Replacing Traveler Car Bearings

[Dulcesuenos]

We replaced all of ours , loaded the balls into the car upside down, then used 1" blue painters tape to hold all the balls in once loaded. Then slid it onto the track and the tape rolled or pulled right out. Worked on our 5 bat cars also.
Ps sonosailor, I sent you a pm

[DotDun]

I cut a piece of wood to match the track size. It worked OK, but it's tedious job.

[Sonosailor]

Thanks!
Here is what I did. I bought a box of paraffin before leaving the continent, got to the boat, removed the traveler, taped to blocks of paraffin together, and whittled a track out of it. the traveler itself, with the end-caps on, can be used to shape the wax most of the way. Then, of course, I took one end-cap off, loaded the bearings with the wax traveler in place, replaced the cap, and slid it on the real traveler. I took your ideas, and went a little lazier. Worked great. Traveler is much improved - a pleasure under way. The shaving cream is in the bathroom. ;-)

[Sonosailor]

Here is a picture of the wax, taking the place of the rail extension to hold the bearings in place (and I apologize for the poor description in the previous post. I'd edit it if I could):

[Palarran]

Resurecting this to add that I had to replace the ball bearings in a Batten car today and used the toothpaste - brilliant. Can't imagine anything being better.

[Sonosailor]

Rigging shops often have them, and sometimes a selection. They use them in batten car tracks as well.