Using my ancient Elliott Progress 2 drill yesterday it started making some horrible graunchy noises. Obviously a bearing about to give up. I finished the hole I was drilling using the back gear, and then removed the quill.

There are two bearings, a small one at the top and double row angular contact bearing at the lower end. The top bearing is very gritty, and is a standard imperial size, so no problem. The lower bearing however (which doesn't feel too bad but I'd like to replace anyway) is a metric bearing which appears to be original. It is a double row angular contact bearing with a split outer ring.

It is a Ransome and Marles bearing, so I emailed them for availability. No problem, ex-stock and £250. No, that's not a typo!

Without rambling further, my question is this – I can get an angular contact bearing of the correct size, but without the split outer for less than £20. Will it be ok? The bearing is constrained by a circlip one side and a closing collar the other side so it's width is fixed once fitted, therefore a solid outer bearing should work equally well – shouldn't it?

Mike, the part number is LDJT25, which is 25mm inner, 52mm outer and 20.6mm wide. The oddball is that it has a split outer ring. The least expensive I've found so far is 123bearings at around £70.

I'll give BSL a try and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for the reply.