FUBARed radius arm?

[ADRay]

had some time today to pull the bushings and roller bearings out of the radius arms. I found that one of the roller bearings broke a long time ago, and the "slot" that the bearing sits in is rashed up pretty good. see pic.

Is this still usable with a little bit of smoothing out, or is it fubared?

Thanks

[94touring]

Will a new bearing go in using the required force...press or hammered in?

[MiniDave]

Since the new one has it's own shell for the bearings to ride in, if the shell goes in with a little force, it should be OK. You can also use a little Locktite green to secure the shell in the housing if it's not too loose.

[ADRay]

glad to hear it. I wasn't looking forward to the idea of buying & waiting for another one.

I haven't tried installing the new bearings yet.

Any tips for cleaning the grease out of the cavities?

Also, this is what was left of the old bearing, undamaged from removal.

[94touring]

I never bother cleaning the old grease out.  If that arm turns out to be bad, I have old ones laying around you can have for the cost of shipping.

[MiniDave]

If the hole is worn too out of round it might not hold the bearing - a lot depends on what kind of driving you do too - if you're tearing up the corners daily or just running down to the local cars and coffee once a month.

I've seen bearings worn out like that and was able to put a new bearing in OK. I always clean the old grease out, and it is a PITA no question....I just use a long rod and shove it out in gobs, once I have the bulk of it out I put it in my parts washer and rinse it till it comes clean. Takes a while - you could soak it in a bucket of kerosene or other solvent if you don't have a parts washer.

[ADRay]

If that arm turns out to be bad, I have old ones laying around you can have for the cost of shipping.

thanks, that is very generous of you. I'll let you know

[jeff10049]

If it will hold a bearing ok I would put some epoxy in the low spot to help support the new bearing cage.

I have had a few damaged beyond holding a bearing and we just bored them out and made a 660 bronze bushing on the lathe for it. You could also make a steel sleeve and put the bearing back in but a bushing works great. Then again so does a used arm from Dan.

My 1960 either has two bearings or two bushings from the factory I can't remember right now but either way seems to be fine.

[MiniDave]

Early cars had 2 bushings IIRC.....dunno why they changed it. I've seen so many where the bearing is just destroyed like this from lack of greasing and water incursion.

[tsumini]

If it will hold a bearing ok I would put some epoxy in the low spot to help support the new bearing cage.

I have had a few damaged beyond holding a bearing and we just bored them out and made a 660 bronze bushing on the lathe for it. You could also make a steel sleeve and put the bearing back in but a bushing works great. Then again so does a used arm from Dan.

My 1960 either has two bearings or two bushings from the factory I can't remember right now but either way seems to be fine.

If you bore it out and put in a bushing the location is critical so the camber is not changed.
The radius arms I have for sale in the parts section have bushings on both ends, Early 60 Morris. After studying this I would use  bushings in both ends and not use any bearings. The contact of the needle bearings is so small that there is only one conatcting at a time. If you look at some old worn bearings the needles have worn only a small part of the shaft whereas a busing spreads out the contact on the shaft.
IMHO the needle bearing is a poor replacement for the bushing.

[jeff10049]

 I like the bushings better as well. And I remember now that my current car 1960 was all bushings. I converted my 94 to bushings as well because of a bad bearing.

When I have bored for bushings I made sure to locate the center before boring to keep the alignment correct. Most of the time enough round part remains to locate off of. If not it can be done from the other end but not worth the time someone usually has a used one around.

[ADRay]

update - installed the new bushings and bearings just fine today. Thanks for the help.