Parts(Bearings and such)

[ManassasPaul]

Just had a quick question, I have been working on getting my boat up and one item that has been hard to locate is a replacement bearing for my 20+ year old Schaefer upper swivel. This looks to be a banded thrust bearing, of

ID 0.42"(fits over a 3/8" shaft)
OD 1.47" (housing is 1.5")
Thick .375"

I have been looking through all of the supply companies and no one seems to have any thing close to those dimensions. Does anyone have any info on sources for unique parts, or am I just wasting my time and would be better off going for a new unit?

[Chip Hindes]

Explain what you mean by "upper swivel" (of what?) and "banded thrust bearing." Better yet, if you can, post a picture or two.

Also, what is your guess as to material?

[ManassasPaul]

Sorry, that was the upper swivel of the roller furling sytem, and when I said banded thrust bearing, I meant a thrust bearing that is sealed.

The bearing itself is steel, but not stainless as it is corroded and seized. The housing is stainless. I'll try and post some pics tonight after I get off work.

By the way is this the right forum or should I be in Mods or does it matter?

[Chip Hindes]

"Stainless" steel is nearly always a compromise between degree of corrosion resistance and other beneficial properties. Normally stainless ball and roller bearings are made from hardened 440C. It is the hardest stainless commonly available, but being 400 series, it it is less corrosion resistant than the 304/316 used for marine applications. On the other hand, 300 series is too soft to use for bearings.

400 will eventually rust, especially if "treated" to regular salt water or salt air exposure.

Schaeffer is a pretty reputable manufacturer; IMO it's pretty doubtbful they would use non-stainless bearings on their furlers.

Is this a ball bearing? Looking forward to the pictures, because I can't picture a sealed thrust bearing.

Any forum which makes sense. Perhaps there should be a separate forum for repairs and maintenance, since it really doesn't fit in mods nor performance, but until Heath decides to start a new one, seems this is good as any.

[ManassasPaul]

Hey all,

Sorry its been so long since I replied to this. Anyways to make a long story short, I got the proper bearing for the swivel and, here are the pics of the bearing job. And Chip it seems that it was a banded thrust bearing, I guess at the time I knew a little less about what I'm talking about, now I know a just a little more and maybe someday I just might hit full coherency!
Very Happy

The bearing is made by RBC bearings under the NICE product name, they ran me about $5.00 apiece.
Product Info
I bought these from Applied Industrial, the guy on the phone knew what I was talking about and shipped the correct bearings, but darned if I could find them on their website.

This is the upper swivel assembly, its a Schaefer model from around 1980


Here is the bearing "stack"


Disassembled; the "O" rings on the brass bushing are just your standard from the local hardware store


And here is the bearing that I purchased from Applied Industrial Technologies


If you need anymore info just shout, I finally got a photobucket account setup so I can actually get these photos "onboard".