Pinion shaft bearing race install tool

[Frank S]

Yessir, you can practically throw bearings at a housing compared to seals. In a shop not far back, we rebuilt Becker and similar air pumps; carbon vanes in slotted rotor affairs. Huge demand for these in the print/ general paper industries. Between chucking the rotors [very fine cast iron] to turn and sleeve fresh metal that seals could run on and reassembly, getting them buttoned up seemed more intense.

Should have shot pics of the turning worktables. 30" steel discs welded to a vertical post of tubing, with about 10 3/8" holes drilled around perimeter. Two large used bearings, tapered up top, roller at the bottom, set in larger tubing welded to one corner of a larger worktable. A spring loaded pin lined up with the disc holes through the main table, to hold whatever position was convenient. A small jib crane mounted on adjacent wall raised and lowered the pumps, far more efficient than messing with a fork or some type of lift table.

For all that seals are in some high speed or high pressure applications they are so delicate that a single trapped dust particle can cause failure and dry assembly is totally out of the question.