Two Days in One

I was out on Tuesday, and moved the 309 westward so I could start on replacing the bearings for the #1 machine.  That was easy enough.  

After moving the car, however, things became more difficult.  The #1 case was too far to one side (north) to fit the replacement bearings, which have much thicker flanges (as designed) than the old worn-out ones.  I tried a couple of different methods of moving the machine, but none of them worked.  

Here we see the nice shiny bearing section of the axle.  (This is the gear side.)  But my inability to get the new bearings inserted was rather aggravating.  The other weekday guys were succeeding with their usual tasks, apparently.  So there was no post for Tuesday.  

But on Thursday things started to go better.  Having pondered the problem, I rigged up a better system for moving the motor case, and parts began to fall into place.  Here we see the two halves of the gear-side bearing in place, before reattaching the cap.  It was still a lot of work, but when progress is being made you just gotta keep going.

I have observed that when trying to insert the bearings, as in the picture above, there are exactly two possible situations.  Take your pick:

1) The bearing is so tight that repeated pounding with large hammers has little effect.

2) The bearing is so loose that it rotates under gravity and tries to jump out of the machine.

Towards the end I was somewhat tired, but Phil Albamonte wandered by to see what I was doing, and helped by finishing up tightening the huge bolts that hold the caps in place.  Thanks!

The car should therefore be ready to move itself outside, where we can check the waste bundles and lubricate the motor caps.  Success!