Replacing a wheel bearing - HELP PLEASE
Discussion
Not sure if this is the right place but fingers crossed I will get a reply quickly here anyway.
I'm replacing a rear wheel bearing on the missus' car at the moment. I've done them before on numerous other cars and had similar problems but never as bad as this.
Basically, I've removed the old bearing from the axle thingy in the drum but because it's worn, part of the bearing has remained on the axle. In the past when this has happened I have just used a screw driver to pop it off, maybe a hammer to encourage it too. On ts one though, it just wont budge. I have hammered it and tried clamping mole grips on to turn it but nowt will shift it.
Whats the best thing to do next? I have aquired a hot air gun (not a blow torch unfort) which may just be hot enough to help it budge (it sets fire to things anyway!). Other than that, I have thought of getting the good old angle grinder out, although this is a last resort.
Is there anything else I could try or any tried and tested methods of doing this?
Cheers
I'm replacing a rear wheel bearing on the missus' car at the moment. I've done them before on numerous other cars and had similar problems but never as bad as this.
Basically, I've removed the old bearing from the axle thingy in the drum but because it's worn, part of the bearing has remained on the axle. In the past when this has happened I have just used a screw driver to pop it off, maybe a hammer to encourage it too. On ts one though, it just wont budge. I have hammered it and tried clamping mole grips on to turn it but nowt will shift it.
Whats the best thing to do next? I have aquired a hot air gun (not a blow torch unfort) which may just be hot enough to help it budge (it sets fire to things anyway!). Other than that, I have thought of getting the good old angle grinder out, although this is a last resort.
Is there anything else I could try or any tried and tested methods of doing this?
Cheers
tty French cars need the drum replaced, the bearing is permenantly attached. I've had this happen to me changing a rear bearing on an Alfa 147. I cut a slot in the ring with a grinder then whacked it with a chisel to split it.
Heating the ring will cause it to expand but this actually makes the hole in centre bigger. The same process (in reverse) is used to fit ring gears to flywheels.
Heating the ring will cause it to expand but this actually makes the hole in centre bigger. The same process (in reverse) is used to fit ring gears to flywheels.
You need a bearing splitter.
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/...
Or just angle grind it off, but go carefull...
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/...
Or just angle grind it off, but go carefull...
paintman said:
If you have an arc welder or mig run a bead of weld round the race.
The heat causes it to expand & the weld stops it shrinking back.
Welding causes things to shrink, which is why it works so well for removing OUTER bearing races. Doing it to an inner will likely just make it even tighter,The heat causes it to expand & the weld stops it shrinking back.
When I was shown how I thought the same as you - that the heat would cause it to grip tighter. Didn't work like that in practice though. Bead round the track area.
Usually the inner track stuck to the stub axle & some can be well & truly stuck especially if the bearing has overheated & broken up in service.
As I said, worked for me every time.
Usually the inner track stuck to the stub axle & some can be well & truly stuck especially if the bearing has overheated & broken up in service.
As I said, worked for me every time.
Edited by paintman on Friday 13th November 00:48
MisterMister said:
Wouldn't heating it up just cause it to expand, thus making it even harder to remove?
It doesn't expand by getting thicker. It expands by, in effect, getting longer.If you had a steel bar 1 cm square and a metre long, and heated it entirely, it would expand much more in length than in section, because there are a lot more molecules lengthwise than in section.
The typical bearing race is like a flat/tapered steel bar that's been pulled around into a circle. Heat it, and the much larger number of molecules around the circumference will cause the circ. to expand. Effectively, you're making it longer, the same as with a flat bar. Although the thickness will increase also, the amount of expansion in the circ. is so much greater that the net effect is that in inside diam gets somewhat bigger, and the outside diameter gets a lot bigger.
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