Wheel bearing removal

[Camman]

Looking for some helpful tips removing wheel bearings. I've replaced bearings before but there has to be better way. My method is not working this time. Driving the bearing out with a blunt edge tool such as a screwdriver from the inside out is the only way I can figure but there is very little edge to catch on the bearing. Need a better way!! Thanks.

[BrianZ]

I use a long punch with one end ground at a slight angle. This helps to prevent it from slipping off the inside edge of the bearing. I always heat the hub first, as the aluminum will expand more than the steel bearing, thus loosening things up. Once the hub is hot the bearings will easily come out after a few taps with the punch and hammer. Move the punch around the circumference of the bearing as you are driving it to prevent the bearing from becoming "canted".

Brian

[Camman]

Thanks. Sounds like the method I have been using which usually works but not this time. YouTube shows how to use a blind bearing puller. Checked prices, about $100. Looks like the puller is a slam dunk. Besides, you can never have tool many tools...right?

[michael_perrett]

Harbor Freight has the blind bearing pullers for a lot less than $100. I have one I used for the removal of a pilot bearing in a Toyota crankshaft.
Mike Perrett

[Bullfrog]

See article in the Resonator Revisited on this very topic.

A screw driver is not the right "driving" tool for bearing removal.

Ed

[Camman]

Do you recall which issue of Resonator? And I tried every type driving tool in my shop. Even made a custom ground punch. And I heated the hub too. This one is just being a bugger. A screwdriver will work in a pinch. Just plan on tossing it when done.

[Bullfrog]

Check for a hidden retaining clip under grunge? Or a build up of rust/grunge at the edge of the bearing outer race which won't let the bearing move?

I've never bumped into a hub bearing that wouldn't drive out when the hub is heated to water sizzle temp . . . and using a custom ground punch and a good sized hammer (used with authority). But the bearing bore has been "clean" on every hub I've worked with.

Hmmm, any signs of someone using red or green loc-tite to hold the bearing in the hub. If so, you'll have to heat beyond water sizzle temp. -- to about 300 (I think).

Sorry, I don't remember which issue . . . but I think it was in 2013.

Ed

[bobwhitman]

Vol 2, #8, March, 2013, page 8. Cap'n Eddie illustrated the right way. Good - as always - article!
Bob

[Zyx]

I don't think I have EVER heated a hub to remove a bearing, and I used to be a service manager/mechanic for a Honda dealer, as well as Yamaha and independents. Also, I don't think I have seen a Hodaka with a bearing retainer. There is, however, a sleeve between the two bearings, which is really just a short section of pipe the right diameter and length, but which tends to mask most of the lip area on the bearing. There may also be a seating disc between the bearing and the sleeve, which is a very thin washer-like spacer, which tends to center the sleeve on the bearing inner races. I use a round rod, about 3/8ths inch, ground flat on the end, by which I mean it is still round, but cut cross-section wise. The round end has maximum contact area versus a flat screwdriver or a punch. Tap away. once you can move one bearing even a little bit, the sleeve and spacers will move farther out of the way, exposing more of the bearing inner race, making it even easier to bump out the bearing. Tap all around the bearing, not just in one place. You might also want to clean the hub as much as possible so the bearing does not have to move dirt and grit as it is bumped out, and it never hurts to use penetrating lube so that the bearing moves more easily against the metal hub. It is a light to moderate press fit and no more than that, so it should come out if you are patient and can get some purchase on the inner race from the opposite side. Brass rod works best perhaps, but I only have a steel rod, and since the races are hardened, it is the steel rod, not the bearing, that takes the punishment every time. Just did this a couple days ago on my Hodaka. Getting a purchase was difficult at first, but once I move one of the bearings just a bit, it all got easier, and these had not been removed since the 1970's, which I know because I have owned it since 1971. There was a lot of crud in the hub, so I cleaned them first, then removed the bearings.

[Camman]

Thanks guys. Excellent verbiage on bearing removal. You guys are awesome!