What is the best way to remove front wheel bearing inner and outer races?
Mike - run a bead of weld around the race surface and they usually will fall right out
or:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/195114.html?1299346512
If you feel on the inside of the hub, just behind the race, you will find 2 notches in the hub.(buried under all the grease) Support the hub (or entire wheel and hub)with blocks of wood, and with the race you want removed on the bottom. Take a big drift, a large pieces of key stock, a large broken flat screwdriver, ect. Insert the drift thru the hub against the race at the notch. Take a large hammer and drive it out. You will need to move from notch to notch as the race comes out. Just takes a few blows and its out.
Early hubs have no or almost no notch. You can grind and bend a bar to catch the edge of the race and knock it out a little bit at a time.
Mike
Just did this yesterday. The "cups" that are a part of the wheel hub and hold the races should have two rounded slots cut into them. These are there to access the back edge of the races with a drift and punch them out with a hammer.
Put the side with the race you want to drive out facing down and using a 1/4" drift about 6" long, fit it into those slots and alternately bang on each side of the race using about a 2 lb ball peen hammer. I used vice grips to hold the drift so I didn't whack my fingers.
Piece of cake ;o)
Oops - sorry Donnie - we were posting at the same time!
Be very careful when knocking the outer race out as the hub is thin and easily deformed, as Greg says a bead of weld is the best bet if you are not going to reuse the race. KGB
I was able to beat them out yesterday, I was just wondering if there was an easier way. I had a heck of a time with one of the inner races. Thanks for your replies. Next time I will try a weld on a difficult race.