Installing New SuperBlends

I've just had a nice time sitting by my grill with an IPA while I cooked a brace of Commando cases, (lightly slathered in 35 year old 50wt). I was rewarded with a nice 'clunk' when the bearings fell out. Next up is a couple of pork chops, no more meaningful progress for today. Thinking ahead, I believe a good process for installation of my new SuperBlends is as follows:
-Place crankshaft in freezer. After suitable time, heat bearings in grill.
-Drop warm bearings over cold crankshaft ends.
-At ambient temperature, separate outer bearing race assemblies, then chill them in the freezer.
-Heat crankcases in grill, drop chilled outer race assemblies into cases.

Suggestions, comments? Seems like a lot of steps but I'm not much of a millwright and this approach seems unlikely to damage anything and get the bearings fully seated.

By the way, no shims were encountered anywhere. When I check the end float in future, I will shim as needed to get somewhere between .015 and .020. (Probably shouldn't have mentioned that as the thread can get derailed so easily.)

Thank You for your Time!!!

Can't remember exactly, but it seems to me that Steve Payne had a slightly modified bearing that he used to check endfloat with. It cd be easily fitted and removed, and when the shimming was correct, he did the final install.

Cooling the steel parts really does not help. Between ambient temp and 0 degrees is only going to change the size by a tenth of a thousandth and the cold steel part will cause the aluminum to cool and shrink faster -defeating the purpose.

Heating the cases to around 350 degrees will allow the new bearings to drop right in.

If you attempt to heat the inner race of the Superblend hot enough to drop onto the shaft, it will be too hot for the hardening and can damage the bearing.
I place the inner race on a 60 watt light bulb for a few minutes. About the time it is hot enough to sizzle a wet finger, I use a piece of tubing and a small hammer to tap the bearing in place. A bit of oil on the shaft will help.

Don't forget to polish the seal area of the shaft after the bearing is in place. Otherwise the tiny scratches will take out the seal. Jim

Thanks Mr. Rick, I will do some searching for Steve Payne's bearing.

Also Thanks for your advice Jim, makes perfect sense. My lost memory exceeded my former knowledge here. I will find a good size drift.
There will be a pause on progress. My crank is split and the timing end is at a machine shop for a keyway rescue effort.

Once you check end play, do you drop the bearings again and shim as needed? This sequence has me confused.

But I do like the grill idea, I was trying to figure out how to get the inevitable smell out of her oven.

I think there's no doubt you have to split cases again to shim if necessary. I haven't started looking into the Steve Payne modified bearing, guessing it is ground a bit so that it can be removed very easily. You'd have to be sure that the race widths exactly match your new, final bearing, or at least take the difference into account. Even with an 'easily removable' bearing, it's going to be something of a pain to split the cases again. My thought is that if I need to shim, I will do it between the engine case and the outer race. Which side to shim? I read something on that here, will have to go find it if/when I need to add a shim.....
And yes, the grill worked wonderfully. I was sitting back enjoying the back yard and suddenly heard a 'clank'. Voila! Bearing had fallen out. How painless is that?

Sorry if that was misleading:
Steve was a local Norton/Ducati/Guzzi specialist who worked mostly on vintage bikes in his shop at home, was a professional mechanic with the CHP.
So there is no commercially avail "Payne" bearing; he just had one machined so it wd drop in and out, but otherwise identical.

I just put my case over the wok burner on my gas stove it heats up the case evenly and only take a minute or 2 for the bearing to drop out then I flip the case over and drop the new bearing in while its still hot then let it cool down, have done this many times on the stove top and the best thing the wife never knows and no bad smell left in the oven from cooked oil.
As for putting the inner bearing on the crank I use the old inner bearing to tap the new one on with some oil on the shaft, I have done many Norton motors over 45 years and have never shimmed one yet, I think people worry to much about end play, I have never had any rebuilt motors fail from end play and the motors I have rebuilt for mates are all still going strong.

Ashley

You just need to grind out a little bit from an old Superblend bearing inner race with a dremel to make a useful end-float checking tool - bearing tolerances are very accurate so a different inner race from another bearing (same brand) will not be significantly different dimensionally. If you order standard Norton shims using part numbers from the book you will see that the exploded diagram is incorrect and in fact the shims go between the inner race and the crankshaft itself NOT behind the outer race and the crankcase. some people prefer to source larger shims and put them behind the outer race as shown in the parts book. I personally don't like this method as you have to heat the cases with a new bearing in them if you want to remove again for re- shimming, I worry about the heat treatment on the bearing. You only need to bolt the cases together briefly with the crank and bearings installed to check the end float, it nly takes about 5 minutes.

Mr. Rick said:

Sorry if that was misleading:
Steve was a local Norton/Ducati/Guzzi specialist who worked mostly on vintage bikes in his shop at home, was a professional mechanic with the CHP.
So there is no commercially avail "Payne" bearing; he just had one machined so it wd drop in and out, but otherwise identical.

Click to expand...

Thank you sir! Confirmed my guess. I read where Steve is now deceased which is a shame. He seemed well experienced and talented.

dave M said:

You just need to grind out a little bit from an old Superblend bearing inner race with a dremel to make a useful end-float checking tool

Click to expand...

The alternative (which I prefer) is to take some metal off the outside of the outer race (easier option) so it is a reasonably loose fit in the casing and essentially go through the same routine. I prefer static shims behind the outer races rather that something that is whistling around, inside the inner race, potentially wearing a groove in the crankshaft - ouch!
Cheers
Rob

Thanks Everyone for your time and input. I'm going to make a loose inner race which will be a good drift for setting new inners, and I'll check crankshaft run-out just because it's quick and easy. If I happen to need a shim I will go with shimming behind an outer race.
I should really start up a 'bike project' thread in the appropriate spot, maybe when I'm further along. I've got some good pictures and am taking more as I go. It will be a good record for the future owner, who I hope is someone younger that can get drawn into the addiction.