Trusty Wooden Bearings

[vhgmcbuddy]

Just picked up a Trusty Disc Harrow set from one of our members, He kindly dismantled it to make it easier to move, and he handed me a box of what looked like old dried out leather fragments of bearings, Turns out that they are the remains of the original Beechwood bearings, Never heard of wooden bearings before, but They are listed in the Trusty Parts List, I wonder why they chose to use wood instead if normal bearing metal? anyone else heard of these? will make an interesting Lathe turning project!

[trusty220]

It was quite a common thing to do in the 1940’s. Don’t forget that metals like bronze would have been a horrendous price (steel was in short enough supply) and so wood was the next best thing. It soaks up the oil and grease to provide a reservoir for the bearing surfaces and is low cost to replace.
I replaced mine with some offcuts of gas main (I think it’s called Alkathene pipe) and they have worked well for the last fifteen years.
Nothing wrong with wood, though; don’t forget that de Havilland made Mosquitoes and Vampires from it!

[hillsider]

I remember changing several sets of wooden bearings as fitted on Massey Ferguson mounted discs as an apprentice many moons ago, wood was a commonly used bearing material in this situation.

Not a UK based company unfortunately but here is an interesting link to a company that appears to specialise in wooden bearings for many aplications. The link should open to the page for Disc Harrow bearings but go to their home page for general information.
https://woodexbearing.com/product/replacement-wood-bearings-for-disc-harrows-cultipackers-other-farm-equipment

[dave]

I think that you will find that nearly all disc harrows had wood bearings, as the
dusty soil conditions and oil or grease made for a very good grinding paste and the
oil soaked wood was a better bearing surface than any metal to metal bearing.
I fitted a new set of wood bearings in my set of discs about 20 years ago and they
are still going strong today.

[andyfrost]

Lignum Vitae (spelling??) , the wood that bowls are made from is a very good “lubricating” wood to use.

Andy.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Amazing what you learn from this club site, I think you are right Andy about the properties of “Lignum Vitae” but it would be very expensive to get hold of, I like your Idea of the Plastic Gas pipe, or failing that I will make them as the original from Trusty, out of Beechwood, my Neighbour is a tree surgeon, so I can get plenty of that for free!

[joegrgraham]

I’ve got a Fleming flat roller at work, not very old at all, and that has wooden bearing blocks.
Someone already mentioned about the abrasive nature of soil, also, due the infrequent use of implements like rollers and discs, the wood doesnt suffer from rust and seizing like conventional bearing do.

Joe.

[vhgmcbuddy]

I have just looked at the site that “Hillsider” has given me, Amazing to see this American company is in the business of making just the very item we are discussing, who would have thought it, I suppose there are plenty of enthusiasts in the States to make it worth their while. I am quite looking forword to setting up the Lathe for a bit of wood turning, will let you all know how I get on.

[Author]

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