The idler bracket bearing assembly requires the VA-146 bearing to be cut (page 26-09 shown below).
It's not easy making a straight cut on something round. So I match drilled two holes into a block of wood so I could cleco the bearing to something solid.
I ended up doing an involuntary trial run on this step. On my first attempt, I managed to cut the bearing too short (left). The second attempt was successful (right). Replacement VA-146s are $23. Yippee. I'm pretty sure I'm Vans' best customer (see the cost of replacements on the right column of the blog).
Incidentally, I was curious why the part is called an "idler bracket" since it doesn't seem like it helps hold anything that is idling. Turns out the term is used to describe the pivoting support for a steering linkage. In this case, that would be the up/down "steering" of the elevators.
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