[Model A Steve]

Very interesting. You may have saved me some serious grief. For the good of all mankind, I was all set to quarantine myself in my garage today to finally assemble my transmission and then I stumbled onto this chain. Now I'm considering re-using my vintage roller bearings I had planned to replace. The trans operated just fine before disassembly. I only took it apart because I was replacing the engine and I wanted to know the status of the trans.

I replaced the cluster gear and 2/3 gear with quality used gears and had the tower rebuilt. Was gonna replace all bearings because as the guys in my club said, "It's cheap insurance." Now I'm feeling as though I should apply the theory of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The individual rollers of my new roller bearings measure up at .1875" The rollers of my used bearings (see attached) measure up at .1870", .186", and .1858", respectively. The best of those three happens to be a short bearing that has no "rifling" on the rollers. It's identified as Hyatt USA 89026 (maybe 99026). I figured I'd put that one between the input shaft and the main shaft. The two others both have "rifling" on the rollers. They are a little more worn but they'll be riding on a cluster gear shaft that's new. I'm guessing this is how the trans was configured before I took it apart. I don't remember and didn't take note because I had planned to replace them all.

Any thoughts? Seems like a better course than installing new junk bearings. Is it a mistake running the old bearings on a new shaft? The old shaft did have some wear...about .005" Are we sure that Bratton's is now selling a quality roller? I bought mine from one of their rivals. Thoughts appreciated.