Changing rear axle bearings, without a press

[RIbronco]

...anyone done this successfully?

I ran a few searches but didn't see a response specifically to this. The only part really documented, is using a grinder and chisel to remove the press on retaining ring. There isn't much information for the bearing removal or installation without a press.

Measuring the new parts, the bearing has a 0.003" larger ID than the retaining ring, so I'm hoping its not as difficult to remove / install. Also, due to the bearing's seals and grease, I'd be limited in the heat that can be applied. The retaining ring can be easily be heated to 400F or so.

My plan is to put the bearing and retaining ring in an older toaster oven, and the axle ends in a bucket of ice water (possibly the freezer [I'm single ;D ]). This method worked well when rebuilding the D20, where the parts just slid together by hand, with no need for a hammer.

My concerns are that the press interference fit is different and the hot part / cold part method will not work. Or, I cannot heat the bearing up enough for it to properly expand, before I damage the seals or grease.

 

[OKLA70]

Cut the old retainer and bear with a grinder or whatever you can. You can use a piece of tubing to "hammer" the new stuff on. Just make sure the tubing is the same size as the inner race. Do one at a time or mark where the old bearing is

 

[bad 68]

You can cut the old one off with a die grinder. once you cut half way through put a decent sized chisel in the grove and give it a few good blows with a decent sized hammer.

But really your just waisting your time becuse the new one really needs to be pressed on and the guy that presses the new one on can press the old one off first. Unless your posting this stuck beside a trail some where I would get acess to a press and do it the easy and right way.

 

[RIbronco]

The goal is to do the bearing and seal replacement, in my garage, without a press. I'd actually prefer not to use any impact force on the installation either.
At the moment, bringing it to a place with a press would require me to get a ride from one of my neighbors. This isn't a terrible thing, and I'm sure one of them would be happy to help me out, but I try to be self sufficient when I can.

Thanks for the tips guys, keep 'em coming!

 

[Amac70]

people been putting on bearings for years with out presses. in fact the maching shop i used to use pressed on most of the way and seated the last bit with a hammer. you can also use the heat metheod and heat the bearing and just drop it on.

 

[J-man]

Using a grinder to cut the old off works like a champ

 

[taipeichris]

Hi,
Do it once and do it right. Spend a few bucks and go the the machine shop. Do you really want to be somewhere and have the bearing fail? Then you'll have to take it all apart and do it all over again.

So you're thinking, what if it fails, big deal right?

Last year someone driving from Fab Fords to Arizona had a bearing fail and if memory serves me, on a Sunday night the axle caught on fire on the highway somewhere on the way home.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[fungus]

Get a $100 12ton Harbor Freight press. You'll find you use it ALL the time especially when your buds know you have one!

 

[.94 OR]

Wipe the axle down good and place it in the chest/upright freezer for several hours.

Turn the oven on low. Place the bearing on a cookie sheet. About 30 minutes in the oven.

Once these two steps are done, make sure you have all the pieces in place and drop the bearing in place. It wouldn't hurt to holesaw a correct size hole in a block of wood as a driving surface to seat the bearing if you need to.

I do second the opinion of the HF press, I have found lots of uses for mine.

 

[RIbronco]

^ Normally I would buy a press, but I'm moving, in a few weeks, and will be going from a house with a large 2 car garage, to no garage and street parking. I'm trying to get a bunch of maintenance done before the move and most of my stuff, ultimately, going into storage. I was planning on having the axle shafts chillin' while installing new parking break cables.

 

[SpareParts]

I know Steve from AWS would press them on for you if you could get it there. I would bet if you asked him you could do it at all at his shop. You could do it at my shop but I'm a lot further away.

 

[1970mule]

i read that someone said heat the bearing, the bearing has grease packed in it correct? i can't remember so heating that may not be a good idea. just buy a press from harbor, use it and take it back. lol dirty but hey its prob only good for a few uses anyway its made in chine.

 

[scrapman1971]

i read that someone said heat the bearing, the bearing has grease packed in it correct? i can't remember so heating that may not be a good idea. just buy a press from harbor, use it and take it back. lol dirty but hey its prob only good for a few uses anyway its made in chine.

so when it cools down pack some more in it

 

[bknbronco]

My dad took his to a shop to have it pressed on but the press wasnt tall enough, in the end the ended up pounding it on with a pipe anyways.

