SB 13'' thrust bearing seat in casting worn a lot and possible repairs?

Hi guys, I'm looking for options on how to repair my 13''. The past owners did I don't know what and screwed up the large thrust bearing seat. Essentially pushing it almost into the bronze shell lol.

They ''fixed' it by using the thinner thrust bearing in place of the thicker one and machined a spacer that gives the right clearances and seats well on the part that is still intact on the casting.



I was wondering what would the best way to fix this issue? I was thinking of two options.

1- It would be the most expensive one and would do the best job I think. (take that with a grain of salt I'm a newbie). It would consist of bringing it to a machine shop and have them shave of a bit of material to have a better bearing seat. Just enough to bring it flat then either make a washer to the correct thickness or find some flat thrust washers that would fit so the thrust bearing can rest on it. I think the washer would be around 1/8'' but id have to measure.

I would have them bring it flat about to the red lines in the picture.

it would have good contact with the casting and the thick bearing could be used where it needs to.

2- Second option would be to run it like they did with the thin thrust bearing in place of the thick one with the spacer they made. I'm not sure if running it with the thin washer does much towards performance? Would i have to always do smaller passes or something?

What do yall pros think of this? Any other ideas?

Cheers!

That channel wall (where your red line points) is what helps keep the spindle oil from leaking out. Remove it and oil will leak out fairly rapidly.

I'd clean up the bearings, cut a spacer if needed, and go with that. They will get enough lubrication to not cause you any issues.

You may be able to rebuild the scored out metal with an epoxy filler meant for repairing iron..............IMHO ,the cause of this scoring is drilling large holes with massive pressure applied by the tailstock screw.

SLK001 said:

That channel wall (where your red line points) is what helps keep the spindle oil from leaking out. Remove it and oil will leak out fairly rapidly.

I'd clean up the bearings, cut a spacer if needed, and go with that. They will get enough lubrication to not cause you any issues.

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A spacer the same size as the bearings so they sit on the groove they made? Because if I put the washer they made that sits on the original casting the thick washer does not fit haha!

Yeah i know the hole is for oil return, i was going to remove just enough material to get a good seat for the new washer i would of put there!!

Thank you!

john.k said:

You may be able to rebuild the scored out metal with an epoxy filler meant for repairing iron..............IMHO ,the cause of this scoring is drilling large holes with massive pressure applied by the tailstock screw.

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I will try that i think, cost almost nothing and if it fails i still have other options!

It would make sense that they tried to drill large holes with the tailstock, my taper in my tailstock quill has seen better days let’s just say it like that lol

Thanks for the idea!

I will buy a boring bar to make large holes and should be in business.

Cheers!

The scoring that is there is true to the spindle. Any cuts you make or epoxy you add may not be. So, I would not modify the headstock. Instead, make a new spacer that fills the worn space, and moves the correct bearing back out to the correct location.

kitno455 said:

The scoring that is there is true to the spindle. Any cuts you make or epoxy you add may not be. So, I would not modify the headstock. Instead, make a new spacer that fills the worn space, and moves the correct bearing back out to the correct location.

Click to expand...

True, the bearing fits so well in the groove I tought they made different castings in 1966 LOL!

I still have a bit of the casting left that i could reference off of but I’m not skilled enough yet to make it true to the spindle that’s for sure.

I like the idea of the spacer, it’s even simpler than epoxy! I will go with that and update you guys when it’s done. I still have all the old grease from the apron to remove and still waiting on my wick rebuild kit from stevewb, wish me luck i don’t get too many other surprises lol.

Is there a special steel i should make the spacer out of? Or just plain regular steel will do the job just fine?

Thank you guys for the ideas/inputs, much appreciated!

Cheers

I got to clean the apron today, that orange grease is the worst to clean.





Managed to clean it all with varsol, brake clean and elbow grease lol.



The only thing i can see that has some wear so far are the bushings for the worm gears




Is there a way to adjust play with those? Or i need to get/make myself a bushing or spacer haha?

Cheers

Hello, my name is Alex and in addition to lineboring Service , I also offer special repairs on machines. If a ball bearing is installed in a Hole, sometime the Seat get worn, when the bearing is brocken. In this case I drill the worn fit for the ball bearing by 1.00mm larger and use an oversize ball bearing! the bearings are homemade! so I can do professional repairs on axles, transmissions and machines! Especially good for Repairs where I don't want to weld! Cast iron and aluminum house for gearbox.

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