Lower Inner bearing installation

Should not be all that tight a fit. I put them in the block and tap cover on with a rubber hammer. Factory built them that way. See no reason to reinvent the wheel here.

 

Why? In history no one else ever has.

 

When I put my timing cover on I thought something was misaligned but after several checks I just tapped quite firmly with a mallet on the pulley nuts and it slowly went on.

 

It's rarely the case, that both inner and outer race are a tight fit. As a rule of thumb, you should always install the tight fit and apply the installation force on the corresponding ring.
If the factory designed it the way Brian (rifledriver) described, the outer race seems to be the tight fit and the inner race on the shaft the loose fit. The bearings can stand a bit of axial force. IIRC the inner bearing is a 6201 (?). If so, according to the literature, it stands a static axial load of around 770N. (77kgs). That's a quarter of the static radial load. Bearings with an inner bore of more than 12mm stand an axial load of 0.5xCo. (half the value of the static radial load). Would be 154kgs. And 308kgs for the bearing pair. Or again 154kgs when calculating with the smaller value for bearings with an inner diameter less than 12mm.
So careful tapping with a rubber hammer shouldn't do any harm to the two bearings.
What's a bit strange for me, is that the outer race may become a loose fit too, when the aluminium block material expands as soon as things heat up. So it must be just the leverage forces, which prevent the outer race from spinning.

I am always amazed about this, when dismantling waterpumps. In most cases it's sufficient to heat the housing to about 80centigrades and the front bearing falls out just with the help of gravity.

Best from Germany
Martin

 

Not exactly your question, Tommy, but perhaps helpful: When installing the outer cam drive bearings last year, I couldn't get them to press in for the life of me. I tapped them in on the shaft no problem, but the outer race just wouldn't go in. Tried heat on the block and freeze spray on the bearing, lots of swearing, etc. After several attempts over a couple weekends, I finally pulled them off the shaft (destroying them in the process) and found the outer diameter measurement was TWO mm out of spec! Lesson learned; I will Always measure new parts and not presume them to be right. By the way, the bearings were from Superformance, and to their credit, they did give me full credit $ for both lower cam drive bearings (one still new, one destroyed) which I sent back to them.
Anyway, before you decide on a method of installation for your inner bearings, measure your new bearings to make sure they are correct!

 

I took the old outer bearing and removed a bit of i.d. with a Dremel and sanding drum and used it to press both the inner and outer races at the same time. I have no idea if it made any difference in reality.