WAYS AND MEANS.
Page 63
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Facilitating the Removal of Ball Bearings.
ONE of our readers, "1G.," of Camden Town. who is responsible for the maintenance and repair of lorries of various makes, points out that there aro still lorries on the road in which ball bearings are mounted in housings, and on shafts, in such a manner that no provision has been made for their .removal, It has been known for a long time that where ball bearings are in housings holes should
be provided so that they can be driven
out, and that when on a shaft there•should be some means provided by
which they can be driven off for renewal purposes.
He suggests that certain designers should he sentencedto a term of penal servitude in the form of having to keep lorries of their own design in repair, and that in extreme cases hanging would be the only punishment that would fit the crime.
For removing a bearing from a shaft in which the shoulder of the shaft is larger than the inner ring, as shown in a sketch, he suggests that in a case where the bearing has failed so completely that the outer ring cannot be used as a means for withdrawing the inner sleeve from its place, an old outer ring should be softened and bored out as indicated. A. few old balls can then be dropped in the race, and an ordinary wheel-puller can be employed to remove the ring.
In the case of a ring being fixed in a housing, he makes a conical washer of any old piece of material that is handy, fixes a stud in the centre and by the aid of a plate and packing pieces across the housing he can remove the most obstinate of rings.
He gives another tip which may be useful in cases where a ball has broken and it is thought that a new set of balls may make the bearing useful again, the races not having suffered.
To extract the balls, he first removes the cage, he then turns the bearing round until one ball is opposite the filling slot, and after having washed all oil out with petrol he grips the bearing between the vice jaws as shown, the slight distortion being sufficient to allow the ball that is opposite the slot to be removed. The same process repeated each time a ball is opposite aslot will enable the bearing to be demounted, and will permit a reassembly to be made with ease. This plan, of course, only applies to ball bearings that have a filling slot; in other types it may be possible to dismantle the cages, but it is most important that they should be carefully and strongly reassembled.
Methods of Manipulating Split Rims. THE following useful tip is sent us by
" G.G.G.," of Norwich. A puncture in a straight-sided cover on a split rim generally calls for the aid of a rim tool to remove the cover from the rim. A few, very few, lucky drivers manage the job without a rim tool, the unlucky ones do not.
On the light delivery vans the majority of the rims fitted are Hayes, or at least rims of Hayes pattern, having the bolt lugs attached to the rim itself.
When a proper rim tool is not available for dealing with this type of rim, an excellent substitute can be rigged up from an old cycle chain, three
bolts and nuts, and a stout bar about 2 feet long.
One end of the chain is passed through a bolt hole, as nearly opposite the split as passible, and one bolt and nut slipped through the links to keep it there. A small loop is made in the chain a short distance from here by utilizing another bolt and nut. The chain is then passed through the hole nearest the split and led back to the loop previously made. Another loop is made with the third nut and bolt, so that this loop is about n ins. to 2 ins. above the other.
One end of the bar is inserted into both loops, a smart jerk downwards, and the rim is split.
To refix the rim, the jack and a block of wood as packing are utilized, care being taken that the jack head is positioned so as not to distort the rim near the split.
On Spanner-sense and Its Importance.
MANY of the repairs that have to
be executed on motor vehicles are entirely due to want of judgment in the use of spanners. There is a type of man to be found in most workshops who can be looked upon as the last man to use any part of the equipment, such as a vice, tool-holder of a lathe, etc., owing to the extraordinary force with which he tightens anything he handles. Anythin,, he has tightened up
requires a piece tube with which to lengthen the leverage of any ordinary spanner before an average man can undo it. This man is a nuisance in the workshop, and is the cause of much breakage of bolts, etc.
One of our readers—"H.M.," of West Bromwich---calls attention to the want of judgment shown by many drivers and mechanics when using a spanner. He tells us that he has often found bolts and studs originally screwed 20 threads per in., which, when handled by heavy-handed men, will show a thread pitch of 18 per in. when measured with a screw gauge, and that in some cases he has actually seen bolts that have been overstrained through the improper use of a spanner until their effective diameter has been reduced to a half of the original area.
In • the case of big-end bolts and those boltil and studs upon which the security of the steering depends, the consequences of having in use a bolt so weakened may be very serious. Our correspondent suggests that mechanics and drivers should try to acquire some knowledge of what pressure should be used while tightening up bolts and avoid the use of too long a tommybar when using a box-spanner. Apart from the danger of the heavy-handed man; there is the man who will say that he has thoroughly tightened all nuts, but when examined they. will all be found to require another half-turn before they can be called properly tight.
Spanner-sense appears to come naturally to some whilst others never seem to acquire it.