Bearings

[Mgardiner1]

I ordered a set of bearings from hesco on tuesday. 20 under mains, 20 under rods, and std cam bearings. A box showed up today, and it only had rod bearings in it (not happy about partial order with more expensive shipping, but thats another deal)

Anyway, it seems that they were cleaning out their old stock of bearings. They are all clevite, all the same part number, but 2 are in a different box then the rest. 2 of the boxes say made in brazil, and the other 4 are made in USA. I thought at first it might just be different boxes, same bearings. Well that wasn't true either, the 2 from brazil don't have a clear date code on them like the USA ones do, and they are definitly stamped with different characters/letters. However, all 6 bearings say "20" on them like they should. Should i be concerned about the difference in the bearings? i would assume they have to be made within a tight spec no matter which plant they come out of.

EDIT: Definitly not happy, just noticed the brazil bearings have the oil notch that lines up with the notch on the rod cap for oil slinging, and the USA ones do not.

[John]

Call Bennie and start there..............
John

[Mgardiner1]

As my luck would have it...... Bennie is not working for the next 2 weeks. Apparently he is traveling to some trade shows? So Bill, looked at my invoice, saw only rod bearings, and no notes pertaining to the main and cam bearings. I needed to call back to talk to Kathy. When i called back a few hours later, Kathy was pretty much waiting for my call She had already established the error between the internet transaction and the shipment (maybe Bennie was in a hurry to prepare for the trade shows?). She said she will ship out the remaining items monday morning, free shipping. So unfortunatly, I do not have all the bearings this weekend. However, it is not a total loss, because the machinist isn't finished as he had planned

Anywho, that gives me time this weekend to sand blast my exhaust manifold and hit it with some por-20 high temp manifold paint, and finish bead blasting my aluminum accessories.

[Mgardiner1]

This isn't fun any more......


I was making myself a cam bearing installation tool out of some delrin i purchased. I machined it down to 2.00" exactly, the same size as the cam journal. I stick the cam bearing on it, and its sloppier then a bearing with 400K miles on it!

The inner diameter of the bearing is 2.015

Spec is between .001 and .003 clearance.

Part number for Clevite 77 bearing is SH-1980S

what gives? This is my usual luck.......

[John]

I Just put on Grahm Parsons & Emilou Harris "Streets of Baltimore" and grabbed a long neck..........
John

[dwg86]

This isn't fun any more......


I was making myself a cam bearing installation tool out of some delrin i purchased. I machined it down to 2.00" exactly, the same size as the cam journal. I stick the cam bearing on it, and its sloppier then a bearing with 400K miles on it!

The inner diameter of the bearing is 2.015

Spec is between .001 and .003 clearance.

Part number for Clevite 77 bearing is SH-1980S

what gives? This is my usual luck.......

Check all the bearings, they may be different sizes. I know AMC V8 cam bearings are different diameters.

[Mgardiner1]

Dave, i could kiss you!!!!!!

LOL you are 100% correct. Each bearing (from rear to front) is .010" bigger then the last, both inner and outter diameter. My cam bearings are now in the block

[dwg86]

Glad I could Help.

[SilverXJ]

Mikey, what was your resolution on the notched vs unnotched rod bearings? I ordered a set of rod bearings from Falcon and they were all made in the USA, which don't have the notch.

-Chris

[Mgardiner1]

Chris, I wrapped each half of the bearing, one at a time, in a rag and used a mini bench vise to hold on to them while i used a dremel with a small diamond cutter bit. I used a tappered bit so i could start small and work with it until it reached a shape that i liked. My notches were still a little smaller then the other pre-notched bearings, but they were sufficient to allow oil through.

[SilverXJ]

Thanx. Did you try using a hand file first? Also, did you modify both bearing shells (upper and lower, or just the upper one, the one with the entry hole to the bolt)? It looks like only the upper one may need to be modified.

[Mgardiner1]

I only notched one bearing half per rod assembly. The bearings that showed up pre-notched were notched on both halves. However, when assembled into the rod and rod cap assembly, it proved as uneccesary. I did not try to use a hand file first. I notched the bearings just enough to expose the entire oiling hole.

I see those rods showed up. Everything safe and sound?

[gremlinsteve]

a bearings best friend is polydyn...
on every one of our builds we use it.

keeps low oil situations from turning bad.

check em out.


steve

[Mgardiner1]

Steve, i'm not sure what that has to do with notching the bearings to provide oil to seep between the rod and rod bearing cap to allow it to be slung to the camshaft for lubrication. But thanks for the heads up

[SilverXJ]

Yes, thanx. The rods showed up fine. Dropped them off at the machine shop yesterday to have them remove the pistons then back to me for polishing.