After seeing the pic that Stephen posted it looks like it would be easy for us owners to change them out rather than send the whole blower to Vortech.

I came across this website:

"Vortech bearings are ultra-high precision (Abec 7/Abec 9) pieces that are made in the USA. Most are custom manufactured to our specifications. Aircraft quality is truly an understatement here, since these bearings experience speeds as much as twice that of a jet engine"

http://www.bishopsales.com/bishop.html

I remember calling Bishop Sales up a couple of years ago and they told me that they sent out their blowers to Vortech for repair work and so they suggested at that time that it was best for me to deal directly with Vortech.

Checking Vortech's website I could not see anything about bearings.

 

The only question I have is shaft balancing. If you can change the bearings without removing the shaft, then I say it's completly doable.

If you need to remove the saft, then you'll need to have the shaft balance checked

**disclaimer, This is how it works for turbos... I am guessing the same applies to SC'ers**

 

Bags this is not true of a SC because in a turbo you have either ball bearings (which cannot be changed unless you the manufacturer) or have journal bearings which is nothing but a floating shaft around oil. Balance is a major issue there, but not in SCers because the shaft is driven by the gear which is fully secured by the bearing.

If you have the tools, there is no problem in doing this yourself.

Dixit

 

When I first revieved my s/c used and I was calling about to have it rebuilt I called a few shops that deal with Vortech and they wont Touch them...every shop told me for a rebuild to send it directly to Vortech.

Im sure there are guys out there that do it, but im just telling you when I found out when I started calling around

-matt

 

Thats kinda scary/discomforting that they are only Abec 7 or 9. I would have expected them to be the highest rating possible. I mean if they are such a low Abec rating they are going to be creating even more parasitic drag loss. Although, I have never heard of Abec ratings in bearings besides roller blades. I'm not saying its not true or anything. I'm just saying I've never heard of automotive or industrial bearings being rated through that system.

 

um according to this ABEC 9 is the highest rating avalible

http://205.246.221.20/g/Abec.asp


and to give you some bearing specs http://www.mcmaster.com/ has alot of different sizes of ABEC 7 bearings in there online catalog on page 1021 and it shows max rpm for the spacific sizes and load ratings

 

Interesting. But I've seen ABEC 20 engraved on the side of many a roller blade bearing. Speed skaters use them. I have ABEC 9's in my Missions and the local shop has many higher ratings for me to choose from.