WTB S1146 final drive pinion bearing for a THIRTY

I hate the be the bearer of bad news, but that is a very specialized bearing made for caterpillar. They are and have been discontinued for decades. A regular 408 bearing (each manufacturer will add their own number or letters to the 40😎 will be your only option. The threaded hole portion will not be there, but at least you will have a good bearing for your final.

No doubt failure of this bearing is the biggest reason for failures in Narrow Cat 30 Final drives.

It is also Very easy to change if you removing the original style bearing.

[quote="Steve A"]No doubt failure of this bearing is the biggest reason for failures in Narrow Cat 30 Final drives.

It is also Very easy to change if you removing the original style bearing.[/quote]

First side came out easy with a slam hammer, the special bearing design worked as intended. Sadly bearing is a worn gritty mess.
I did send an email to a bearing company in England that claims to have the original bearing, we'll see. Inner bearing seems to have play also, but outer bearing is easy to change, think I'll see if gear noise is acceptable before going in further unless someone with experience just says do it.

In my limited experience the outboard bearing was the worst, By design it takes most of the load, I have also seen the outer case damaged when the bearing starts to wear in its opening. The wide tractors have a 3rd bearing on a longer shaft for a much stronger setup.

Another way to remove those bearings is to simply thread a bolt in the end and screw it in, the end of bolt engages the pitman gear and will push the bearing out, I did it the hard way my self the first time until I figured it out.

When buying the 408 bearings note the capacities, typically the more robust ones have more rollers, an E bay search will come up with many.

[quote="Steve A"]In my limited experience the outboard bearing was the worst, By design it takes most of the load, I have also seen the outer case damaged when the bearing starts to wear in its opening. The wide tractors have a 3rd bearing on a longer shaft for a much stronger setup.

Another way to remove those bearings is to simply thread a bolt in the end and screw it in, the end of bolt engages the pitman gear and will push the bearing out, I did it the hard way my self the first time until I figured it out.

When buying the 408 bearings note the capacities, typically the more robust ones have more rollers, an E bay search will come up with many.[/quote]

Steve,

You said "The wide tractors have a 3rd bearing". I'm working on a 1929, PS-7897(wide) it appears to have one inner and one outer bearing on the pinion shaft. Do you know when the third bearing was added and where it's located? Not that I'll ever wear out a new 408 bearing without the special inner sleeve, but it's removal, if required, could be troublesome.

Thanks for the heads up that not all 408's are created equal, I checked and this is in fact the case, the good ones have much better loads.

Richard,

This should help



http://www.acmoc.org/bb/showthread.php?15761-Cat-Thirty-Final-Drive-Repair&highlight=thirty