Finally conquered my crown bearing!!!!

[OoPEZoO]

I think all I really needed was a good nights sleep, and a clear mind.

 

I bought a cheap bearing splitter from Harbor Freight, and with a few whacks from a dead blow hammer.......the inner race of the old bearing popped right off. Did the same thing with the conical bearing on the other side (I damaged it during my previous adventures of trying to remove the crown bearing). Then tossed the ring gear in the freezer for about an hour. Heated up the inner races of the new bearings and pressed/tapped them back onto the ring gear. A few bolts later, and I was riding my bike around the block. I'm glad thats over with.

 

Thanks to everyone for the help!

[Rich06FJR1300]

i guess there is no easy way to get that old bearing off other than destroying it. Great job! now hopefully this one will last you at least a hundred thousand miles right? yeah right!

[OoPEZoO]

Ugh, I feel like an idiot. I was sifting through the old ball bearings and metal shavings and realized I never put the large spacer ring back in that goes between the crown bearing and the seal. I have only ridden the bike around the block, so I shouldn't have done any damage, but it looks like i get to tear the rear end apart again......UGH.

[KMG_365]

Oh, man that sucks. But on the bright side, you'll probably be a bit faster the next time!

 

I noticed that you said you replaced the tapered roller bearing as well, do you have the means to verify the spacing afterwards? If you do a search under my user name (include dates back to about a year to find them), you'll find a few threads discussing this potential problem. The tolerances are VERY close to keep the relationship of the two gears in proper alignment as well as the preload on the tapered roller bearing when you reinstall the case. When I did mine I did not mess with the roller bearing and very carefully measured the new vs old crown bearing to make sure they were close enough in the range to reuse the same shims so as not to change the preloading on the tapered roller bearing. My two crown bearings were almost identical in size, but I have no idea how close your two roller bearings would be as it would be almost impossible to measure out of the drive unit. There are spacers behind the tapered roller bearing as well (18 different ones available in 0.05mm increments) and a new TRB might require a shim adjustment there as well as the large preload shims. If you haven't seen this diagram yet it might be worth checking out.

 

I would suggest that it might be worth the time/money/peace of mind to just bring the FD down to your local dealer for the proper measurements and shimming and then re-install it yourself. I have no idea how you would otherwise know that things are still aligned properly and they shouldn't charge you that much bench time for that fairly simple procedure. The shims are very cheap (MUCH cheaper than a new FD and a tow from the side of the road somewhere on your way to an UnRally! ), and you're doing the expensive part labor-wise.

 

Good luck on whatever you decide and keep us informed of your progress!

[OoPEZoO]

Yeah, I wouldn't be messing with my roller bearing either if I would have been paying closer attention to what I was doing while removing the crown bearing. I ended up bending the carrier of the roller bearing while trying to remove the inner race of the crown bearing.

 

I measured the old and new bearings (roller and crown) with my calipers, and they are both damn near exactly the same. There wasn't enough of a difference for me to get too exicted about reshimming. I remembered to reuse the spacer for the roller bearing, but I forgot to put the spacer for the crown bearing in. I knew it was sitting there, but I must have had a complete brain fart.

 

The thing I'm really pissed about is that the whole assembly is coated in oil again. I hate getting that gear oil all over everything. Plus it makes the garage stink for days.

[ninermatt]

I love the smell of gear oil!