Tensioner falling apart in my hand

Yes they come apart very easy if lateral pressure is exerted on them, almost all the ones I have removed have come apart I am careful to only press them on using the inside race, taking pains to not touch any other part off the assembly!

Rob

 

I second what Robert said. They must be mounted by applying pressure to ONLY the inside race. I know this cuz I did it too once. $80 down the drain. :-(

 

+3 This is not altogether infrequent with the 308/328 bearings. They are an SKF product, and its simply the way they're assembled.

I'll put another one in a FedEx box on Monday morning for you. Hang tight -- don't try to reuse the old one. Just toss the old one into the garbage.

 

wow, that is great service...and yes, i also know from experience that they can come apart very easily. kind of unnerving actually but...

 

Dan you are a stand up guy

 

I learned this lesson the hard way as well!

 

Dan I broke two of your bearings can you rush out replacements tomorrow as well

Rob
I agree great customers service!

 

"unnerving"...absolutely!..
Any possibility of getting H.E...to make 328 beabearings?

 

Daniel;

Do you now include a warning to help others on an install: not blaming of course, but previous response from qualified persons show high incidence of failure...I wouldn't have known.

 

I thought about this after the initial post. Since I have not had one come apart in my own hands, its difficult to determine what the proper wording should be. Our warehouse system already produces small a Code-39 barcode on most items. It's pretty easy to have it spool other kinds of messages onto the same labels. Would something like this work?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

great Ferrari supplies and now a Photo-shootist expert: WOW, you do it all.... I say, for lack of new labels, just print that pic and include with invoice.

done.

 

I don't have/know photoshop at all .

That's a real picture with some labels I just generated from our warehouse system. We can just tell the system to produce supplemental warning label(s), like seen above, each and every time a tensioner barcode gets printed.

 

Don't know if you are character limited, but I'd state directly what not to do as well -- e.g.:

PRESS ONLY ON INNER RACE plus

DO NOT PULL ON OUTER RACE, or, maybe, NEVER PULL ON OUTER RACE

just a thought...

 

I had a brand new bearing fall apart while taking it out of the box, FoA replaced it, no questions asked of course.

 

Boy am I glad i happened across this thread - I am going to do the belts and bearings this weekend, after spending most of last weekend getting the ac and studs out of the way and the water pump.

Thanks for the heads up, probably saved me from trashing one right out of the box - that is not to say that i won't find a way to bugger it up, but at least i now know better.

thanks,
chris

 

I change a fair number of bearings in my work and I like to heat them in/on a bearing heater or have even used a toaster oven in a pinch. Then they slide right on to the shaft....usually. For the outer race fit I try to heat up the housing the bearing is going into and cool the bearing.

 

Over the last 25 years or so, I would estimate that I've installed many hundreds of these tensioner bearings and yet, I only had one "explode" on installation. I never realized that this was such a common problem, as I thought it was just a "freak" occurance. I've never been too fond of heating these bearings, prior to installation, in that the grease used doesn't appear to be the most robust stuff. I guess if I keep "my garage toaster oven" below "crisp", a little heat-related expansion might make the job go easier!

And the vendor at the time, Ted Rutland's...gladly sent me a new bearing, natually without any charges.


Regards,
David

 

I think this depends on how a person installs their bearings. Once I have the belt in place (less the bearing) I put the bearing on with the belt on it. It worked great for me. However, with the way I install it, I have to put equal pressure on the outside and inside races. If you install it like I do, pressing on just the inner race may cause it to come apart. So... Thoughts?

Gene

 

I dont think that is a good idea. I use a hydraulic press. Only press the inner race mount the tensioner assembly, then replace the belt, then release the tension.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

What are you talking about pressing?

Gene

 

I recently replaced tensioner bearings on a 308, which were purchased from Lyle Tanner. I don't know where he is getting them, but the bearings I received really impressed me becasue they seemed to be a completely new and improved design over the old ones. All the tensioners I had seen (which aren't many of them) were made of what seemed like two seperate bearings (one pressed in front and another in back) which left a gap that could be seen when looking down the center. These new units used a single bearing and the inner race was one continuous piece of metal from front to back, which seems like it would be more resistant to stray forces and altogether a much better design. Does anyone know who makes these?

 

Pic . side-by-side would be nice

 

That sounds like the AC belt adj. pulley bearing set-up on my 308, 2 side by side in that little pulley. The only tensioner bearings I have seen are few but they all were of single bearing design.