Bearing outer race stuck... How to get it out?

JohnnyP636 said:
How do people expect him to cut a line through the bearing race without cutting into the spindle?

That bearing is supposed to be pressed in and out, or punched same difference...There should be no cutting involved....If you cant get enough force to pop it out while its on the car, then it needs to be removed....IMO that is the right way anyways, the spindle should be removed to do this job properly. The time you spend messing around with all these ideas, you could have taken it off, popped it out put the new bearing in and be driving already...

Unless the hardware is so rusted you cant get it off?
Click to expand...

what Spindle?? The drive shaft/cv-shaft is already out....

You can cut races out of a spindle if you are careful and take your time, without damaging the spindle....just don't cut all the way to the spindle, leave 1/16 or so of the bearing...

For this...don't cut the bearing all the way though, leave some material and knock it out with a drift, the thin about of bearing material will just shear off, no damage to the housing. Dremel with a good carbon-fiber blade works great....

If he does take that knuckle apart, he would have to re-align it, that's another $100 or so.
 
Freestyle72 said:
I think it's a combo of rust + being press fit that is making it so hard to get out. Gonna stop by Princess Auto and see what kind of press/puller they have that will work.
Click to expand...

this is why sealed hubs are the way to go, even thought they are a bit more expensive, usually take the caliper off, and big axle bolt and 3 bolts out back and t he whole wheel bearing assembly it out...

slide hammer jaw puller would work....but really, your bearing is already destroyed...so just drift/knock the crap out of it...why spend money on a expensive tool when a scrap piece of steel works just as well.
 
frekeyguy said:
what Spindle?? The drive shaft/cv-shaft is already out....

You can cut races out of a spindle if you are careful and take your time, without damaging the spindle....just don't cut all the way to the spindle, leave 1/16 or so of the bearing...

For this...don't cut the bearing all the way though, leave some material and knock it out with a drift, the thin about of bearing material will just shear off, no damage to the housing. Dremel with a good carbon-fiber blade works great....

If he does take that knuckle apart, he would have to re-align it, that's another $100 or so.
Click to expand...

I dont know what you call it, but that unit as a whole is known to me as a "steering spindle"...With or without the shaft still in it

I still fail to see how your going to cut a slot with a round rotary blade, without cutting into the material its pressed into... From the pics Im looking at, there is no room for it! Looks like you would touch the sourrnding material before it even touches the bearing race....

Also dont know what car your working on that would require a re-alignment just because you remove a spindle/knuckle? Again I could be wrong but as far as I know(every car/truck Ive worked on) are adjusted at the arm not the spindle/knuckle...So the setting would not change...

Freestyle72 if your already having problems getting them out while still on the car, I can only see you having just as much trouble pushing them in straight while on the car. I would remove them, press them out and press the new ones in, using a press...To insure they are seated properly....
 
Last edited:
JohnnyP636 said:
I dont know what you call it, but that unit as a whole is known to me as a "steering spindle"...With or without the shaft still in it

I still fail to see how your going to cut a slot with a round rotary blade, without cutting into the material its pressed into... From the pics Im looking at, there is no room for it! Looks like you would touch the sourrnding material before it even touches the bearing race....

Also dont know what car your working on that would require a re-alignment just because you remove a spindle/knuckle? Again I could be wrong but as far as I know(every car/truck Ive worked on) are adjusted at the arm not the spindle/knuckle...So the setting would not change...

Freestyle72 if your already having problems getting them out while still on the car, I can only see you having just as much trouble pushing them in straight while on the car. I would remove them, press them out and press the new ones in, using a press...To insure they are seated properly....
Click to expand...

Knuckle, spindle, same thing.

I wouldn't use a cutting wheel if i wanted to notch the race so that it would collapse and make removal easier. I'd use a cylindrical or spherical milling bit, I'm not sure if that's what they're actually called but i think you'd know what i mean.

Yea ideally the knuckle would come right off and one could use a press to re/re the race but not everyone has a press. Notch/cut the old race so it'll collapse and make removal easier. Throw the new race in the freezer over night, clean the knuckle of burrs and corrosion, etc, then the new race should go in fairly easily with an appropriate drift and mallet.
 
caboose483 said:
Knuckle, spindle, same thing.

I wouldn't use a cutting wheel if i wanted to notch the race so that it would collapse and make removal easier. I'd use a cylindrical or spherical milling bit, I'm not sure if that's what they're actually called but i think you'd know what i mean.

Yea ideally the knuckle would come right off and one could use a press to re/re the race but not everyone has a press. Notch/cut the old race so it'll collapse and make removal easier. Throw the new race in the freezer over night, clean the knuckle of burrs and corrosion, etc, then the new race should go in fairly easily with an appropriate drift and mallet.
Click to expand...

many different ways to skin a cat...

proper drift and mallet has been working great for me so far.
 
Went to Princess auto and fashioned my self a bearing puller from two different sized cast iron pulleys a 5/8" BOLT...
photo-319.jpg


Then I successfully pulled the bearing with said puller
photo-907.jpg


The Knuckle bearing free
photo-1549.jpg



However this was on the side that I stress relieved by dremeling deep into the bearing race. When I went to do the other side that had not been dremeled however recieved equal amounts of penetrating fluid. Well the cast iron pulleys suffered a massive failure and the bearing didn't even budge 1mm. So I gotta take the pulley back to PA and see what they say. Since the dude who helped me out recommmended it and if they broke he said bring them back for a refund. Even if I eat the cost it was only $15 to try out. I have since dremeled the other beariing a bit to stress relieve and will go to fastenal to see if I can find something sturdier than a pulley.

