Replacing Wood Bearing on Old Disk

[sagittarius]

I'm rebuilding a 10' Minneapolis Moline UO disk. The old wood bearings are shot. I'm planning on replacing them with "Oil impregnated Cast Nylon" bushing material. It comes in tubes 3" OD with 2" ID which is the exact size needed.

Has anyone else used Nylon or "Ultra-High Molecular Weight" (UHMW) Polyethylene material as a wood bearing replacement with any success <font color="red"> ????????? </font>

I found the material in a . McMaster-Carr catalog.

Doug

 

[markct]

well it should work fine i think, but i will say one thing, usualy plastics are oversized on the od and undersized on the id by as much as 60 thousandths, this may or may not be a problem for your application, but if you need exactly 2 inch id and 3 inch od then you will most likely have to have them machined to size

 

[sagittarius]

Perhaps, and you are correct, that is how they came.

My current thought is to cut the sections to length. Then cut them in quarters as the wood bearings were. the saw kerf should take up enough material so the bearings will fit in the housing together. Then the initial "break-in" wear should wear everthing together snug.

more comments are welcome, please.

 

[Soundguy]

I know other applications that use nylon bearins as they are considered 'self lubricating'.. So.. good luck.

Soundguy

 

[sagittarius]

While searching for wood bearings I found a place in Cedar Falls, Iowa, that makes modern wood bearings, "Wood Components & Technologies, Inc.". So I shot them an email with what I needed for my disk. Turns out they had a drawing and bearings in stock. Here is my quote ...

Doug- They are $20.00 per set of 4 PCs. The total for all would be $480.00 plus some freight. Let me know. I believe they could ship this week. Ken

I'm going to try the "Oil Impregnated Cast Nylon" first. If that don't work, I will buy a wood lathe and make maple ones myself.