The "old" release bearing was only about 18 months old. It was marked simply with "HD 3268". The outer shell that includes the radiused front face had split, cracked, and separated. Inside the ball cage had disintegrated and was torn and twisted. From the few short clutch depressions the inner race and radiused front piece had overheated and turned blue. It was a spectacular piece of failure that my son says he will place in his collection of other failed British car parts.
I ended up buying (2) replacement bearings. One was a closeout Beck-Arnley part from RockAuto. The other was from an eBay seller in the U.K. Both were Japanese bearings, both appear heavier than the failed one. We installed the Beck-Arnley bearing as it was the heavier piece.
Now my son just needs to finish putting the rest of the bits back together. With the rain we have been having that is going to take a few days but we are confident that the car will be back better than ever.
Doug L.
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