QuestionWell, thank you so much for your advice; no, I didn't yet have the axle pulled but I do now. I've had the old bearing pulled off and the new one pressed on. My current headache is that I'm having a heck of a time getting the bearing outer race out of the axle housing. I rented a bearing slide hammer for the job after just wacking on it for a few hours to no avail. The tool is really being of no help because the three "grabbers" on the end won't properly hook behind the 1/64th inch lip of the race. Each time I get a good womp on the hammer, the whole thing slips from inside and pops, or falls, out. I just bought a 1/2 inch cold chisel, and will try to do SOMETHING with it!! but I am feeling discouraged... I don't know how quickly you can get back to me, but I will be checking e-mail often throughout the day, so Please, any ideas or tips, once again, would be greatly appreciated, like can I crack the thing in there (w/out damaging the housing!), break it somehow, then pull it...? Anyway,Thanks again and Peace,
Jennifer K.
AnswerI don't know when you posted your question, but I just got it this instant - since it's already dark here on the west coast, I'm sure you've given up on me. Sorry. This site is sometimes BOG slow!
Yes, you can try to crack the race with a chisel, but be sure to wear eye protection, because this metal is harder than the hubs of hell and may shatter into a hundred pieces!
If you can get a really high quality 3 cornered file, and if it will cut the race material, just putting a tiny nick in it will help it to break. It will take a really good file to cut it, though.
Before you do that, though, try chilling the race with an ice filled sock or better yet, a rubber glove - the race really isn't supposed to be stuck in there that hard. I suspect someone put it in with some sort of lock-tite or other stickum stuff. If you chill it it will shrink a tiny bit, and that may be enough that you can get it out with your puller. When you do get it out, be sure to clean out anything that was holding it - right down to bare metal - then the new one won't stick like that. Sometimes you can make a sort of tool like a pry bar by bending a big screwdriver so that it will catch on the race and let you pry it a tiny bit at a time, bit by bit working it out.
There isn't any magic here - they were sized to just be a nice fit in there - it's sticking because there is something holding it.
Good luck, and I apologize for being slow again - it wasn't my fault, honest!
Dick
