front wheel bearing removal

[tallaghan]

Hi there

I need to replace the bearings on the front wheel of my 2001 GZ250. I took off the front wheel last weekend but it's not that easy to get the old bearings out. I know there are bearing removal tools out there but money is tight and I want to avoid having to buy one.

I tried banging it out from the other side but there is not much of the old bearing showing.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance

Michael

[bonehead]

Try borrowing/renting a slide hammer with an "L" tip on it. Work it out on four points of the bearing.
Good luck.

[alantf]

........... But then comes the problem of getting the new bearing in, without damaging it. :??:

[bonehead]

Socket the same dia. as the outside of the bearing should do the trick.

[sc_frontier]

Ive used a pipe to beat the old bearings out. If there is a spacer between the bearings, push it out of the way so you can get to a bearing race. Once first bearing and spacer out, the second one is easier as it is a direct shot with the pipe. Make sure to only hit outer bearing race when installing.

[tallaghan]

Thanks a million for all the replies. I have read that putting the new bearings into the freezer for 15 minutes will compact them sufficiently so that they drop right into the hub, no problems. They then expand back to their original size and are a nice tight fit

Thanks again

Michael

[dentheman]

Originally Posted by alantf

........... But then comes the problem of getting the new bearing in, without damaging it. :??:

Installing new bearing is easy with a long enough bolt, nut, and some washers. Put a washer at the bolt head (the washer must have a large enough diameter to stay outside the hub), put the bolt through the hub, put the bearing on the threaded side of the bolt, add some washers as needed, put on the nut and tighten it down to press the bearing in. Then turn the 'tool' around to put in the opposite bearing. The thing to be careful of is that the bearings are sliding in straight, not cocked. I certainly wouldn't tap or pound on new bearings to install them.

I have used this method to install new cartridge bearings on my bicycle, it almost takes longer to describe it than to do it.

[Water Warrior 2]

Cool penny tech idea for installing bearings. Most of us have a long bolt and a handfull of washers laying around.