Removing Wheel Bearings... Help..!

[smiller]

OK, I give... how do I get the !@#$% bearings out of the wheel? (R1100RT)

 

Using a drift from the opposite side flat doesn't work because there isn't near enough clearance between the spacer and the bearing to get a bite. I have a pilot bearing puller but it won't work either for the same reason. So far all I've managed to do is remove the pressed-in adapter on the ID of the outer wheel bearing... which is great since I had to do that anyway as I will need to re-use it, but of course now I'm even worse off since the ID of the outer bearing without the adapter is much larger than the spacer. I can always just go at the other bearing of course but as mentioned, no joy trying to get either of them out. Heat doesn't seem to do much good because heating the mounting area hot enough to do any good also brings the bearing to about the same temerature so I'm not sure it will help much. And besides... I have next to no bite on the bearing with a punch in the first place anyway.

 

I'm about ready to Dremel a little relief notch in the sleeve so that I can get some bite on the bearing but since I haven't seen anybody mention this problem before I assume (or hope) that I'm missing something here? (And yes, the snap ring has been removed.)

 

Thanks for any ideas...

[Les is more]

Here was Jamie's solution.

 

Definitely within your scope and it was easier than I thought when I first attempted it (never done anything like it before). The biggest trick I found helpful when pulling the old bearing was heating the bearing up with a MAPP gas torch (which heated the crown gear a bit), then drop a bunch of ice cubes in the well of the crown gear (change once or twice as they melt fast), then put the puller on and the bearing should pop off much easier. It took me by far the longest to figure out how to get the old bearing off as the clearance between the bearing and the face of the gear was only 3/16ths of an inch or so and I had to file down the jaws of the cheap-o harbor freight puller I bought--that and making a few different prototypes of the right size/shape chunk of 2x4 to push against the end of the gear with the puller. The heat differential was also the biggest key--leaving the gear in the freezer and popping the bearing in the oven, it just dropped right all the way down.

[smiller]

Thanks Leslie but I am referring to the front wheel bearings... guess I should have made that clearer...

[Les is more]

No, no...Your description makes it perfectly clear that it's the front. I just wasn't thinking.

 

My personal MacGyver is thinking up a solution as I type. He'll post in a minute.

[DEF]

OK, I give... how do I get the !@#$% bearings out of the wheel? (R1100RT)

 

Using a drift from the opposite side flat doesn't work because there isn't near enough clearance between the spacer and the bearing to get a bite. I have a pilot bearing puller but it won't work either for the same reason. So far all I've managed to do is remove the pressed-in adapter on the ID of the outer wheel bearing... which is great since I had to do that anyway as I will need to re-use it, but of course now I'm even worse off since the ID of the outer bearing without the adapter is much larger than the spacer. I can always just go at the other bearing of course but as mentioned, no joy trying to get either of them out. Heat doesn't seem to do much good because heating the mounting area hot enough to do any good also brings the bearing to about the same temerature so I'm not sure it will help much. And besides... I have next to no bite on the bearing with a punch in the first place anyway.

 

I'm about ready to Dremel a little relief notch in the sleeve so that I can get some bite on the bearing but since I haven't seen anybody mention this problem before I assume (or hope) that I'm missing something here? (And yes, the snap ring has been removed.)

 

Thanks for any ideas...

 

I've got the BMW manual details if that will help.

 

Provide your private email and I'll forward the appropriate pages from the CD..........

[smiller]

Well, got them out...

 

It turns out that getting the adapter sleeve out of the outer bearing wasn't a disadvantage at all but rather a blessing in disguise... with the sleeve out I could use a socket to press on the bearing spacer, which in turn pressed on the inner bearing so I could remove it. Not exactly BMW procedure, but it worked.

 

It still seems that it would have been nearly impossible to remove the bearings using the procedure in the Haynes or BMW manuals. The spacer has nearly the same ID as the bearings and there was not nearly enough clearance between the spacer and bearing to be able to drift the bearing out. Now that I have the spacer in my hand I think I will machine a couple of relief notches in either end so that next time I will be able to get a good bite on the bearing with a drift.

 

Thanks for the comments all...

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Seth,

I haven't done wheel bearings on any of my BMWs but have done so on lots of other bikes. The key for me has always been to use a little hook shaped pry bar to move the internal spacer off center a bit. Gives more purchase for the drift and out comes the bearing. The trick is getting the pry bar in there just right. The back edge bears on the inner race of the bearing, the tooth on the spacer. A quick little tug and it pushes out of the way. I have used a couple of little shims to get the sizing just right.

[KMG_365]

Sorry I'm late and I'm glad you got them out. Funny, but the illustration in the Haynes manual shows the central cylindrical spacer "pivoting" slightly inside the hub allowing access to just enough of the inner race's lip to get a small drift on it. I haven't done this job yet (but looking forward to it ), but I take from your posts that there was no "slop" in that spacer?

