Try our new info resource - "Aladdin's Cave" (Main menu)Just added a separate link to Ash's Dropbox thread (shortcut)
Send the buggers back! 😄Seriously, they won’t have been cheap. I bought some for 50 quid (not hagons) and they fit perfectly....
With the bearing retainers, are you using a grease or lubricant to install them?Going back a bit to the tank, the solvent I've remembered now is MEK which may get the coating to dissolve. It's used quite a bit in industry for cleaning and working with polymers in various compositions. Should be readily available.
Mine was just the same......it was an absolute pig to get it out.....you should have seen the 'Heath Robinson' affair I rigged up on my Workmate to remove the rear Bearing Retainer (I'd stripped the rim off it - so it was just the hub). I bought new Bearing Retainers but they also proved tight to insert so I asked my local Machine Shop to 'ease' out the threads in the Hubs......which worked a treat......well worth £20 for both Hubs. The way I looked at it was that I wouldn't like the next person who stripped a Bearing out to go through what I had to.
Small drill down the centre and a stud remover but will be tricky.... Or a more expensive but reliable method, take it to a wire eroding specialist.
If it is that bad cut the bottom out of the tank, clean it out and get a rad shop to weld the bottom back in, used to be done a lot to do tank repairs for insurance companies