearing is not for sale in US (9/22)

NTN

NTN has a contact seal 6007 ceramic bearing with steel cage. Never imported to US. For this high speed application, would need a non contact seal.

PN NTN 5S-6007LLU/L588Q52 (5S=ceramic balls, U=contact seal, B would be non contact seal. T2 would be glass fiber reinforced cage)

Nachi

Supplies no compatible bearing.

Misc

QC Charge claims they get 6007 hybrids out of Germany for $300 ( source1 | source2 )

Counterfeits and lower quality ceramic balls

Block hammer torture testing @ Tesla Large Drive Unit (LDU) Motor Teardown and maintenance - Page 8 - openinverter forum

Does COO Matter?

As for which COO (Country of Origin), Its personal experience and choice of course. General consensus from machinists that see and replace a lot of bearings seems to be: Go with reputable brand and reputable distributor. It seems that the theory is that a good brand will provide good quality control regardless of COO. A good distributor will provide non-counterfeits. People warn of counterfeits, so best to consult SKF website for authorized distributor listing. The pricing difference and availability seems to depend on major OEM consumption within COO, maybe trade laws governing distribution in COO, and factory operation cost.

Repacking (re-greasing) the existing hybrid bearings

Alternatively, could gamble with cleaning the bearing and repacking it with grease a shown here, see also the directions on repair pages. However, if the rotor is stuck and won't come out, it is likely the hybrid bearing's outer ring is stuck. Hammering the rotor shaft to remove the rotor will likely damage the bearing. Read the update section at the bottom of this post.

Primary (Pinion) Shaft Bearings

QC Charge stated that they replace these two bearings for each rebuild. Same RPM as rotor which is about mph x 100.

Availability:

See also:

What about that VC4521 designation?

All 5 SKF gearbox bearings have the VC4521 designation. KOYO sales rep told that SKF's V designations indicate heat resistance. No additional information on the meaning was found, but can't purchase it anyway, so everyone just uses 6207/C3 and 6208/C3 (rated 120C min). Don't know if will have shorter lifespan in this application. SKF does list some ultra high temp (>300°C) bearings with V* code, e.g. 6207-2Z/VA208. The off the shelf SKF 6207 ETN9/C3VC4521 has this code, but has glass fiber reinforced cage rather than steel in the original. See also: here and here.

Intermediate Shaft Counter Bore Bearings

If you decide to replace this, bearing is FAG X-life RNU2207E TVP. Acorn in UK doesn't stock but can get within one week. Just contact them directly. Can be combined shipped with your SKF bearing orders. $43 (10/2022).

Delete kits

If you no longer want to deal with the coolant seal or your rotor shaft has too much damage, then a "coolant delete kit" may be a solution. Note that the rotor can get hot (images; context unknown). Options: