Another Gleaner K bad bearing, this one is big and ugly...

The bearing on the shaft for the separator clutch and variable speed drive pulley is gone. literally...

I tried taking some camera phone pictures of it, but it's not working right for some reason. But, bascially, there is the outer race and the inner race, and that's it. There's nothing in the middle! That's about as bad as it gets.

I took the clutch off, and got the pulley off as well. I took the cover with the 4 bolts off, and the outer race came out. It's one of those self centering bearings. The inner race is going to be a challenge, since I don't want to remove the entire shaft from the machine.

Here's my thoughts:

#1 get out the mig welder, and run a bead around the outside of the race, and the heat should expand it enough to slide it off.

#2 use a die grinder with a honing die to cut through one side of th race, and chisel it off.

#3 weld some long all thread to each side of the race, and while it is still hot, use a plate with some nuts to draw the race off the shaft.

#4 torch it and risk marring the shaft, or blowing hot metal into the combien where it catches fire and burns it to the ground.

#5 drink a lot.

#6 build a clamp for my 8 lb slide hammer and give it some heat to knock it off.



I think #5 would follow #4 anyhow. So unless anyone else has any ideas. The shaft is too long for me to get any of my pullers on there.

Oh, and does anyone have a parts book for this machine? I'd like to know the number on that bearing.

Thanks again, Always helpful!

John

The bearing on the other side of the machine is just as old........your machine is over 30 years old. Replace both bearings- bust up the one on the other side with whatever it takes, hammer, chisel, torch....pull the shaft and put two new bearings on. You don't need a part number, you know the shaft OD, and the flangette dictates the bearing OD. Any implement dealer carries those standard bearings. They are not exclusive to Gleaner. I wouldn't worry about torching the combine- it's a relatively clean area of the machine. Keep a hose handy, or fire extinguisher. Regarding ruining a shaft with the torch- I've cut literally hundreds of races off in three decades and never ruined a shaft....did bruise a couple tho. Just don't get wild with the oxy lever- just turn the pressure down, watch the puddle, let the race melt. That miniscule space between the race and the shaft will let the race bubble away when it puddles- don't be using the oxy lever then. I prefer to cut across the shaft rather than parallel- can control the flame pattern better, but will cut lengthwise if I have to. You can buy a 'gouging' tip for your torch- angled tip is easier to control the flame pattern. Good bearing on the other side? Just blow the balls out first, then you can pull the shaft, and clean up the rest later.

Whew! Well, I got the inner race off the shaft a lot easier than I thought.

I guess, since the ball bearings were gone, and it was rubbing through the outter race, it had loosened it up for me.

Good point about the other bearing. I really don't want to take it all apart, but if it saves me from having to do this again, I will.

Also, the snap ring that holds the throw-out bearing to the clutch was missing and someone had wrapped baler wire in the groove. I thought that was a nice touch.

So, instead of looking for a gleaner number to cross to a bearing, I knocked the bearing out of the flangette, and measured it. just roughly, it looks like it's a 1" thick, 1 3/4" inner shaft, 3 7/8" outter race. I'll see what I can find locally.

Thanks,
John

The Gleaner part # for the bearing is 71117051. The bearing itself is not a self aligning bearing. The outer race of this bearing is flat but it is mounted in a curved spacer that gives it the ability to be self aligning. If you examine the outer race that you took off of the shaft I think that you will find that you will have to knock out the outer race of the bearing from the spacer to use it on the new bearing. The dimensions for this bearing are 1.37714 ID, 3.9367 OD and .9868 width. The left side bearing part # is 71138465. It is a self aligning bearing and the dimensions are 1.8750 ID, 3.5433 OD and .8660 width. The bearing #s may have changed over the years, but the dealer can convert them. Good luck.
Gordon

Gordon,
Thanks for the information on the bearing. My local AC dealer did not have any in stock, but I was able to drive 40 miles out and get one from the second closest ac dealer.

Thanks,
John