Replacing Torch liner

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Hello all, I'm brand new to welding and am starting with an old Linde 100 MIG from my father.  I had to replace the torch so, after talking with someone from ESAB, I bought a MT-140 torch and liner.  When I picked it up I asked about inserting the liner and he said something about cutting the liner to legnth.  I inserted the liner from the back end and the entire liner fit into the torch with no extra coming out the tip.  The ESAB rep specified which liner to use with the torch, so should this be an exact fit or do I need to remove the tip of the torch?  In messing with the old torch, when I unscrewed the tip (not sure if I'm using the correct term..I'm not referring to the replacable tip) I thought I heard something drop on the table and found what looked like a small ball bearing  on the table.  Not sure if it came from the tip or not.  Are there ball bearings in the tip?  Any imput would be appreciated.  I don't want to screw it up before I start.Thanks,Kevin McD.
Reply:The tip, the part that you replace, is called a contact tube or contact tip, the part that's screwed into the torch body that the contact tube screws into is called the diffuser . The part that covers it all and gets full of spatter is called the nozzle. I inserted the liner from the back end
Reply:I haven't tried it, but I'd expect that if you went to the ESAB  website, you would find a parts breakdown for the torch you have, both showing and naming each part. Sometimes a company will have different versions of a unit with the same model number but different part numbers, so the part number of the new torch will be what you'd want to use in a search there.
Reply:Make sure you follow the instructions carefully before you trim to length.  Since you do not have extra length alarm bells should be going off.  They might has sold you too short a liner.  Liners are trimmed so that they are too long for the cable.  The diffuser pushes the extra half inch to inch back into the cable as it is tightened.  Mistakes people make:  Don't read instructions in liner package.                                      Don't keep the handy allen wrench provided in the package                               Don't keep the small gauge that measures location to trim.( Tregaskiss)                       Don't release the set screw before dismantling the gun. ( ruining the liner)                     Purchase the longest gun lead available then complain that they always have feeding problems.Rant turned off.  Mrmike has given you good advice.