 

[Apogee]

so when it cools down pack some more in it

The bearings are sealed and lubed for life, so the only way to put more grease into it would be to remove the seals or puncture them with a syringe. Either way you just signed the death warrant for that bearing.

Hot/Cold and make it happen. The grease should be good to 240 degrees F...seals probably at least 200 degrees F. I would have a piece of DOM/pipe cut and ready in case it needed some persuasion to seat fully, but what's the worst case scenario assuming you don't damage the bearing? The bearing doesn't fully seat and you need to find someone with a press?

Alternatively, I can think of a few different ways to make a press using all-thread, a collar and a couple of steel plates, but that sounds like a lot of work just to install an axle bearing.

 

[bmc69]

As far as the retainer has to be pressed, I can't imagine that you would make much progress with the heating/cooling method before it stopped moving without major force from sledge or a press. The retainer is a very tight press fit.

That retainer is everything and the only thing that keeps the axle in the housing...and I have seen them come loose and the axle 'walk' out so I know its not pretty when it happens.

 

[RIbronco]

I was mostly concerned with the retaining ring. I know the bearing should have standard press fit dimensions, otherwise there would be distortion of the inner ball raceway.
Judging by the cross section and purpose of the retaining ring, I was thinking the interference fit was greater than that of a standard bearing.

I'm confident I can get the bearing on and possibly the ring. If it goes wrong, nothing will be damage, and I'll revert to having them pressed on.

 

[jms5580]

I just did this last week. Twice actually. DO NOT FORGET TO PUT THE RETAINER FLANGE ON FIRST!!! The piece with the four bolt holes. I cut a couple grooves on the retainer/bearing, whacked with a chisel and hammer and they fall right off. Don't bother with heat. I tried it and it really wasn't worth the effort. Didn't see a difference the second time around without it. Like others have said, get a pipe and whack away. I found that several light taps as opposed to crushing blows seemed to seat it much quicker and easier. It's practically the same action as a press. Yes, they are handy. No, they aren't necessary. Good luck!

 

[RIbronco]

Follow up to last nights axle bearing replacement adventure.

Both axles are back in with new bearings and seals. The old bearings were not as bad as I had hoped, but they certainly were showing signs of wear, and needed to be replaced.

The heating / cooling of parts helped with the assembly, but some persuasion was still needed to fully seat the bearing and retaining ring.

The first set I assembled were under the following conditions:
Axle brought down to about 32F in ice water for an hour
Bearing heated to 230F for an hour
Retaining ring heated by torch, temp unknown, but hot (no where near close to glowing though)

Dropping the bearing onto the axle, it stopped within 1/8th of an inch, of the stop. If I had ran it down with a pipe, instead of just gravity, I'm confident it would have fully seated on the first shot. The retaining ring didn't make it quite as far, but a few, not so aggressive, hits with a hammer and pipe seated it fully.


I changed a few things on the second axle to see what how it impacted the results.

Conditions of second assembly:
Axle at room temperature (about 75F)
Bearing at 150F
Retaining ring not as hot as the first one.

Dropping the bearing down the axle barely made any advancement over the press fit area. It had to be hit a few more times than I would have like, before it was fully seated.
Installation and results for the retaining ring were the same as the bearing.


The math said this should work, and technically it did, but the clearance was lost before the parts fully seated. Getting the axle colder would certainly help. I had thought about putting it the freezer at -6F, but not everyone has a freezer you can put an axle shaft in, whether it be a dimensional or spousal limitation. I figured just about anyone can put ice cubes and water in a bucket, so I went with that for my cooling method.
From the reading I did on some bearing manufacturers' web sites, the bearing should not be heated past 250F, due to changes that can happen to the ball raceway's temper. The grease limit is around 250F also. I went for 230F because I don't know how accurate the thermometer, I was using, is.
I don't think there is any way around having to use some force to install the retaining ring. Getting it hotter will definitely provide enough expansion to make the installation easier, but it would get up to range that I would worry about it loosing some of its gripping capacity. It also doesn't help that the axle is already pulling heat out of the bearing and expanding, before the retaining ring is installed.

 

[Madgyver]

I used a 3' length of 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" pipe as my press, i forgot which one fit.
Warmed up the retainer and bearing with a heat source, I used a torch. Place axle flange on a wooden block so wheel studs don't touch the garage floor. Install heated bearing and it should go on easy persuaded with the pipe. Do the same with the retainer, using pipe like a light slide hammer tapping it on.
It always worked for me.


Edit.. I just read your post above. You got it done.