Rollers supposed to have left/right play in drums?

spincircles said:

Hello,

I'm new to rollers, and bought a used set (Weyless) with large, steel
drums.

Are the drums supposed to drift a bit left and right, independent of
each other.  I can push them left or right about an inch.

Is this OK, or is it likely that the previous owner lost the some
spacers that lock them down?  I could easily make my own spacers, if
this is the case.

The bearings are good, and the drums do NOT have any up/down play.
The play is all on the solid steelshafts that run thorugh (float)
through the bearings.

Any help appreciated.

Pat S

You are probably missing some washers between the outside of the
cartridge and the inside of the side-rail. I don't know how Weyless
are put together, but a typical design is a bearing cartridge fitted
in to the end cap, axle through the cartridges and then washers to get
the whole thing snug. If you are missing washers, the roller can slip
laterally on the axle. -- Jay Beattie.

spincircles said:

Hello,

I'm new to rollers, and bought a used set (Weyless) with large, steel
drums.

Are the drums supposed to drift a bit left and right, independent of
each other. I can push them left or right about an inch.

Is this OK, or is it likely that the previous owner lost the some
spacers that lock them down? I could easily make my own spacers, if
this is the case.

The bearings are good, and the drums do NOT have any up/down play.
The play is all on the solid steelshafts that run thorugh (float)
through the bearings.

Any help appreciated.

Pat S

I'm assuming these are from the old New York - based Weyless, and not
from Supergo, which had a house brand of Weyless (don't know if Supergo
sold rollers under this brand). I have a set of Weyless rollers from
about 1974. There should not be any perceptible left-right drift of any
of the drums on their shafts. Your question got me curious about the
design of mine. The steel drums have aluminum endplates, into which are
pressed the 6203 rubber-sealed bearings. It looks as if they are located
on their shafts only by a press fit, although I am not inclined to
disassemble mine to see for sure. If this is the case, it is conceivable
the press fit could have worked loose after many years, and your drums
are now free to drift. You definitely don't want the inner races freely
spinning on the shafts. Mine are assembled with more shaft protruding
from the bearings on the belt side of the rollers than the non-belt side.

As far as fixing yours, you could pull the shafts out of the bearings to
clean them of dirt or grease, and then re-assemble them in the proper
position, using a bearing mount compound like Loctite 609 or something
similar. You could make spacers, but the trick would be to get enough
preload to prevent spinning without getting too much preload. Maybe
since the rollers are held in the rails with finger-tightened wingnuts,
excess preload is not a real problem anyway. Good luck.

Dave Lehnen

Dave,
Yes, they are New-York based Weyless. Steel drums with aluminum caps
and pressed in cartridge bearings.
since response consenseus shows left right play is NOT good, I now
assume that there are some spacers missing.

My model rollers are (New York) Weyless with steel drums, alum drum
caps, and pressed in cart bearings. There is a floating steel axle
runing through these. Roller frame is aluminum "T" beam with large
holes to lighten it. No legs or adjustable feet (perhaps there used
to be), just the T beams sitting directly on the floor.

Do your weyless rollers have washers or thru axles taking up the play
between the frame rails?

Pat Smith

Dave Lehnen said:

spincircles said:

Hello,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm assuming these are from the old New York - based Weyless, and not
from Supergo, which had a house brand of Weyless (don't know if Supergo
sold rollers under this brand). I have a set of Weyless rollers from
about 1974. There should not be any perceptible left-right drift of any
of the drums on their shafts. Your question got me curious about the
design of mine. The steel drums have aluminum endplates, into which are
pressed the 6203 rubber-sealed bearings. It looks as if they are located
on their shafts only by a press fit, although I am not inclined to
disassemble mine to see for sure. If this is the case, it is conceivable
the press fit could have worked loose after many years, and your drums
are now free to drift. You definitely don't want the inner races freely
spinning on the shafts. Mine are assembled with more shaft protruding
from the bearings on the belt side of the rollers than the non-belt side.

As far as fixing yours, you could pull the shafts out of the bearings to
clean them of dirt or grease, and then re-assemble them in the proper
position, using a bearing mount compound like Loctite 609 or something
similar. You could make spacers, but the trick would be to get enough
preload to prevent spinning without getting too much preload. Maybe
since the rollers are held in the rails with finger-tightened wingnuts,
excess preload is not a real problem anyway. Good luck.

Dave Lehnen- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

bip