Mike,
I recently had my light duty center apart because I thought the bearings
were bad. Turns out they were just dirty and it now works fine.

The anodized aluminum shield simply pressed off mine. No snap rings. There
was very little room to grab the shield so I bored a snug fitting hole in a
block of wood and pressed it off. Mine was not tight at all - possibly
because someone had been in there before. Beneath the shield is a nut that
hold the bearing assy into the body - requires a pin spanner wrench. A pair
of precision matched radial contact bearings are retained on the center by
another little nut. I did not pay attention to the size of the bearings to
see if replacements could be easily obtained.
Good luck,
Jim S.

"Mike Hanz" wrote in message
...
Has anyone ever had one of the Hardinge live centers apart? It looks
like I'll need to machine an aluminum or brass sleeve to press the
nose cap off from the MT2 body end, but I thought I'd check the wisdom
of the list before launching into the operation. It may be that they
used internal truarc rings (shudder) that snap into internal grooves,
but I'm hoping that it is simpler than that.

(Before someone asks, the bearings are toast, and I'm not worried
about tenth tolerances in my particular application for the center. I
understand Hardinge says they are not designed to be repaired, but if
it was put together, it seems logical that it would come apart, even
if it means making a new nose cap. It's certainly better than
throwing it in the trash....)

Happy holidays,
Mike