[DampRobot]

I've never seen a hex bearing that came "out of the tube" with significant runout issues or race damage. We've bough bearings from AM, WCP and VP. That said, poor (read: >~.008 too tight) press fits, mishandling, or excessive loads can damage the bearings. Especially damaging is when you press on the inner race while pushing the outer race into a too tight press fit.

I've never seen using 1/2" hex broached bearings per se as a problem, but there are a couple of hypothetical workarounds. First, you could turn down the 1/2" hex to 1/2" round to fit in a bearing (this would only really work if the round bit was at the ends, so it wouldn't work right for a traditional WCD). Also, you can press a 1/2" hex broached 1/2" ID 3/4" OD brass bushing into the inside of a 3/4" ID ball bearing. We've done somthing similar with 3/8" hex in a 1/2" bearing. A little excessive, but it would let you use 1/2" hex unmodified in a bearing that didn't have the inner race broached. Others have mentioned fine foxes as well.

To answer the origional question, we did 4WD skid stear. It was solid but not excellent.