joelpsmith 1 Posted January 4, 2006 Ok, there are a lot of posts about beam tubes being difficult to source, especially the 309 one. The question is can a pitted bearing surface be repaired instead of just scrapping so many tubes. Here is a picture of one i have just dismantled, you can see quite bad pitting in one area (the bearing that was taken out was virtually non existent. the rest of the surface that can't be seen is not too bad at all, and the other end of the tube is near perfect. i was thinking of maybe filling it in with some sort of hard setting resin and the latheing it back to the correct diameter. Can anyone give any suggestions on fixing this as it is a shame to scrap the tube, especially when the other end is so good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anthony 1,003 Posted January 4, 2006 Beam tubes are still fairly easy to obtain, as there's plenty of base model 309's out there and the tube is the same (205 base model tubes are slightly different from 205 GTi tubes, but can still be used). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joelpsmith 1 Posted January 4, 2006 But if a repair could be made it would save people from having to look around, dismantle the beam and check for damge, it would also save a lot of tubes being scrapped needlessy. I was just thinking it might be easier and what peoples thoughts were on methods of fixing a pitted area. it must be possible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anthony 1,003 Posted January 4, 2006 Minor pitting could potentially be fixed with some form of epoxy - I believe that Wurzel tried this on a couple of beamtubes that had slight pitting. The biggest issue however is that usually a badly pitted tube has also gone oval, and unless you have access to the correct tooling to drill the hole out and then press an insert in to reduce it back to the original size, the beam is scrap. Yours has started to be worn oval judging by the picture, and for that reason alone I'd bin it (even though it's nowhere near as bad as some I've seen) and source a good one. Given a choice of using a good unworn part or fixing/bodging a worn/knackered part though, I know which I would (and do) choose - "if you're going to do a job, do the job properly first time" as the saying goes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beastie 1 Posted January 4, 2006 I'd be very reluctant to try to reclaim that sort of damage unless it was on an unobtainable part. Sure it's possible but it isn't to be taken too lightly. Don't forget that sleeving isn't going to restore the original strength to the damaged area. This may or may not be acceptable - you would need to calculate the relative strengths and the strain to which they are subjected to be able to say so with any authority. Many specialists are prepared to undertake such repairs based upon experience rather than calulations - product liability insurance is highly recommended Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joelpsmith 1 Posted January 5, 2006 Thanks for the reply's . I'll after get on to finding another tube now Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
futura 3 Posted December 22, 2006 What about drilling the tube to a larger diameter and then fitting a different bearing that fits? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonnie205 1 Posted December 22, 2006 Not worth messin about just go down the scrappy and strip a few 309 beams, most will be good Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