And another reason I like this system is I can use it to press my bearing and hub back in so no worries there.
 
Sounds like a huge ordeal! I get pretty annoyed when "simple" jobs turn into a huge pain.

I had to rebuild the front end on my Ranger. Hubs, ball joints, tie rods and brakes. Luckily the hubs are sealed units and 3 bolts secure them to the steering knuckle, electric impact gun made quick work of gettinng the bolts out then a light tap with a hammer and the hub came right off. Other than having to do it outside in my driveway in the middle of December, i didn't encounter any big hurdles.
 
caboose483 said:
Sounds like a huge ordeal! I get pretty annoyed when "simple" jobs turn into a huge pain.

I had to rebuild the front end on my Ranger. Hubs, ball joints, tie rods and brakes. Luckily the hubs are sealed units and 3 bolts secure them to the steering knuckle, electric impact gun made quick work of gettinng the bolts out then a light tap with a hammer and the hub came right off. Other than having to do it outside in my driveway in the middle of December, i didn't encounter any big hurdles.
Click to expand...

Definately with you on that point. Especially the first time around at something you can held up by the smallest inconvenience. Good thing my GF is out of the country and I can use her car for the time being so I am not inconvenienced that much by the situation. definately hope to have this sorted out soon though. The rears will be a cake walk comapred to the front. The bearing is integral to the hub so its pull one off. Hammer the other one on.
 
God damnit.

I got the bearings in on passenger side so thats all done. Went over to driver side and went at it with a dremel to help releive the stress, and then put a torch on it for over 10 minutes until it was good and hot. Then I pour cold on it to get it to contract quickly. Mind you I had no ice so it was just cold tap water. I am so mad at this thing right now. I made another puller from steel washer I thought they wouldn't crack like the cast Iron pulleys I used. Well they just warped. And off course I hammered and hammered at it and it didn't budge 1mm. Not to mention than I have been spraying it with penetrating fluid every hour or so while working on it and daily for the past 3 days. I am so close to beign done. I want to do anything but pull the whole knuckle. But I might just have to I guess...So close yet so far.​
 
I got some great news and some horrible news... got the bearing out and pressed in a new one....

Back news is my landlord walks in just as I am doing this. We get in a fight by her telling me "I didn't know you were running this as a workshop". I am like WTF is the difference you idiot. Anyways I forget to put the circlip on... and then in my anger I press on the hub and say **** you I am done. Literally two seconds later I am like goly darnit
fuuuuuu.jpg


So I knock the hub back out.. bearing falls and the ground ande get **** in it... so I start cleaning the bearings that fell... got it all clean. I am out of wheel grease and only have normal grease and then I realize the inner bearing is stuck to the hub and then I am like
fuuuuuu.jpg

again.

So I drive to Canadian Tire since they don't actually sell the bearing grabber tool (you know the one with the knife edge that gets behind bearings) I asked the guys at the shop to do it. "Sorry I don't have any techs left"... so again I am like
fuuuuuu.jpg



So tommorow I will hopefully sort my issue out.
 
Ok finished the job finally. Everything is good.

In summary a little trick I found useful.

Made my own bearing press out of a long 5/8" bolt and nut and appropriatelly sized washers. One side was losoe enough that I could hand torque the nut force the bearing out. On the other side the washers were just deforming and not pulling the bearing out with the manual method. So I tried spinning the nut with an impact wrench. Wouldn't know it that just did the trick. The bearing came out easy as pie. So lesson learned, MORE TORQUE.

Went for a quick test drive on the 401... she is beautiful I can actually hear the engine now instead of the drone of bearings.
 
Freestyle72 said:
I have that puller actually... What I need for the car was something much bigger and with way more power.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... would you mind if I drop in with my rear hub? I picked up the $25 3-jaw puller from Princess, but it's an impotent piece of cr@pp to be honest. Will return it and either find someone with the right tool or take it to the shop to have them extract it. The 3-jaw just doesn't grip well enough and seems to be made of poor quality alloy. I think I need a 45mm collet because it's the outer race that needs pulling on the one side. The other side still have complete bearing, but looks like it's on it's last legs. Cheers!
 
adamwest said:
Hmmm... would you mind if I drop in with my rear hub? I picked up the $25 3-jaw puller from Princess, but it's an impotent piece of cr@pp to be honest. Will return it and either find someone with the right tool or take it to the shop to have them extract it. The 3-jaw just doesn't grip well enough and seems to be made of poor quality alloy. I think I need a 45mm collet because it's the outer race that needs pulling on the one side. The other side still have complete bearing, but looks like it's on it's last legs. Cheers!
Click to expand...

Can you post a picture here of the hub you want to bring? Because I am not entirely sure I can help you out with the home made tool. As what my tool does is press the bearing out and then press the new bearing in and press the hub on as well. But how I got the hub off each time was by hammering that fucker out. My forearms were sore for 3 days.

What I think you are trying to do is press a race off your hub so you can re-use it right? If that's the case I don't have a tool that can help you but princess auto sells a tool that can. Or you can take it to Canadian tire and they will chisel off the race for you. They were going to do that for me.

Post a picture.
 
your pics dont work anymore eh
 
I'll post some photos later, but... What I need is about 10 mins with a blind bearing puller equipped with a 45mm collet. Like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArFC3xPHhGA

My scenario is the same as what you see in the video with some minor differences. Know anyone with a blind bearing puller with collet size of 45mm?? (thanks)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom