Bump

Sorry to see parts not fit for service strike again...

I had NEW Pre-A+ idler gear bearings disintegrate on the Alaska Hwy. during the previous ALCAN 5000 rally.  The drawn cups, the needle rollers the aluminum transmission case & drop gear housing toast, the drop gears in the bin, complete strip down, oilways cleaned, crank journals polished, all new bearings, oil pump, etc. etc.

Needless to say, a very costly parts failure.

The bearings 13H7848 came from Mini Spares to a local supplier.  I went to BC Bearing Engineers/Motion Canada to get a direct replacement for the UK Made Torrington 1212 shaft bearings used in production and it cross matched to the German Made Schaeffler Group 1212 INAs.  I bought 18 for a local shop that works on Minis and 6 for myself.  Total Cost $8.43 Canadian EACH.

I have also rebuilt the power unit with replacement tranny case and drop gear housing...and finished the 2022 ALCAN 5000 on September 1st...the right bearings doing the job.

Our local supplier had loaned some parts in case we needed them on the Rally...we didn't but we did talk a bit about quality of parts.  He went to his parts bin, took out a sealed bag with 6 Pre-A+ idler gear bearings inside, each in their own sealed bag, he opened the bag and then opened one of the bearing bags, he handed me the bearing, I spun it on my finger and handed it back, asking "How long would this last?"  His eyes widened and he then opened another individual bearing bag and handed me the bearing.  EVERY NEEDLE ROLLER WAS SIEZED in the DRAWN CUP!

My supplier then contacted Mini Spares and was advised they would replace his stock "with what they are using now."  I'll go to BC Bearing Engineers or John Guess at Guessworks for bearings before I trust a major supplier any time soon.

We owners, hobbyists, drivers have a generic problem...our major suppliers are letting down the side by buying and selling parts not fit for service, i.e. actually driving the Minis.

Oh, I have another quality problem.  I bought a BRAND NEW Pre-A+ distributor with electronic pack for the 1293 build (based on Austin America block) from a MAJOR NORTH AMERICAN SUPPLIER OF MINI PARTS.  It was a good thing I did not take it on the ALCAN Rally.  I took a coil, a fellow Classic Mini entrant brough a dizzy, an old Cooper S dizzy.  The BRAND NEW distributor can not be installed in either the 1098 or 1293 engine builds...the DIAMETER of the shaft is too great by up to 6 mm.

No casting info on the housing...made where? by who? tested by who? Another costly quality failure.

This is the 'mystery thread' where the 'post OP' post will show with some browsers and not with others... I can only see the original post with the Edge browser, but I see the whole thread with Firefox...  

sorry for the delay, Terry sent me another case to use. Thanks Terry!

The gearbox side had only a minor ridge and after cleaning it up on a flat surface, I found 0.001" to 0.0015" of wear into the case.

The shims were heavily worn though.

How does the gearbox side of it look? With that much damage I'd have to imagine the other side was effected.

Probably cheaper just to get another cover

I got you covered with a new cover, if you need it.
cosimo 
mad house minis

Scrap, I'm afraid.

I've got piles of end covers, both A and A+ so if you can't find anything Stateside give me a shout.

EeeeeYuuuu... Pretty sure thats toast (equivocation only because there’s always someone who can fix anything:). Not only is the bore that the bearing sits in destroyed but the thrust face that the gear sits against is also gouged out. Not uncommon when the bearing fails.

Be careful with the larger A+ idler, both axle ends are larger and there’s not really enough meat in the gear box casing to allow for a bigger hole.

Shouldn’t be too hard to find a replacement.

Cheers, Ian

That doesn't say much for Chrome, does it? Try downloading and installing Firefox.

Interesting none of my posts show up in Chrome on a PC, but they show up on my phone

I can't make the photo work either.
I am no machinist, but I seem to remember the A+ idler is larger and an adapter is made to use that.
Maybe the housing can be machined to fit the adapter. It may be the other way around and probably cheaper to find a replacement housing.

 

 

Hi all, Im stripping apart a 998 A series and ran across this idler damage. The idler bearing in the aluminum case has disintegrated and scored the case. Any suggestions on repairs ? I tried posting a photo but can never seem to make that work. The photo link below. 

URL: https://flic.kr/p/2nJyANt