[AT] Yanmar/now bearings

[charlie hill]

I have an AC model 160 rotary brush cutter that my dad bought new in 1959. 
Somewhere between 1966 and '70 or so the bearings in the single trailing 
wheel went bad.  They were wierd roller bearings.  The rollers were the 
length of the hub width (maybe 4") and where about as big around as a #2 
pencil.  They had a stamped steel cage on each end.  The hub was about 2 
1/2" ID if I'm remembering right and the axle shaft fit snug inside the 
roller cage.  The shaft had a hole about 1/2 ID in it and a bolt went all 
the way through the axle center and bolted the assembly to the yoke that the 
wheel ran in.  The AC dealer had the bearings but he wanted about as much 
for them as the brush cutter was worth.

Down at the end of the road in the edge of town there is a shop that belongs 
to a guy who at the time had several tractor trailer produce trucks.  The 
mechanic was an old family friend and so I took the wheel assembly to him. 
He looked it over, went to a cabinet and pulled out two tapered ball 
bearings that he said were Mack truck water pump bearings.  Sure enough they 
slide snuggly into the hub.  The only problem was that the shaft was a good 
bit larger than the ID of the bearing.  No problem, Lewis took the shaft and 
went back into the back of the shop to an old lathe that was covered with 
dust about 1/2" thick.  In a few minutes he had turned both ends of the 
shaft down so that the bearings inner races were a press fit onto the shaft 
and shouldered to the uncut part of the shaft.

We put it all back together along with the two big washers/spacers that 
sealed the ends of the hub, pumped it full of grease and it's been that way 
ever since.  I haven't used the cutter in a number of years.  The seal in 
the bottom of the gear box needs replacing.  I'd be willing to bet that when 
I ever get a round to fixing it up that the trailing wheel bearings will 
still be in good shape.

I just wonder why Allis Chalmers didn't build it that way.

Charlie