Old Crosscut
ArboristSite Member
Just finished installing new bearings, bottom end, on an 028. Now, I’m unable to get the crank to turn freely, at least as freely as I think it should.
Assembly procedure: Froze the crank, warmed the bearings on top of my wood stove. A few taps, long socket/washers, and the bearings easily bottomed on the crank. Froze the crank and bearings, warmed both case halves on my wood stove. Again, a few taps with a long socket/washers over the flywheel side easily seated the outer bearing race against the C-clip on the clutch side. The flywheel side went together easily, also, to within a quarter-inch closure--by the same method. I had the alignment pins set to protrude only an eight-inch or so, and the cases pulled the remainder of the way together with only minimal torque applied to the case bolts. The flywheel side outer bearing race popped a few times while pulling the cases together, then the pins drove on in and the bolts torqued down just fine. All seemed right with the world.
At that point, the crank would not turn. Same problem I’ve dealt with on other bottom end jobs. Some remaining bearing side-load, I believe, is to be expected. I assume this side-load (in this case) is caused by the flywheel side outer bearing race not yet fully seated (perhaps less than .0005?).
A couple of smart dead-blow pops to the crank end on the clutch side and the crank will now turn, but not freely. It’ll rotate 360 with the same mild drag, but it sure doesn’t turn as freely as I think it should, at least from past experience. At this point, I gave both ends of the crank a number of dead-blow pops with no change in the bearing drag.
What should I do now? I’m afraid of trying to run it in like this for fear of heating up and galling the new bearings. Help, please!
Assembly procedure: Froze the crank, warmed the bearings on top of my wood stove. A few taps, long socket/washers, and the bearings easily bottomed on the crank. Froze the crank and bearings, warmed both case halves on my wood stove. Again, a few taps with a long socket/washers over the flywheel side easily seated the outer bearing race against the C-clip on the clutch side. The flywheel side went together easily, also, to within a quarter-inch closure--by the same method. I had the alignment pins set to protrude only an eight-inch or so, and the cases pulled the remainder of the way together with only minimal torque applied to the case bolts. The flywheel side outer bearing race popped a few times while pulling the cases together, then the pins drove on in and the bolts torqued down just fine. All seemed right with the world.
At that point, the crank would not turn. Same problem I’ve dealt with on other bottom end jobs. Some remaining bearing side-load, I believe, is to be expected. I assume this side-load (in this case) is caused by the flywheel side outer bearing race not yet fully seated (perhaps less than .0005?).
A couple of smart dead-blow pops to the crank end on the clutch side and the crank will now turn, but not freely. It’ll rotate 360 with the same mild drag, but it sure doesn’t turn as freely as I think it should, at least from past experience. At this point, I gave both ends of the crank a number of dead-blow pops with no change in the bearing drag.
What should I do now? I’m afraid of trying to run it in like this for fear of heating up and galling the new bearings. Help, please!