NTN Corporation and NSK Ltd in Japan make bearings for Nissan. Timken has a great reputation for high quality made bearings but there is potential for a poor fit on some vehicles. For instance, Timken recommends the exact same front wheel bearings for your '97 as they do for my '02 but Nissan specifies different part numbers for our two Pathfinders. They can't both be right and as a recent NICOclub member posted just a few weeks ago, Timken recommended the exact same bearings for a '98 but they did not quite fit.
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In that instance, OEM bearings were ultimately purchased to replace the Timken bearings. When the time comes for me to replace my bearings, I may likely go with Timken because of the big cost savings over OEM but I'll be sure to do a dry fit onto my spindles first before pressing in new races so that I know whether or not Timken's one size fits many makes and models bearings actually work with my '02. If they don't, I'll just return them good as new and bite the bullet on the cost of OEM bearings instead.