Advice on replacing bearings on 3 pt. disk

[pharmvet]

Im in the middle of a re-furbish project on a 10' 3 pt. Poplarville disk (pics later if anyone is interested). As with all things, those who have done a task many times will often have a few gems of wisdom that will make the project go more smoothly. This weekend I will be putting the axles, disks, spools,blades, bearings together. The bearings fit between 2 flangetts which in turn bolt to the hanger. My plan was to leave the 4 bolts holding the 2 flangetts together (Also bolting the flangette / bearing assembly to the hanger) slightly loose. I then planned to bolt the hanger to the arms after all parts had been placed properly on the axle. I thought I would then spin the axle and let the bearings "settle" into the proper location between the flangetts before I put the final tightening on the 4 carriage bolts holding the 2 flangetts together and fastened to the hanger.

I thought this would be the best way, because I noticed that the bearing does not fit in an exact location between the flangettes and therefore if I tightened everything before I put it together and before I spun the axle, I assumed there might be some binding.

Any words of wisdome here?? thanks

 

[MHarryE]

The sperical OD bearing in flangettes is termed to be self-aligning so it really shouldn't matter. The way you described, get everything assembled and tighten the bolts on the flangettes last, is the nearest thing to perfect alignment to start with so it can't hurt. Whenever I assemble a shaft with flangette bearings that is the way I do it if possible - tighten the flangettes last.

 

[Bartcephus]

I too am in the middle of a rebuild. My cast bearings have a spool and the hanger/caps. Seems like there is some kind of bushing material in there that reminds me of some kind of carbon/graphite stuff. Anyone know what that is called? should I just clean them up a bit, throw some axel grease on 'em and replace the parts as discussed above?

Thanks