The Timken Company (USA; NYSE: TKR) and North Coast Bearings (NCB, USA; privately held; website) renewed their decade-long arrangement for NCB's handling of aftermarket rebuilder kits.

NCB catalogs, sources, assembles, packages, sells and distributes differential and transmission rebuild kits under the DT Components brand and several private-label brands. NCB is also a key packager and distributor of non-kit bearings and related components.

The DT Components kits cover light-duty, medium-duty and heavy-duty markets, although most kits are truck-oriented. When the formal arrangement between NCB and Timken was forged in 1997, only the top 100 kits were covered; today, there are more than 2,000 kits in the program.

Since its founding in 1983, North Coast Bearings has grown to include not only a large home office warehouse, packaging and distribution facility in Avon, Ohio, but also distribution centers in Sparks, Nevada and Crossville, Tennessee.

Barry Harris, Timken's automotive aftermarket marketing manager, said: "Throughout the years, this joint effort has steadily and successfully built upon the strengths of both Timken and NCB. NCB's ability to package kit components, coupled with Timken's expertise in producing quality bearings has resulted in a tremendous array of kits for today's professional installer."

Mr. Harris added: "We now offer one of the most complete lines of differential and transmission kits available in the U.S. light-, medium- and heavy-duty truck aftermarket."

NCB President, Bud Hagy, said: "The aftermarket demand for kits has grown tremendously because of the ever-increasing variety of vehicles in the marketplace. Timken and NCB are well positioned to meet and exceed customer demand by continuing to supply outstanding value and a breadth of new products."