I am attempting to drive out the races in my front hubs. Is the trick to bend a tapered punch to get the correct angle to drive them out? Or bigger FORD hammer?

The late hubs have a notch on each side. The early ones..........good luck!

One has to come out before the other. If memory serves me correctly you need to drive out the large (inner) bearing race first. Once it is removed it will allow the punch to go into a notch in the casting which will allow you to get behind the small race and drive it out.

Jim, I would first examine the races for wear. Also examing the bearings. I have found a lot of them that did not need replacing, just degreasing and repacking. I have a tendency to put more trust in the old original parts than the modern replacements.
If you do have to replace the race, a very long punch does work. Remember to keep alternating between the two sides to drive the race out straight. It will dig in if you just beat on one side.

On the early hubs if you have an arc welder or a MIG welder, there is a very easy way to remove the races.

Clamp the hub in a vice so the race you want to remove is on the underside. Clean out any grease first to avoid a fire.

Put your ground clamp on the hub. Run a weld bead on the race. It will fall out when it gets hot, so wear gloves.

It has the notches, but having trouble getting a straight shot at it!! I will fire up the MIG and give that a try. Thanks j

Royce, I think you mean it will fall out when it cools. Dave

David,

No, it pops out immediately when you lay a bead on it.

Royce is absolutely right. thats how I replaced mine, and I deep froze the races to put the new ones in. Shrinks them just enough that they drop right in place

My experience has been they pop out when cooling (just did one last night). The race is captive by the hub and can't expand. After welding it needs to cool and when it cools it shrinks and pulls itself away from the hub. The one I did last night fell out as it and I cooled (I was tossing back a Doseques in honor of cinco de mayo).

You can do an experiment that will show how it works. Place a bolt lengthwise in a vise and tighten it real good. Next, take a torch and heat the bolt red. As the bolt cools it will shrink and fall out of the vice.

Gary, that's been my experience. Dave

I am trying to remove and reuse a set of races that are matched to the bearings.
This 26 running gear I was given a few years ago that is becomeing the speedster has a perfect set of bearings.So no need to buy new,I just want to remove the races.I am finding it to be very difficult.I want to remove and reuse the bearings from the wood hubs into my wire hubs is the reason for removeal.
I read this thread and found out what I thought was true.Good luck is the best advice.
I thought about gently heating the hub to see if it would expand and allow the race to come out easyer.The small race is the 1 I am having trouble with.
I modified a punch,but still aint haveing much luck,but it is comeing out slow on 1 of them.
Once I salvage the good 1's,I will grind down the exterior of a old race of each size and use it as drivers to install the others.

I guess it should have been mentioned that the option to weld on the face of the race is only if they are trash and you are replacing them. They will not be usable once you weld on them (but at least they will be out).

Yep,I got them out a while ago.I made a funny looking punch and got them out.Cleaned up everything,put the races in the frezzer and they went in the other hubs ALOT easyer that way.

And all stuff is in the wire wheel hubs,bearings packed and installed on the spindals.

Jim

Like Mack, I tend to make silly tools to work for me.

Here is a long punch for the front hub races that I made from a Star Drill.



I ground on the tip to make a corner fit the edge of the race. Then I ground on the back side of the shaft of the star drill for clearance inside the hub cavity when you go after the outer race.



Close up of the end of the Star showing how the curve meets the edge of the race for hammering, a flat round pointed typical long punch just falls off that edge of the race.

K R Wilson would be ashamed of my homemade T tools

Dan- This is what I was looking for. I grew up working in my dads service station and have changed hundreds of races. When this became a challenge, I knew someone on the forum would have an answer. Thanks, Jim

Dan- I took a 10 inch taper punch to the grinder. Ground a 3 inch clearance in the middle on one side, and 1/4" back from the end on the opposite side I ground a notch to clear the hub casting. 2 strikes with a hammer and the race fell out undamaged. Thanks for the tip. Jim