Barry Schwartz wrote:
> If bushings, bronze or otherwise would have been better, believe me, BL and
> ALL other tranny manufacturers would have used them. They are much cheaper
> to purchase, install, and easier to machine than ANY set of needle
> bearings. Truth is, other than increasing the size (or more correctly the
> load rating) of the bearings, there is nothing better for this application
> given the speeds, packaging constraints, and loads imposed on these items.
> Actually a set of tapered roller bearings (similar to that in use on the
> front wheels) would be even better as would be a suitably sized ball
> bearing (read replaceable), but given the size limitations your really
> stuck with needle bearings -
>
> Barry Schwartz
> bschwart@pacbell.net
Barry and all,
I think there is something to be said for using bushings rather than bearings in
transmissions. The way it was explained to me is that a bushing has more
contact
points than bearings, si it distributes the wear more evenly around the shaft.
Whil bearings (either roller or ball) has a thin contact point on each moving
part, the were is going to be greater at that point, leading to earlier bearing
failure that that of bushings.
I had similar thoughts about bushings (seems like obsolete technology) but was
convinced otherwise. That is applicable to British transmissions, I don't know
about other applications.
Joe Curry
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