This Tech Tip is one in a series that we publish for the industrial engine community. It follows other Tech Tips that we have published on how to maintain your Twin Disc, Rockford, AutoClutch or Stein power takeoff clutch. These include
- Tech Tip #48: Maintaining Your Rockford and Twin Disc Power Takeoff Clutch
- Tech Tip #67: How to Remove A Troublesome Pilot Bearing (Part 1)
- Tech Tip #73: How to Make Your Twin Disc or Rockford Power Takeoff Last Longer and
- Tech Tip #95: Removing a Troublesome Pilot Bearing (Part 2)
Foley Engines has been in business for almost a full century. We have the people, the know-how and the inventory to help you with your Twin Disc®, Rockford®, Stein or AutoClutch PTO clutch. We’ll do whatever it takes to keep your equipment up and running. Just ask the USAF base in Nebraska who called us late on a Friday afternoon. They had several B1s coming in from the Middle East on Saturday afternoon. But their SP318 Twin Disc front mounted PTO on their Oshkosh truck snow blower was jammed and their main runway was shut down because of a blizzard. When they first called they didn’t know that it was a SP318 because the data plate had gone AWOL. But with lots of conference calls and a Next Day Air/Saturday AM shipment we helped them get the runway re-opened by the next afternoon, just in time to receive the inbound flights. See Tech Tip #93: Twin Disc® and Rockford Power Take Offs, for more info on how we helped.
In Tech Tip #67: How to Remove a Troublesome Pilot Bearing (Part 1), we presented a new technique for removing a pilot bearing, a technique that also applies to Stein and AutoClutch PTOs. The idea was to pack the ID of the old pilot bearing hole with grease and drive a wooden dowel into the bearing to pop it out.
Silly Putty to the rescue. While grease works most of the time, the grease gets spattered all over the floor. This doesn’t look so good when you track the grease into your fleet maintenance manager’s office. Here’s another idea. Rather than packing the pilot bearing hole with grease, use Silly Putty. No muss, no fuss.
Of course if you still can’t get the darn pilot bearing out, don’t give up. Re-using an old pilot bearing, when installing a new Twin Disc, Rockford or AutoClutch power takeoff, is like putting on a new suit with a stained shirt. (You know the shirt that still has spaghetti sauce on it from the pot luck supper at the VFW you went to last month.) You can re-use a pilot bearing, but why would you when pilot bearings are not much money and we stock them all?
So, if you still can’t get the old bearing out, we found a company named Springer Tool in Riverton, WY that has a new tool to do this. The last time we checked it was under $25. For more info on their Pilot Bushing Removal Tool, take a look at our Tech Tip #95: Removing a Troublesome Pilot Bearing (Part 2).
