Hi everyone. Can anybody tell me if there is a tried and tested method of removing the awkward circlip that holds the outer drive side main bearing in on my WM20. I've been battling with it half the afternoon and it just keeps pinging back into place.I'll probably end up getting the mini grinder at it tomorrow. I would be interested to hear how other people tackle it.

Hi Mike..The clip is designed to be a 'use once' affair. To remove it I use two screwdrivers. Lever the end of the clip out of the slot using one screwdriver until you have enough space to get the next one in..then lever with that one to get the clip out a bit more and move the first screw driver along, working your way round. Eventually the clip will come away and will usually be bent. It's a fiddly job.
Putting them in again is equally difficult and prone to damage the clip. There is a modern replacement of the right dimensions with 'conventional' eyes in the end. I can supply one if you need it.
I'd like to see the BSA tool for this job...Ian

I wonder how much the pennypinchers saved by not using one with an eye in it??

Ian, I heard that the official BSA circlip remover retired back in 1962 and moved to a rest home in Sutton Coldfield.

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

Hi Danny...he would have retired to a mental home after a lifetime of taking those bloody clips out!
Not sure about the 'penny pinchers'...when were circlips with eyes introduced???....Ian

No idea.

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

Yep struggled with that myself. But now have the new improved AMERICAN made circlip with eyes
As Douglas says. To remove the clip just concentrate on bending it out of the groove. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Thankyou all, I'll work around it with screwdrivers in the morning and hopfully it will pop out.I've got this part No for one with eye's WYCO 1300-0200 is it the right one please?.

"No eye, Dear" was quite probably what the circlip remover said to his wife when he walked in with his face bandaged !

I think the problem might be that Seeger rings were an inter-war German invention. I'm not sure that I've ever seen one on a pre-war British vehicle - and even if they'd had them, they'd never have had the fine-pointed tool steel pliers needed to extract them !

The earliest reference I can find to circlip manufacture in the UK is the early 50's...Ian

If anyone wants to source a modern replacement for the BSA main bearing circlip they are obtainable from most bearing suppliers..though you might have to order them...the number is BC5NEWP...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Sorry, ignore the last posting, I got my numbers mixed up ..The correct number is N1300-0200...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Hi Ian,
I worked at Anderton International for 5 years at Bingley, making and heat treating circlips. I must have seen Millions of them, some so small you would need a magnify glass to see them.
Dave

email (option): jeepfinger@blueyonder.co.uk

Go to the Technical Info. page on this website & look about 2/3 of the way down. There's a little note of mine from a few years ago about this very matter....
Those original bl***y circlips drive me nuts too. Especially when you fill your nice new bearing with aluminium slivers upon installation, dammit!