Removing Road Wheel Bearings

[ajmac]

Any detailed tips on removing bearings other than drifting them out from the opposite side using a soft drift as recomended in the manual.

[kevin powles]

Just knock them out from the opposite side, brass drift is best. very easy job, never had one stuck and have knocked out a fair few. British bearings can be weighed in for good scrap value return.

kev.

[horsa]

Yep, brass 1/2 inch diameter drift used with a light mallet or hammer. Be sure to tap alternating edges from the back side and the bearing race will slide right out with ease along with the bearing and seals if still installed.

Lots of paper towels on hand and use of latex gloves makes it a cleaner job as well.

[ajmac]

Originally Posted by horsa

Yep, brass 1/2 inch diameter drift used with a light mallet or hammer. Be sure to tap alternating edges from the back side and the bearing race will slide right out with ease along with the bearing and seals if still installed.

Lots of paper towels on hand and use of latex gloves makes it a cleaner job as well.

Just completed one. You are right, lots of paper towel and a pair of gloves were essential! I thought it was going to be much harder than it was

[RichardT10829]

Putting them back in you can tap them, or I made a stud bar with plates on each end, then you just dial the nuts dn and squeeze the bearings into the wheel easy peasy

[Lynn Eades]

Engineering practice said not to use brass punches with bearings. (it also says no to use punches at all) any way you have to punch them out.

[horsa]

I've always used brass since it won't hurt anything steel. But you do need to be aware to check both ends of your drift now and then to make sure you haven't mauled it enough to cause chips to flake off. Gentle handling is all that you need and that shouldn't cause issues but if you do enough wheel disassembly and then reassembly, you'll likely need to cut the ends off your drift to clean them up. More important I think on reassembly since you don't want trash getting into your bearing or fresh wheel grease.

Mentioning grease, I filled the cavities of my wheels after assembly but prior to mounting. That way I didn't need to use a grease gun to pump them full on the vehicle. You should also test your grease fittings before reassembly just to know they are unobstructed while its easy to see stuff coming out after a single squirt with it all apart.

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