RE: 164 tranny bearing

["Hardwick, Robert C" <Robert.Hardwick@domain.elided>]

	Michael Smith said, "it'll be the one with the busted plastic ball carrier which allows the balls to move around inducing play in the bearing which allows the shaft to wobble and leads to the ticking and grinding noises."

	A bit of a nitpick but myth perpetuation gets under my skin: the problem with this bearing isn't its race, it's the load rating.  The L and base 164 came with a ball bearing.  The replacement, which was stock on the S, is a higher load rated roller bearing.

	Someone who should know said that the high loads are due to the input shaft being mounted in a cantilever such that pressure plate misalignment could cause orbital loads.  It was further explained that this design resulted in a short shaft which was easier to assemble into the transmission. 

	I haven't looked at the schematic to see just what this means.  It's pretty common for shafts which stick out of a housing to be cantilever loaded and you design accordingly.  Good design would include prevention of misalignment loads from whatever it's attached to, e.g. clutch plates.  Does the 164 lack a pilot bearing in the crankshaft?

	Guess it's also worth pointing out that if the bearing cage breaks up, the inner race is free to go off center enough to dump out the balls (that's how they get the balls in there during manufacturing).  This would lead to more than noise.

	Of course, all this drivel is of no value to the initiator of the thread who just wanted to know how to change the bearing himself!  (my head hanging in shame at becoming a lowly checkbook mechanic, sob)

	Robert Hardwick, Seattle, USA
	'90 164B
	'79 spider
	'98 Colnago Master Light

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