The bearing guides in the hammer head of my new No. 7 are rusted beyond use. Will someone with a functioning hammer please describe the correct profile for me? I only have enough left to hazard a guess... Thanks

Fisher, are you talking about inside the ram or the outside surfaces. Can you get a pic?

The inside... I don't think I can get any pics of the inside that will do any justice to the discussion.

I think the guides should be opposing concaved tracks.

Where are you in CO? I've rebuilt 2 Beaudrys, maybe I can help.

Pueblo

i will get you a couple of pics later tonight

I took some pic last night but they didn;t turn out to good, PM me and I make a template for you and send it to you.

Willey

The short answer is yes they ave concave and the real issue is getting them to match the profile of the roller... And to keep the rollers turning so they dont make groves in the ram...

I believe newly cast rams were not machined inside the ram. They were cast smooth as possible then the arms and rollers were installed. Over time, the rollers made their own track inside the ram, sometimes so deeply that the arms or roller shafts eventually rub. As MMetal alluded, that's a bad thing...the ram on my hammer is getting close to this amount so I'll be rebuilding it this winter.

I haven't seen your hammer but if it was mine, I would remove the tension arms and rollers then evaluate the ram. If the rollers have "flat-spotted", then make/buy new ones, reassemble everything and do a trial run. I'd bet a beer the ram interior is fine as-is - unless overly worn as noted.

The rollers need to be hard since they are functional bearings (48-56 Rc). I had a set made from H-13 almost thirty years ago and they have held up quite well. You don't need tool steel but whatever is used should be capable of attaining high hardness.

Monstermetal

When you say that they're concave do you mean that they match the roller profile and are not parallel? Or are they parallel and concaved to match the roller?

The rollers are convex when viewed from the side...oval to match the inside of the ram.