Shopsmith Forums

My SS is a 1957 model and the old button control sheave bearing was not originally staked in (only pressed in). I used an old idler shaft and pressed it out (no cracks on the end tube, so I will be able to reinstall the bearing once it comes in). My question is this:

My friend, who is a machinist, does not think it is a good idea to "stake" this bearing in place. His take is that if the fit feels tight, to just use some blue (intermediate strength) loctite and press the new bearing in with a socket and his giant vise. I saw that some stake the bearings in four places (seems that some came that way from the factory). I went to Jacob Anderson's site (jacobs-repairshop.com) and his instructions do not indicate to stake. What is your opinion? Thanks, Chris in GA

P.S. Great forum!

gunner66 wrote:My SS is a 1957 model and the old button control sheave bearing was not originally staked in (only pressed in). I used an old idler shaft and pressed it out (no cracks on the end tube, so I will be able to reinstall the bearing once it comes in). My question is this:

My friend, who is a machinist, does not think it is a good idea to "stake" this bearing in place. His take is that if the fit feels tight, to just use some blue (intermediate strength) loctite and press the new bearing in with a socket and his giant vise. I saw that some stake the bearings in four places (seems that some came that way from the factory). I went to Jacob Anderson's site (jacobs-repairshop.com) and his instructions do not indicate to stake. What is your opinion? Thanks, Chris in GA

P.S. Great forum!

Since you are normally not going to remove the control sheave bearing again, I use and recommend using the RED (permanment) Loctite. Only a little is needed. I actually machine the bearing hole in the control sheave a little deeper so I have room to stake the bearing. If the bearing is even or less than 1/32" with the outside edge of the control sheave, then I believe staking will have no effect on holding the bearing in the control sheave. Since I had several bearings pull out of the control sheave when testing years ago, so I have stayed with staking when the bearing is at least 1/16" or more below the end of the control sheave. I started machining the control sheave vane side to remove any scratches, dents, worn sections or flatten vane tips last year. It was easy to do the bearing depth since the lathe is set up for the control sheave. I use a chisel with the cutting edge flatten (ground off) for staking. I use the same marks as the original for my staking points.