Rebuilding QT, reuse bearings?

[TrenchFoot]

I'm rebuilding a QT from a few spares and am looking for guidance on what's acceptable when reusing bearings. I have two cases to choose from, one with the square-ring gasket in the top cover and one without. (I was surprised to find out some came without the gasket.) The case without the gasket has lower miles but has some chunks missing from the aluminum in the outer support webs around the rear output shaft. I'm favoring the case with higher miles because it has the gasket and the only damage is a helicoil insert in the top cover where the low range bolts up.

All the needle bearings feel OK to me. The lower-milage case has bearings that feel just a bit tighter but I don't think I can pull those without screwing them up.

I think I screwed up the roller bearing on the rear output shaft trying to pound it out ("rear annular bearing"). I was pounding on the P/T kit coupler instead of the output shaft and now it feels notchy sometimes, spins free sometimes. Gonna tear the other case apart to check out that bearing.

BJ's has all 4 types in stock, six total. A full set would cost about $240 plus I'd probably pay a machine shop to pull and press them in as insurance against screwing anything up. But that's a lotta coin for piece of mind.

These cases seem overbuilt and the bearings seem in great shape overall. What have y'all found when reusing bearing? What's your yardstick when choosing between replacing or reusing the bearings?

[Tatsadasayago]

It varies, but if the bearings have no chips, brinelling or dark blue/brown/purple/black discoloration and roll smoothly they can be re-used.
Any bumps or tightness as you roll a cleaned up bearing should cause you to inspect very closely for damage.
In the QT, the upper bearings, including Torringtons are the most likely to fail due to low oil levels after a leak.


In all truth, I've seen gearboxes with bearings and bushings that I would replace in a heartbeat, continue on for years of use without problems.

[SemperFIGuy]

If you do reuse, be sure and check the bearings individually, one tight bearing will cause enough heat buildup to give you future problems.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

[eggman918]

If it's apart and you have all the bearing numbers you can usually save 50% by getting them from a local bearing shop.
I buy all my bearings that way and it's always less expensive, name brands are less that the cheap stuff that way

[fulsizjeep]

I believe the output shaft bearings take the biggest beating. I would consider new bearings for them since you are going through it.

[Nikkormat]

Usually you can get higher quality bearings by buying individually too.

[TrenchFoot]

Good advice all around. I found some NOS Torrington needle bearings on ebay for a good price (not that Torrington is the only ones that'd work, these are standard size and model #s). I found 3x B-3416 bearings and 1x B-4416 but couldn't find the ball bearings.

I took the old ones into a local bearing shop and they said they couldn't source anything that'd fit. These are oddball bearings with inch OD and metric ID. BJ's looks to be the only source for these. They want $47 each, or ~$80 after discount for both.

Flint, thanks for suggesting I swap them all out. At this point, there's no reason to pinch pennies on my QT. But frustrating that a similar-looking, all-metric 206 bearing can be had for as little as $10 each. At 62mm OD, they're only .06" too small.

[Nikkormat]

A sleeve could be used. But just getting the right size bearings would be easier. I didn't know the bearings were odd sized... Interesting.

[TrenchFoot]

I don't know what's going on with these bearings. The bearing shop is a local, experienced, reputable shop. They couldn't make heads or tails of these things. They mentioned shims as an option, but in the end it wouldn't save any money.

The OD on these is 2.50", ID is 1.80". The inner doesn't line up with a fractional inch:
1.7969" -- 1 51/64
1.8125" -- 1 13/16
1.800" -- 45.72mm

[Nikkormat]

Hmmmmm... Very interesting indeed.

Shims certainly wouldn't save money, but in the future if bearing quality or supply becomes a problem its an option.

[TrenchFoot]

UGH! BJ's is out of the ball bearings for QTs, their only supplier is out. Seems like these are really nonexistent. Yet another QT part that can doom the long-term survival of a QT. I don't understand how BJs was sourcing the seals for these if the OD and ID of the bearings are the same.

[Tatsadasayago]

I suspect that if you did some digging you would find a replacement bearing. The problem is knowing where to look.
If I recall correctly, Borg-Warner used Spicer and National brand bearings.

[Nikkormat]

If I can get part numbers I'll start digging.

I'd think that odd us/metric bearings would be easier to find now than they were in the 70's.

[TrenchFoot]

I don't think they're really metric and inch, that's just what the bearing shop told me. Instead, I think they're just weird sizes.

I've hunted online at various sources and can't find a ball bearing that matches these measurements (I took these with a dial caliper):

EDIT: I typed the ID wrong initially, updated below:
2.50" OD
1.18" ID bore
.630" width

Markings on the two brands I took out of two cases:
Mrc c 206 Mrc 206sfi2
Federal 1206 fc

[Cheap Hobby]

Just did a quick search by number on bearings found Federal at Amazon ebay and others $39.00 mrc showed up multiple vendors. Supposed to match by number

[TrenchFoot]

What's challenging about buying these without an exact match of the model name is that a 206 bearing is a very common bearing. A 206 is a metric ball bearing that looks just like the QT bearings, but has an OD of 62mm which is a close 2.44".

Cheap Hobby, if you found an exact match please post a link. I'm up a river right now.

[Cheap Hobby]

Sent pm

[TrenchFoot]

I typed in the ID wrong initially. Edited it above, here it is:

2.50" OD
1.18" ID bore
.630" width

Edit: That ID measurement might be 1 3/16" which is 1.1875" but I can't trust my calipers to the thousandths.

[TrenchFoot]

Nah, it can't be 1 3/16". Looked again and my calipers are fine down to the thousandths and it is dead-on 1.180" not 1.187ish.

[Curly]

So, did you ever find a vendor for the bearings? I am in the middle of a QT overhaul and want to replace the bearings while I am in there, even though they look good.

Thx
Curly