Quick Replace Plastic Bearings

Quick replace plastic bearings FARM SHOP Repairs 13-5-22 Lynn Brakke, Wolverton, Minn., designed a split plastic bearing for the bed chain drive shaft on his sugarbeet harvester, and says it's quicker and easier to replace than a conventional steel ball bearing and lasts longer. Brakke machined Nylatron 3-in. dia. plastic stock to the shape of the original conventional bearing and cut the plastic bearing ring in half so it would slip right onto the shaft. He then cut out the original bearing and replaced it with the split plastic bearing, using the same flanges which held the original bearing in place. "These split plastic bearings can be in-stalled in hard-to-reach places in only 5 min., and they hardly wear at all," says Brakke, who mounted three of the plastic bearings last year on his sugarbeet harvester. "I've had problems for years replacing bearings on this drive shaft. It's 13 ft. long and has five bearings and eight sprockets. The drive shaft runs in dirt which gets into the bearings and blocks lubrication so they don't last long. It takes the better part of a day to clean dirt off the shaft and slide the bearings and sprockets on and off. My split plastic bearings have no moving parts and are self-lubricating so they should last much longer. I removed them last fall and detected no wear at all. If they do fail it takes only 5 min. to replace them. I simply re-move three bolts to loosen the flanges and the split bearing falls off the shaft." Brakke recommends using high-density Nylatron because other types of super-hard plastic don't machine as well. According to Brakke, plastic bearings can be used to replace bearings on any type of equipment, although he notes that to this point he's only tried it on relatively low speed shafts. Brakke used 6 in. of Nylatron plastic stock, which cost $25, to make the three bearings. He bought the Nylatron plastic from Cope Plastics, 3331 University Drive S., Fargo, N.D. 58103 (ph 701 232-6412). Machining cost $75. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Lynn Brakke, Rt. 1, Box 15, Wolverton, Minn. 56594 (ph 218 995-2435).

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