Outer Wheel Bearings

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Gary

I hear what the guys are saying about heating etc. But lets get back to the three holes and how the manual says to tap out the bearing. Here is the trick I have used with success.

1. Take a punch that will slip down through the three holes easily. Not a tight fit just in case the head mushrooms you want to be able to pull it out. Make a punch head for your air chisel, find a piece of tubing to hold your punch square on the punch head of the air chisel.

2. Vibrate the bearing using punch and the air chisel, keep working around the three holes. Don't really lean on it you just want to vibrate it at first. After you have vibrated each point a couple of times then you can increase the pressure.

Keep an eye on how far your punch is going it so that you don't end up cocking the bearing race.

This approach has worked every time for me.


Heating the bearing race may actually be counter productive because it will make the race expand hard against the hub. Though heating and letting it cool may help. Think this is what makes the welding bead trick work. Or if you can heat the whole assembly and then cool just the bearing race that may let you tap it out.

Let us know what works.

Cheers Phil

[gary_bath_jr]

Hey Phil

That worked!! I got the broken peice out, the only problem I had was one of the screws will not come out so I had to work around that. I sprayed it several times with Liquid Wrench and will try to get it out later.

Now that I have the old ones out do I need to press the new ones in or will they go in when I tighten the wheel nut?

Thank You!!
Gary

[rob love]

Pack the new bearing with grease first, then use the bearing spacer to knock the bearing into place. Note that there are likely shims on the end of the bearing spacer....you may have to adjust the shims for the new bearing although in reality, bearings are usually a very tight spec, and there is not a lot of variation in tolerance between them. Refer to the manual on how to adjust the bearing with the shims and a dial gauge.

Some early vehicles did not use the spacer, but rather the nut on the end of the axle shaft did the adjusting. I ran into one of these a short time ago when I was salvaging parts for another truck at the local museum.

[Phil Waterman]

I'd follow the manual on how to instal and set up the shims if needed. Get the one stuck screw out before you go forward because if you have pull the bearing again you don't want to get it wedged.

Now that you have the bearing out can you take another picture of the hub and the old bearing so we can better understand what happened.

The outer bearing on all of my Chevs are tapered roller which means that all you are installing is the race, assume that is the same on yours.

When possible I use a bearing press to push bearings in or on, being very sure that it goes in straight. If I have to tap it in again I try and use a round flat pushing tool. One of my CCKW friends always saves the race of the bearing he is replacing he chucks this up in the lath and with a grinder takes just enough off the diameter so that it is a drop fit into the housing. He uses that as his push tool to put the new bearing in. Neat trick that I have now adopted, got a drawer of old bearing races.

One last point try to avoid, for obviously reasons, tapping or driving steel on steel with a hammer, I use wood blocks like oak or some other hardwood to keep from chipping your new part or the machined surfaces around it.

Glad the air chisel drift idea work for you.

Cheers Phil

[gary_bath_jr]

Hey Phil and Rob

I had a look at the manual and it appears that I am missing some parts. I do not have any shims on my setup, here are pictures of the old bearing and the parts that I have for my wheels, I set everything in order as to how they came off.

Gary

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Gary

Good photos, I've learned to do just what you have done take an assembly apart laying the parts in order then take a picture. Boy it makes putting things back together so much easier.

Only thing I didn't see was the outer race which should be in the hub assembly. What condition is it in? Does the new bearing there in the box both the inner and outer races?

As to the shims not all of hub assemblies had shims on my three only one hub had a separate shim. So when you assemble it follow the steps in the manual to determine if it actually needs a shim. There is more info on this in the Service Bulletins if you get in a bind.

As I assume you have removed both front hubs to check the brakes, I would offer a word of caution. Be particularly careful when you reassemble the axle nuts and keepers. Particularly on the LEFT side as the direction of rotation tries to loosen that side. I nearly lost a left wheel assembly when the keeper sheared and the nuts came loose (http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/H...0a%20wheel.htm
I had used a keeper that I had made out of lighter gauge metal, big mistake. Whole saga is in http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=13417.

Cheers Phil