[Les is more]

I've got the BMW manual details if that will help.

 

Provide your private email and I'll forward the appropriate pages from the CD..........

 

Remember Dennis, our user agreement asks that you be sensitive to copyright law.

[smiller]

Sorry I'm late and I'm glad you got them out. Funny, but the illustration in the Haynes manual shows the central cylindrical spacer "pivoting" slightly inside the hub allowing access to just enough of the inner race's lip to get a small drift on it. I haven't done this job yet (but looking forward to it ), but I take from your posts that there was no "slop" in that spacer?

Yes, I expected (or at least hoped) the 'slop' that they mentioned would actually exist but... it wasn't there. Funny, even before having the wheel apart I had always been kind of skeptical of the procedure in the Haynes manual and unfortuneatly my fears were realized. [Ed - In my case there was no way to move the spacer at all, in any plane, except for a very small amount of end float.)

 

But after having it apart and back together I've figured out what was going on. The left wheel bearing is seated to a lip in the wheel, very straightforward. Then you install the spacer (which has two lightly press-fit metal rings around it, presumably to help locate the spacer in the center of the hub when you have the axle removed, otherwise it might be kind of difficult to get the axle back in.) After you install the left bearing and the spacer comes the right wheel bearing, and there's the rub... the right wheel bearing depth is set more-or-less by the spacer itself (no lip in the wheel.) So, depending on how deeply the factory (or the last person working on the bearings) set the right wheel bearing there can be any amount of clearance between the spacer and the wheel bearings. Also, the position of the metal centering rings makes a differnece, the more towards the center they are the more the spacer will rock a little, if towards the ends the spacer won't rock at all.

 

So... if the factory seated the right wheel bearing very close to the spacer and the cenetering rings are each near the end of the spacer (as was the case for me) then you get practically no clearance with which to drive out the bearings at replacement time! However, if you set things up a little looser then the whole spacer assembly does indeed behave exactly as indicated in the Haynes manual (perhaps their test bike just happened to be set up loose and they assumed all were like this?) Note that the official BMW procedure uses a special bearing puller, not the 'drift it out' method.

 

So you might either have an easy time or a !@#$% of a time, depending on the luck of the draw. As i mentioned I machined a small relief notch in either end of the spacer with a Dremel so next time I will be able to get a good bite on the bearing with a drift. This should address the problem completely I think.

[KMG_365]

Thanks for the reply, Seth. I've "kept" this thread so this good info will be here for future searches on: front wheel bearings spacer drift removal heat puller race , etc.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

In other days and other industries we made an expanding mandril to grip the inner race and then used a puller on that to remove this type of bearing in a blind hole.

 

BTW, I think it is the axle that brings the free bearing into contact with the internal spacer, or at least it should be based on your description.

 

None of the wheels I have worked on had those helper rings around the internal spacer. You usually have to fish in there with a dowel when installing the axle to align the spacer with the shaft. I think I would have discarded them or, at least, turned down the OD to allow the spacer to drop further into the wheel.

[smiller]

In other days and other industries we made an expanding mandril to grip the inner race and then used a puller on that to remove this type of bearing in a blind hole.

That's pretty much what I had to do. Used a pilot bearing puller to get the adapter sleeve out of the left bearing then was able to move forward from there. Without the puller I'm not sure what I would have done.

 

BTW, I think it is the axle that brings the free bearing into contact with the internal spacer, or at least it should be based on your description.

Yeah, I was pondering that. Seems like the 30-or-so ft. lbs. on the axle bolt would pull everything together, but I think not because the bearing is a pretty damn tight press-fit into the wheel. The fact that there was some clearance between the spacer and bearings (although unfortunately not enough to be of much use in getting the bearing out) would seem to indicate that in none of my many prior tire changes did the axle tightening sequence ever move either bearing.

 

I think I would have discarded them or, at least, turned down the OD to allow the spacer to drop further into the wheel.

Yes, I think you could just toss the spacer... can't really see what purpose it serves other than to make bearing removal difficult. But I ended up leaving it in there with the minor mod that I mentioned earlier.

 

 

Anyway, new bearings in, new tire on (Mojobars rule), and glad thats over. Simple job that ended up bejng a PITA. C’est la vie.

 

Hope this info helps someone. As for you Jamie, one of these days I may need to trade you some front wheel bearing expertise for some rear wheel bearing expertise...

[LDHack]

I have replaced wheel bearings, but because of the heating issue (explained in the BMW repair CD), I took it to a dealer. Cost me $40 labor plus the bearings. Just a FYI for some folks....

[smiller]

What is the 'heating issue'..?

[KMG_365]

Hope this info helps someone. As for you Jamie, one of these days I may need to trade you some front wheel bearing expertise for some rear wheel bearing expertise...

Bring it!! You know where to find me!

 

. . . or do I hear a Texas Tech Daze in the wind??