sprite release bearing

[owby]

Greetings from Montana--I am in the process of replacing my third release bearing in a 65 sprite. First one (VB) lasted 150 miles. Second one (VB) lasted 250 miles. This one is from B-Hive and I hope to have better luck. My question is: The surface on the pressure plate that the bearing contacts is somewhat rough--could this take out two bearings that fast or should I look at other things? The pressure plate was new on the first time around so that was'nt the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks JSM

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Does the carbon bearing have a roll pin locating it in the housing? There was a discussion about a particular type of TO bearing being worthless.

 

[owby]

Yes it does. The one I just removed is worn down to the metal and cracked in 2 spots. All in 250 miles! I'm just wondering if cleaning up the pressure plate will prevent this from happening again. JSM

 

[Sarastro]

The mating surface in the pressure plate should be very smooth. If it's rough, that will certainly wear out a bearing quickly. Maybe you can remove it and machine and polish it smooth, or just replace the pressure plate.

But there are also some pretty bad bearings being sold these days. I'm not up on the specific history; maybe you can do a search through the archives.

 

[Gerard]

If you mean the disc that the carbon surface rides on (is rough), then definitely yes. It should be very smooth.

Make sure you are using the correct one also. There are 3 different ones.

The ones with the roll pins used to secure the carbon are ones that self destruct early too

https://gerardsgarage.com/Garage/Tech/TO_Bearings/tobearings.htm

 

[nomad]

Make sure your release bearing arm isn't bent, or sloppy on it's pivot. The release bearing should be contacting the pressure plate as close to perfectly concentric as possible. I had premature failure that I blamed on such problems though I don't believe the current crop of carbon inserts is as good as they used to be.

Kurt