I would not extensively argue the case, because it has been a long time
since I did any bearing engineering, but for a number of years, ALL
balls in ball bearings have been metric. These are also manufactured only
in Japan. The only exceptions are high-specialty bearings, and only when
required for very unusual purposes. However, the races are made by the
many manufacturers, such as SKF in Schweinfurt, Germany, and Monmouth in
the US. The races are made to the appropriate dimensions, as required.
These now are also generally in metric, even for American and British
cars. However, one of the big problems with our cars, is that this change
occured AFTER ours were made, and so many of the races are in the
English/US inch system. It is possible that these OD's actually use
inch-measure balls in the valves, but I would suspect that they are
metric.
On Tue, 13 Jun 2000, Michael Ferguson wrote:
>
> You're welcome, Peter. However, I don't think you should use a ball that's
> too large either. It fits into a seat that's machined in the OD case itself
> - sort of a countersunk depression. That seat is designed to accept a ball
> of .3125" (5/16"). I don't know what happens when you seat (tap with a
> copper drift) a larger ball into a smaller seat, but I doubt it's a good
> idea.
>
> I don't know this, but I assume this ball is nothing more than a stock ball
> bearing (anyone out there know this?) and if so, should be readily
> available. I found a whole box of them at a Sears hardware store. If it were
> me, I think I'd hold out until I found one the correct size. Good luck!
>
> Michael Ferguson
> 1959 TR3A TS53990L...O!
>
> ----------
> >From: Nyberg Peter <Peter.Nyberg@lio.se>
> >To: Triumphs@autox.team.net
> >Subject: TR4 O/D ball size
> >Date: Tue, Jun 13, 2000, 3:21 AM
> >
>
> >
> > I'm overwhelmed by all the answers to my O/D ball size querie. I've found
> > an 8.3 mm ball (.3268"). I understand it's not the correct
> > size but it can be worth a try.
> > Thank you, alphabetically, David, Graham, Michael and Randall.
> > I'll keep you posted.
> >
> > Peter Nyberg
> > CT 17307 L(O?) :-(
> >
>
James A. Ruffner
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