wheel bearing removal Aaarrrghh!

[Rocketman]

I'll take on board the welding of the inner race in future - sounds good.

One thing though in the past had a real problem with one and got told about a garage who had a exceptionally high powered press. I popped round there and it cam straight out on the press and they put the new bearing in.

As it was literally a 5 min job they didn't even charge me. So food for thought for people messing around with bearings if you know a local garage with a really good press.

 

[premmington]

I often press out things for "DIY mechanics".

Hammering bearings in on the floor or in a vice. Is just not good workshop practise!

I don't have a problem with "DIY mechanics"

Last Saturday I had one with a motorbike cylinder block with a broken tap in the exhaust stud hole.

Put a washer round it and welded a bolt to it and turned it out. Home mechanic thrust £20 in cash at me without out me even hinting at payment!

If a "DIY mechanic arrives at your garage door, with something they can't do! They always without fail. Pay...!

I think it is good business, if they don't want a clutch or cambelt or camchain job offered to them! They will point the paying customer in your direction. If you have been nice to them!

A referral from someone who has some idea of what the costs are, is a good referral!

 

[AndyStobbs]

From time to time we all end up needing a dig out on a job. Professional or DIY

 

[premmington]

From time to time we all end up needing a dig out on a job. Professional or DIY

Very true statement!

 

[Norm]

Tried the weld bead trick on the old bearing today, wiped out the grease laid a few scrappy beads and voila!

The bearing just tapped out with a pin punch and small hammer. Absolutely top tip that guys, hopefully never struggle with a bearing again

 

[Rocketman]

Did you do it with mig Norm? If so how many amps were you using aprox?

 

[Norm]

Did you do it with mig Norm? If so how many amps were you using aprox?

Hi Rocketman, yes with the mig I wasn't sure how thick the bearing wall was so using a BOC 190 mig I had it on power setting 3 sorry but not sure what amperage that is but as you can see the bead is quite tall as I was worried that I might actually weld it in

 

[Bill Edwards]

Although there are places that have big presses (50t or whatever) there does become a point where no matter how well supported something is it seems much more sensible to apply a little heat than a stupid amount of force.
I only have a 15t press for farm work and very rarely find it to be lacking, and that's dealing with much heavier gear. If it won't move with a couple of tons it's well worth taking a step back and seeing if you've missed something.
The post above demonstrating that a little heat turned a big force job into a toffee hammer job may not have gone wrong if the poster had the experience to support the piece, but it does also illustrate that it's sometimes best to do things with minimal force.

Or maybe one of my reasons for thinking this way is having narrowly avoided something flying out of a press at full whack I have a little appreciation for the levels of force available!

 

[premmington]

Although there are places that have big presses (50t or whatever) there does become a point where no matter how well supported something is it seems much more sensible to apply a little heat than a stupid amount of force.
I only have a 15t press for farm work and very rarely find it to be lacking, and that's dealing with much heavier gear. If it won't move with a couple of tons it's well worth taking a step back and seeing if you've missed something.
The post above demonstrating that a little heat turned a big force job into a toffee hammer job may not have gone wrong if the poster had the experience to support the piece, but it does also illustrate that it's sometimes best to do things with minimal force.

Or maybe one of my reasons for thinking this way is having narrowly avoided something flying out of a press at full whack I have a little appreciation for the levels of force available!

I have a 30 ton press. But if it gets over 10ton on the gauge. I start thinking about other ideas before I break something.

 

[normspanners]

The post above demonstrating that a little heat turned a big force job into a toffee hammer job

Here is a little one I was doing today, single sealed bearing 6" dia x 4.5"deep they had no press on site and nothing showing on the bearing to press against, actual bearing was perfect, just been noted by ministry for the seal ( part of the bearing ) with the slightest weep could hardly see it, £350 for the bearing !!
Just knocked out inner races, ran quick weld with their mig on max but only had .6 wire so didnt like running max amps. I ran some big thick beads for the bearing drift to push against couple of smacks and she popped out, clean up hub with emery in spindle in drill then warm hub with oxy prop Brg popped in perfect with couple of taps. Then cooled hub with airline.
Biggest job was the caliper mounting bolts 6 x 16mm bolts that were TIGHT, snapped the end of the 2' breaker bar handle, 8" from the handle end never seen that before.
Caliper 350mm top to bottom, brake pads 220 mm long

 

[Norm]

crikey you must put some force on that breaker bar, what vehicle was that off Norm?

 

[normspanners]

Gave me hands a bit of a shock
Merc truck rear hub.