[TowerTalk] Thrust bearing re-grease

[Wayne Kline]

TT's 
 
Having limited enc with the Yaesu thrust bearing. My thoughts are aimed at the Rohn TB-3 TB-4 style thrust bearings.
 These Bearing have been on the Armature scene for many a moon and as Steve has said Have no provision for a grease fitting and maybe under normal applications  you will get many a year service from them.  Well I am a belt and suspenders type... I learned how to remove the internal allen set screw by die grinding the punched  the secured them in place. The first bearing was removed from a full size 40 meter beam, The beam was left in the N/E position 95 % of the time. Upon examining the unit ti was obvious while rotating the base and top in opposite it felt LUMPY ! like a old  COLD bias ply tire . This bearing was to be used hopefully on my new 40 meter tower project. I disassembled the unit .. Lot's fun shacking the balls out the little hole where the set screw was :)  you then can separate the two.. WOW the 20 plus years of rocking had in fact made small shallow incidents from the steel balls. A quick smooth out with a round noise digrinder crinder smoother it out.. I then got new balls and used an acid brush to give the race alight coat of blue snowmobile grease. 
I have done this procedure on  other  installations where the TB3 was used... 
 
In the first two weeks of this Oct I rehabbed the 40 meter tower.. New Paint New feed lines , rebuilt rotor and new Beam ( y'all might  remember my adventures with the CC 240MX )  I also disassembled the TB-3 that was installed in 1990 18 years ago and it was Shinny ans turned smooth as glass, there was even a slight residue of the blue grease missed with dust 
 
Sorry for being long winded but I live by the  KISS  theory and and ounce of prevention is worth two tons of CURE
 
 
 my .02
 
 
 Wayne W3EA
 
  > From: K7LXC at aol.com> Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:46:35 -0400> To: towertalk at contesting.com; draxfelton at gmail.com> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Thrust bearing re-grease> > > In a message dated 10/30/2008 8:57:53 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, > towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:> > > Could someone recommend what puller tool I would need to beg, borrow,> or buy to pull a thrust bearing apart with to re-pack it with grease?> I'm not that familiar with bearings or whether the tool used for> automotive bearings that a mechanic might have would work or not. I'm> talking about a thrust bearing that in all is maybe 6 inches wide.> > Not enough information. What kind of thrust bearing? Manufacturer? > Material - steel or aluminum? Is it a machine shop pillow block bearing (square > mounting plate)? Did it come with a tower? > > If the bearing actually needs greasing, then there will probably be a > zerk grease fitting on it. If there isn't, then it probably doesn't need > greasing. Typical ham thrust bearings (e.g. Rohn TB-3, Yaesu) are aluminum and > don't need grease. > > Cheers,> Steve K7LXC> TOWER TECH> > > > > **************Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel. Check out Today's Hot > 5 Travel Deals! > (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001)> _______________________________________________> > > > _______________________________________________> TowerTalk mailing list> TowerTalk at contesting.com> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
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