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bearings same as Aristo for a buck

7K views 37 replies 20 participants last post by  John J 
Posted By bdp3wsy on 02/03/2009 8:34 PM
You can get the same bearings for a buck each from this site. I have been using them for over a year and they are still working great rain and all. Jake

http://www.avidrc.com/shop/?action=item&id=137







The Bearings at this link DO NOT FIT Aristocraft axles. I just received a bunch of them and tried them out. The interior diameter is far too smal--it'd take a lot of work to get the exle ends to fitl. I'm going to have to send these back.

It's my fault for not actually measuring and taking the original poster's word for it. I put my digital caliper on the aristo axles and they range from 3.05 to 3.07 to 2.97 mm. The inside diameter onf the bearings is 2.90-2.95

It might be that if you had a run of Aristos with smaller axles, these would work. They do press-fit into the sideframes if you remove the plastic bushing
 
With much effort, I just managed to install some of these bearings on three bachmann axles on an aristo flatcar. My conclusion is that it is definitely not worth it. The axle without the ball bearing seems to turn more freely than the ball bearing axles. It takes a good deal of sanding--chucking the wheel in a drill and using an emery cloth-- to get the bearings to fit the axles, and in the end the tight fit of the bearing accentuates the uneveness of the bushing hole in the sideframe, so that the wheels roll less evenly and less freely.


I'm going to keep experimenting, rather than just send these back, but right now I'm thinking this is a big waste of time and money
 
I don't know, I've never seen those USAT cars. The Aristo sideframes have a plastic bushing in them, a little piece of plastic tube with an outside diameter of 6 mm and an inside diameter of 3 mm. The bushing comes out of the sideframe, and then you insert the bearing in the hole. I only have two USAT cars and neither has that kind of arrangement--both would have to be drilled


I ended up installing all the bearings that I had, enough to do 6 cars. On some it may have been an improvement. On others it may have made things worse

You have to turn the Aristo axles down. I chucked them in a drill and held a mill ******* file against the axle end.
 
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