Need some guidance:

Purchased a new shaft, seals, and needle bearing for the lower case. Pressed in the new bearings and they appeared to match the old one perfectly.

Problem: I ran the tail once and noticed 1 to 2 mm of play between the shaft and the opening of the cap when I push on it? You could even see where the shaft was starting to get etched by the lower cap opening due to the "play".

What did I do wrong?

Thx!

I had just replaced my lower bearing and seals on my mb and i needed a sleeve pressed on the shaft that fit exactly in the needle bearing. Without it, the shaft can jump around and destroy your seals and the shaft itself. The bearing is for 1" diameter shaft, the sleeve (optional liner) has I/D of 3/4 and O/D of 1". There is no play at all now.

First, I pressed the needle bearing in (just far enough to leave room for seals and cap in front of it or else you'll never get a puller behind it next time). next throw your shaft on and measure where the bearing is on the shaft normally, pull shaft and place the sleeve exactly there. I dinged my shaft with a punch on both sides of the sleeve to keep it from walking up/down the shaft. Put shaft back in with bearing sleeve on and inside the bearing, then everything else.

At least thats what i did..... and its been running amazing.

mcmaster parts....
2 8258K34 2 Each Sealed Precision Steel Needle-roller Bearing, Optional Liner For 3/4" Shaft Diameter, 1" Od
3 8258K24 2 Each Sealed Precision Steel Needle-roller Bearing, For 1" Shaft Diameter, 1-1/2" Outside Diameter

Thanks for the feedback! That's interesting that you had to sleeve the shaft.

Did your shaft have the bearing race bulge at the end? Also, did you ever figure out why MB would send out a bearing that doesn't fit the shaft? Hell, I probably need a new exit cap and seals now. The exit hole was worn out to a larger diameter after half a tank of gas! I thought I was replacing with like parts......guess not.