D2 late model idler bearing disassembly

neil,

I'm trying to picture the purpose of the flange in my mind and seem to be stuck in stupid. Were they just killing Murphy to prevent the bushing from spinning on the OD? I'm no machinist so very interested. Keep us posted on your progress.

Hi Neil, just a thought here, does this flange aid in a crush type fit of both bushes pushing against each other? also a possibility that it would help to stop the bush trying to walk out the side of the housing it is in?

Hi Team,

the idler bearing flange is the wear/thrust surface which takes the side thrust on the idler which is then imparted to the flange on the idler shaft.

Cheers,

Eddie B.

What Eddie wrote - it's a pretty simple setup and seems like it works well. I got the bushing cages out simply by lifting and dropping the idler wheel on the shaft end, which, due to that central flange, knocks the bushing cages out of the bore of the idler wheel. So now I need to decide if I want to get new bushings made because I can't find any - the total shaft movement is about 040 but if I cant the bushing on the shaft, it's more like 060. Limit is 050. I'll talk to my machinist on Monday to see what he thinks he can make. I can get blanks of aluminum and he can turn new bushings down from that. The shaft is worn about 005 to 010 so not terrible. With new bushings, the wear might be at most 020

Thank you Neil…i appreciate it very much