Cross loaded bearing

[CharlieZ]

Can someone tell me exactly what the term 'crossloading' a bearing means?
I stumbled on this in the procedure for removing the transmission trap door from a Harley K model. I'm think it means any pressure applied to the bearing that it wasn't designed to see.
"Always replace the crossloaded bearings."

Thanks in advance.
Charlie Z

[htchbck]

Sounds to me like a type of bearing that requires replacing when you're servicing that stuff. I'd have to hear it in more context to be sure, but that sentence sounds like that to me.

[CharlieZ]

Sounds to me like a type of bearing that requires replacing when you're servicing that stuff. I'd have to hear it in more context to be sure, but that sentence sounds like that to me.

Here's the full text. There was no further explanation.

"The Mainshaft and Countershaft are a press fit into the ball bearings that are in the trap door. It is possible to remove the trap door and leave the shafts in the tranny, you need a special tool to push the shafts out of the bearings, and another tool to pull the shafts back into the bearings. The bearings are cross loaded during the removal process, and must be replaced."

[htchbck]

Yep, I think your first guess was correct about them having pressure they wouldn't normally see.

[blkfordsedan]

In this case, I suspect what they are talking about is opposing forces exerted on the inner and outer races as a result of the removal process. In other words, a bearing is typically press fit on the race that rotates and a slip fit on the other race. (If you have a shaft that turns, the inner race is pressed onto the shaft and the outer race is a slip fit in the housing). You always want to press the bearing on/off by exerting force on the race with the press fit. If you apply force on the outer race to install/remove a bearing that is press fit on the inner race, you put the bearing in a "cross-load" situation and it ruins the bearing. I can tell you after 20 years in the bearing business, people make this mistake all the time!

[georgeb]

I wonder how you put the new ones in without "crossloading" them.

[CharlieZ]

I wonder how you put the new ones in without "crossloading" them.

Further reading says there is a "special tool" for removing and another for installing. I don't work on Harleys so I've never experienced the removal of the "trap door" or the bearings.

blackfordsedan: Thanks. Good explanation. I can see it clearly.

CZ