IMS upgrade 996

[5STM5]

During a recent service on my 996, a small leak was seen coming from the RMS. As this is a fairly big job to replace I'm thinking of replacing the clutch and upgrading the IMS bearing at the same time.
I have 79k miles on the car with the original clutch, so that is a straight forward decision. I have no indications of the IMS being damaged but I think it's best to upgrade anyway at the same time. I'll be using my usual garage to do the work, can anyone recommend an IMS replacement bearing supplier, and what bearing is recommended?

[Heaveho]

If you go ahead and have it replaced, I would use a Porsche Indy if you weren't already planning on doing so. I'm happy to be shown to be wrong, but I think there would be a benefit in having someone with specific knowledge of replacement being let loose on it. Wouldn't like to recommend a particular bearing, I'll stand aside and let someone else explore that particular minefield!

[Dammit]

I had my engine out recently, gearbox off - changed the RMS, clutch, removed the IMS cover and flipped the bearing cover off, put everything back together again with the original (dual row) IMS bearing still in there.

Well, I didn't - Precision Porsche did.

Point is, the IMS bearing was fine, it's firmly in the sleeping dogs category as far as I am concerned, and it'll stay there until the engine gets rebuilt in 15,000 miles or so.

[EGTE]

What year is your 996? If it's an early mark 1 (98-99), it has the better dual-row IMS bearing anyway (which can no longer be sourced).

Conventional wisdom is that if it isn't goosed, leave alone. This is from Hartech; try calling them?

You could get the outer seal removed while in there; that would suffice.

Have a read and note the 3rd and 5th posts for starters.

http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=108257

[Raymondo2]

EGTE said:

What year is your 996? If it's an early mark 1 (98-99), it has the better dual-row IMS bearing anyway (which can no longer be sourced).

Conventional wisdom is that if it isn't goosed, leave alone. This is from Hartech; try calling them?

You could get the outer seal removed while in there; that would suffice.

Have a read and note the 3rd and 5th posts for starters.

http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=108257

Alternative dual rows are available.

I like the Sports and Classic replacement. They use a deep dual row bearing from SKF with higher load tolerances than the original 'best of breed' dual row, and it has open lubrication

http://www.skf.com/group/products/bearings-units-h...

[LordHaveMurci]

My clutch failed a few years ago, never even occurred to me to replace the IMS at the time & the indie that did the job never mentioned it, I'm sure they would have done if they'd thought there was an issue.

As above, let sleeping dogs lie, unless there's a good reason to change it.

[EGTE]

Raymondo2 said:

EGTE said:

What year is your 996? If it's an early mark 1 (98-99), it has the better dual-row IMS bearing anyway (which can no longer be sourced).

Conventional wisdom is that if it isn't goosed, leave alone. This is from Hartech; try calling them?

You could get the outer seal removed while in there; that would suffice.

Have a read and note the 3rd and 5th posts for starters.

http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=108257

Alternative dual rows are available.

I like the Sports and Classic replacement. They use a deep dual row bearing from SKF with higher load tolerances than the original 'best of breed' dual row, and it has open lubrication

http://www.skf.com/group/products/bearings-units-h...

Hi Raymondo,
To be fair, this is a relatively new development, isn't it? Certainly doesn't alter the fact that replacement is not normally required; just removing the dust caps suffices (as it's lack of lubrication that kills the IMS). Obviously if rebuilding the engine, this SKF thing looks very promising.

[5STM5]

EGTE said:

What year is your 996? If it's an early mark 1 (98-99), it has the better dual-row IMS bearing anyway (which can no longer be sourced).

Conventional wisdom is that if it isn't goosed, leave alone. This is from Hartech; try calling them?

You could get the outer seal removed while in there; that would suffice.

Have a read and note the 3rd and 5th posts for starters.

http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=108257

My car is a 2002 model with the 3.6l engine, I won't be getting the work done for a couple of months so will mull over whether just to inspect it first.

Cheers

[Raymondo2]

EGTE said:

Raymondo2 said:

EGTE said:

What year is your 996? If it's an early mark 1 (98-99), it has the better dual-row IMS bearing anyway (which can no longer be sourced).

Conventional wisdom is that if it isn't goosed, leave alone. This is from Hartech; try calling them?

You could get the outer seal removed while in there; that would suffice.

Have a read and note the 3rd and 5th posts for starters.

http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=108257

Alternative dual rows are available.

I like the Sports and Classic replacement. They use a deep dual row bearing from SKF with higher load tolerances than the original 'best of breed' dual row, and it has open lubrication

http://www.skf.com/group/products/bearings-units-h...

Hi Raymondo,
To be fair, this is a relatively new development, isn't it? Certainly doesn't alter the fact that replacement is not normally required; just removing the dust caps suffices (as it's lack of lubrication that kills the IMS). Obviously if rebuilding the engine, this SKF thing looks very promising.

Correct on all points