Harken mast track cars - losing ballbearings

stu9000

stu9000

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Ok so the main has always been fairly hard work to hoist.
I finally took it off for some sailmaker TLC, and noticed one of the cars was losing ball bearings.
Ye Gods! How much are these things.

Its a Harken mast track system AA.
I believe the car is the HK3815 model
The sail is with the sailmaker atm, but the images below look right, and matches some receipts the previous owner gave me.

The sailmaker told me these are great when they work, but bind up if not set up right.

From memory, the guides for the bearings looked fragile.
Any suggestions on what I can do to prevent ball loss?
Where can i get more bearings?
If the car is knackered, what can I do (other than pay £170 per car)?

Thank you!


Harken HK3815 car.png

Harken HK3815 car bearings.png

Source
https://www.harken.co.uk/en/shop/13-mm-aa-battcar-system/13-mm-cb-battcar-intermediate/
 
The housing and balls wear or get the housing gets stresses and bends and dumps the balls, or a mixture of all the above. Torlon bearings are ridiculously expensive. You can find generics at a fraction of the price of Harken’s. You can also substitute with generic stainless rollers. Try delrin if you don’t need the load capacity. A fraction of the cost. Or another cheat is to buy a 300mm length and cut down for where you need rollers not balls. God help you if you need to buy racing winch pawls and springs from Harken. It’s utter extortion. 10x a fair price.
 
Zing said:
The housing and balls wear or get the housing gets stresses and bends and dumps the balls, or a mixture of all the above. Torlon bearings are ridiculously expensive. You can find generics at a fraction of the price of Harken’s. You can also substitute with generic stainless rollers. Try delrin if you don’t need the load capacity. A fraction of the cost. Or another cheat is to buy a 300mm length and cut down for where you need rollers not balls. God help you if you need to buy racing winch pawls and springs from Harken. It’s utter extortion. 10x a fair price.
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Yes pricing seems insane. Might try delrin as I suspect this isn't the last time balls fly all over the coach roof.
 
stu9000 said:
Yes pricing seems insane. Might try delrin as I suspect this isn't the last time balls fly all over the coach roof.
Click to expand...

Delrin won't last as it's quite soft. They are Torlon because they are highly loaded. Even Torlon ones can get flats on them after a lot of use.

I wouldn't put stainless balls in cars. Stainless balls will be harder than the track and car body and could damage them. The cost of replacing either of those would make new balls look bargainiferous.

The link I gave they are 50p each if you buy 400 which is considerably less than Harken's price. I've not found a supplier at a smaller fraction than that but would be interested to know if there is one.
 
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AngusMcDoon said:
The link I gave they are 50p each if you buy 400 which is considerably less than Harken's price. I've not found a supplier at a smaller fraction than that but would be interested to know if there is one.
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I just checked I bought mine a few years ago from drakeplastics.eu , they were sent from the US (with a post-cooking post-curing post-something certificate), price vary depending upon quantity I bought 500 at .25€ each (I replaced all delrin balls to torlon for several cars); their US web site now states minimum order 250usd though.
 
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