Torlon and delrin together?

[NoodlePip]

I am replacing ball bearings in on my mainsheet traveller, and perhaps also genoa travellers (after losing a handful of balls overboard during removal of the main traveller I have decided to hold off inspecting the genoa travellers until I have a traveller car loader...). Some balls look in ok condition while others have fallen apart, they are white so I'm making the assumption they are delrin. After some research I'm thinking of replacing with torlon balls, both due to quality and the fact I can find the delrin in 7.8mm.
My question is, if I were just to replace some of the balls and leave in the ones that look ok, would having a mix of delrin and torlon be an issue? As there may be three travellers that need new ball bearings cost is a factor here and replacing all with torlon seems a costly option. For context, this is for fair-weather sailing on a 38 ft.

If anyone can also recommend some good dealers of Lewmar Ocean size 2 parts in the UK (I've found mainly-lewmar-spares and a handful of chandlers online that sell the odd thing), it would be much appreciated!

 

[Roberto]

I had mine

My question is, if I were just to replace some of the balls and leave in the ones that look ok, would having a mix of delrin and torlon be an issue?

Mainsail full batten cars: the original delrin balls had markedly deteriorated (almost kept the mainsail stuck up), I replaced the worn ones with some torlon balls I had, slight temporary improvement then the delrin ones kept on deteriorating. I eventually replaced all of them with torlon, it made quite a difference.
FWIW, I bought them in bulk (I needed 2-300) in the US, despite VAT/courier/import tax they came a lot less expensive than those available at the chandlers, the maker also provided a certificate of ''post cooking'' or something.

 

[MontyMariner]

would having a mix of delrin and torlon be an issue?

Why not move good balls from one to replace bad balls in another. Then you can have balls of all one type in a bearing.

 

[NoodlePip]

I had mine

Mainsail full batten cars: the original delrin balls had markedly deteriorated (almost kept the mainsail stuck up), I replaced the worn ones with some torlon balls I had, slight temporary improvement then the delrin ones kept on deteriorating. I eventually replaced all of them with torlon, it made quite a difference.
FWIW, I bought them in bulk (I needed 2-300) in the US, despite VAT/courier/import tax they came a lot less expensive than those available at the chandlers, the maker also provided a certificate of ''post cooking'' or something.

Why not move good balls from one to replace bad balls in another. Then you can have balls of all one type in a bearing.

Good idea, from what little I've read I feel like the different qualities may not compliment each other in the same traveller. Thinking to keep the torlon in the mainsheet and delrin in the genoas for now

 

[NoodlePip]

I had mine

Mainsail full batten cars: the original delrin balls had markedly deteriorated (almost kept the mainsail stuck up), I replaced the worn ones with some torlon balls I had, slight temporary improvement then the delrin ones kept on deteriorating. I eventually replaced all of them with torlon, it made quite a difference.
FWIW, I bought them in bulk (I needed 2-300) in the US, despite VAT/courier/import tax they came a lot less expensive than those available at the chandlers, the maker also provided a certificate of ''post cooking'' or something.

Do you mean you shipped from US to UK?

Interesting to know you noticed the difference when having a mixture vs all one type in the same car. Thanks

 

[Roberto]

Thinking to keep the torlon in the mainsheet and delrin in the genoas for now

Yep, the mainsheet traveler is usually moved with the sheet under load, the genoa travelers can be moved windward/leeward between one tack and the following one so maybe less stringent need.

Add: shipped US to EU, I think it was FedEx/UPS, one of those couriers which clears customs+VAT and charge a fee, so not the least expensive.
Some of the delrin balls, originally 1/4''-6.25mm, had ovalised and decreased in size, removing the worn ones and replacing them with torlon after some time seemed to have given the coup de grace to the originally surviving delrin ones. Some time was a few weeks of 24/7 sailing, so maybe the coexistence could last for the time of one or two normal summer sailing seasons.