Stuck wheel bearing

[stephenlloyd]

Hi, helpful people

I am changing the front wheel bearings on my P5B Coupe.  The outer shell (cage?) on both the inner and outer bearings is stuck in the hub.  I have tried hitting it with a screwdriver and hammer combo, heat, WD40, even a reciprocating saw to cut the, out (made more impression on the saw than on the bearing) but cant get either to budge.

Any ideas please?

Thank you!

Steve

PS it is making great progress thanks to COVID “working from home” activities - I may even make it to the National, I have yet to actually drive it having bought it in 2016!

[djm16]

These can be pretty tight.

Ideally you should rest the wheel hub on an anvil so that you have something to drive against, however a lump of hardwood will do.

You will need a 4lb lump hammer and a 1/2" minimum driver. I have an old 1/2" socket set extension bar that I use for this. Sometimes I grind the end to more closely match what I am driving. The weight of the hammer is much more important than how hard or fast you swing it, however it can take a fairly hefty swing with the hammer to move 1 edge down by a fraction of a millimetre. You then have to work 180 deg opposite to keep the movement even.

As long as you are not stupidly banging away at the same place for an extended period, you are unlikely to damage the hub this way.

[stephenlloyd]

That is incredibly helpful, thank you.  Particularly because I was partly wondering if I had somehow just missed the point!  Do you think heating the hub first is worthwhile?

[enigmas]

Place the hub on something solid...nothing that will lessen the force that you're applying. A concrete base or slab is fine.

If it's only the outer part of the bearing that stuck/fixed in the hub...then this is how I do it.

Hopefully you've got a pin punch in your tool kit. If not locate, find, beg or borrow a piece of 8 - 10 mm round bright steel bar...8 - 10" long. Ensure that one end is ground flat so that there is a good edge all around the bar.

Depending on which bearing cage you want to remove (smaller front or bigger rear) place the hub down on your conrete slab preferably on a piece of hardwood. This is so you don't damage either the front stud face or the rear face of the hub.
Take your punch in hand, slide it along the inner circumference of the hub till it touches the 'edge' of the outer bearing cage. This is the 'back' face of the bearing cage.

Now with a good chunky ball peen hammer or whatever you have to hand strike the punch firmly. Move the punch 180° and repeat the process. Now move around 90° degrees then 180° again. The idea is to apply even blows slowly around the perimeter of the bearing cage. It will then slowly move down and release.

Once this is done keep the outer bearing cage. Using a belt sander or something similar grind/sand the outer circumference of the bearing cage evenly to slightly reduce its diameter.

* Once this is done you have an ideal tool to fit the new outer bearing race to the hub. As it's now slightly smaller in diameter you can use it to drive the new bearing cage into position. Most outer bearing cage races (Timkin or similar tapered roller bearings) are a tight interference fit in their hubs.

You can make a similar tool for the other bearing as well.

[djm16]

First, no heat!

Second the terminology is confusing. Each axle stub has two bearings, an inner and an outer (nearest the car and further away from the car).

Each bearing has in an inner (smaller) and outer (larger) race, in between which sits the caged rollers.

Lasty, I remember setting the axle hub down in a large vise that was opened just wide enough to allow the wheel studs to sit in the gap but without tightening the vise on them. I am a little hazy about it as the last bearings I did were on a Landcruiser.

[harvey]

Mar 22, 2020 11:48:50 GMT djm16 said:

Each bearing has in an inner (smaller) and outer (larger) race, in between which sits the caged rollers.

I'm sure it's a typo, but that's the wrong way around, if there's a large and small bearing the outer is always the small one.

[stephenlloyd]

Brilliant.  Thanks guys.   

They fir bearings the same way on railway trucks actually.  But those are a little bigger...

[Sam Bee]

Or you could find  a local enthusiast, or garage, with a press. Perhaps a fiver or so?

[lagain]

When you have the hubs back on you need to set up the 'end float' you can either guess or when I did it I bought an End Float Gauge and stand from Amazon.

I have to admit that I did not change the races, just the bearings. The races looked perfect with no wear, there was a lot of grease in them and the replacement bearings were Timken, which were the same as the originals and I had had them 'in stock' for decades !

[djm16]

I would always change the races if I am putting in new rollers. I already have the wheel off and the hub stripped, the races come with the set, changing them takes about 30 mins, so why not?

[lagain]

Mar 22, 2020 22:35:56 GMT djm16 said:

I would always change the races if I am putting in new rollers. I already have the wheel off and the hub stripped, the races come with the set, changing them takes about 30 mins, so why not?

I could not get them out and I probably have another set somewhere !