[offlander]

Good evening all.

Working my way through a spindle bearing replacement on my Hiteco QD-1F and ran into a bit of a snag. I was not able to find a guide (or even pictures) of how the main shaft comes apart. I need to remove the top two bearings and replace them (see pictures), I've gotten down to the end and I can't figure out how to get at them. Rather I don't want to break something by pounding on it the wrong way. Is anyone aware if you can remove the top ring capturing them or do you have to remove all the bearings on the nose end by dismantling the entire shaft?
thanks,

[offlander]

I wanted to replay to my own thread (because I dislike finding unanswered questions on forums). I was able to get the spindle apart and get the correct bearings ordered. Here is what I found.

The top bearing cap is a thread on part. It is held on with, what I would call an irresponsible amount of Loctite. I had to take the heat gun and get to loosen it. As a side note, pay close attention where the balancing setscrews are located, I recommend indexing the shaft as to where they are set (mine had three). You may have to move them to new holes depending on how the capture nut tightens back down. I don't have a spin balancer so I'm relying on the existing set locations to get me close. So far no vibrations...

Once the capture nut is removed you can slip the old bearings off. In my case the top bearing was fraged. The replacement is a KH6006-R2Z CTA, my replacements are GMN brand and were about $270 for the pair.

When putting the new bearings back on, remove the dust seal between the two, so they can share lubricant. And just in case you missed it, the labels (etched markings on the ring of the bearing) face each other when going back together.

The rest of the replacement was pretty straight-forward.

Hope this helps someone in the future.

[Mavigogun]

Much appreciated, and great pictures- thanks for making the effort. "I don't have a spin balancer so I'm relying on the existing set locations to get me close. So far no vibrations..." You remind me that, despite achieving minimal runout, balance can still foil the results. That said, I wonder if runout was measured before and after- and to what speed you spun it up to after repair.