MTFCA Forum

Greetings Friends:

I have the occasion to put new bearings into my newly restored front wheel. It's a driver's side wheel, and I have the correct side races ("cups") and bearings from Timkin.

My question: Reading up on the job in the Ford Service manual (p.175), there is a special tool shown for pressing the races into the hub - a Bearing Cup Inserter (fig. 385). I don't have this device. Can I make something out of a bolt or some such? Or (carefully) tap the races in with block of wood? How have some of you performed this operation?

I did check the Forum Search feature here, but didn't see such information.

Many thanks and Season's Greetings!

Rick Benjamin
Lewisburg, PA

I've only seen two of these and one is mine - Ron Patterson had one also.

If you have access to a lathe, one could be turned out of brass if you're only doing one or two.

I put my bearing races (cups) in the freezer and the hubs in the air fryer turned up to 400 degrees. The races dropped in and when the temperature equalized, they are tight as a tick.

I had one and sold it! Found that with some patience you can easily (lightly) tap the bearing in, working judiciously around the outside circumference with a brass hammer. A piece of wood prevents you from seeing whether or not the race is going in straight. Just my humble opinion and 40+ years of working on Model T's. Enjoy, stay safe.

I took some old races and ground a little off the outside so I could use them to tap the others in without getting them stuck. I turn them upside down and tap on the flat. Works like a charm!

Here's a picture of my "tool". It's just a piece of fairly thick wall aluminum tubing and a length of all-thread rod. And a couple large area washers. The Ford tool would have been better, but I used what I had.

I've read that there are some combinations of thin walled hubs and slightly oversize bearing cups that are so tight that the the hub nose cracks when the cup is pressed in. Perhaps somebody more knoledgeable can explain that hazard in more detail.

They can usually be driven in with a brass punch & a hammer. The trick is to use brass against the hardened race and continually moving the punch. Works fine if you take your time and keep moving.

I have been successfully using a drift punch since the sixties.

Oldav8tor wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 03, 2020 7:31 pm

I took some old races and ground a little off the outside so I could use them to tap the others in without getting them stuck. I turn them upside down and tap on the flat. Works like a charm!

That is how I do it too.

In a presentation to our old car club a bearing company representative was emphatic that brass should not be used to drive bearings home, because it will chip if miss stuck or is not absolutely square on to the bearing. As the bearings are much harder than than mild steel, their recommendation was to use a steel drift. It is not likely to damage the bearing and does not chip like brass.
I have since use a 5/16" pin punch to seat the cups, starting them into the hub with an ordinary engineers hammer until they are flush. Once they are seated, the tone of the blow on the punch changes so you know when the cups home.
Obviously, others do it differently.

Allan from down under.

you can tap them in as described earlier here if you're carefull and keep moving the punch, if they are a bit on the tight side blasting the bearing race with a CO2 fire extinguisher will chill it enough to shrink it so it'll almost drop in.
Good luck on the effort !

Typical bearing race divers work ok, if you can find diameter to fit. Have tried the tapping with a drift on the edges of the race to seat it, but most times it tipped and stuck at bad angle. So the drivers that cover the face of the race seem better.

There are available driver sets, but the dia. needed for the small outer is approx. 1.93" and for the large inner race, about 2.7"


So just like Tim Juhl posted, I have a set of old races ground down in outer diameter to insert the new races in a hub. Works the best And use a brass hammer to tap around on the old race "drivers" to seat the new ones.

Charlie B in N.J. wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 03, 2020 9:27 pm

They can usually be driven in with a brass punch & a hammer. The trick is to use brass against the hardened race and continually moving the punch. Works fine if you take your time and keep moving.

I did the same than Charlie all the time. Always work. Be patient as well it will come off.

Geez! Mark and Dan's comments are making my head swell....maybe I'm finally moving from "newbie" to "knows enough to get in trouble..."

And the comment about the sound change when seated is very true. There is a defined change in tone when seated. Goes from ping to thunk.

In the bearing test laboratory at the New Departure Hyatt bearings, a driver tool in an arbor press was used to install outer rings into front wheel hubs. It was an easy and reliable process.

Thanks gentlemen!

These are all fine and helpful ideas. I may have to combine several of them!

I've been maintaining my Model T for about 20 years now, and one thing I've learned is that sometimes the "looks simple" jobs (like putting in bearing races) can be the most troublesome. So I certainly appreciate your experience and counsel.

OK, off to the barn now....

Sincerely,

Rick B.