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Replacing Front Hubs and Bearings

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Richard Dickinson

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I am replacing all of the hub extensions due to wear of the splines. I had intended to reuse the bearings on the front hubs. However, I am finding it difficult to get the bearing races out, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif since they are an interference fit. The shop manual says to punch them out with a drift. Since there is very little "lip" to drive against, it looks like the races will be pretty well destroyed if I can get them out at all. So I will have to get new bearings. My questiion is, how to get the new races in. I'm thinking that I might heat the hub to expand it and chill the races to contract them and drive them in. If anyone has done this I would welcome advice.
 
Richard,

Look carefully at the hub around the lip of the race. There are two machined reliefs, 180 degrees apart that give you more room to punch out the race (at least there were on my BJ7 hubs). When I replaced my bearings, I put the races in a ziplock in the freezer overnight, then put the ziplock/races on ice in the shop until ready to install. I put the hub in the shop oven, approx. 160 degrees F for 15 minutes. I found an ABS coupler that was the right size for the race and used that to drift the race in. I think they tapped in easily but that was 4 or 5 years ago and the memory isn't what it used to be. You could go to a machine shop and have them pressed in. I do remember the rotor studs being much more difficult to drift in .. a machine shop would be the easiest way to do that part.

Cheers,
John
 
Hi Richard, Installing the new races can be achieved by grinding the outside diameter of the old ones down just a bit and using them as the driver.Fitting a short pipe nipple of the proper diameter on top of this will allow you to drive them home.Final seating is done with the wheel assembled and installed on the axel.---Keoke
 
Thanks for the advice. I have a Harbor Freight press that I used to press the studs in with no problem. I may just take the hubs to a shop and let them press in the races. My wife dosen't take kindly to me baking auto parts in her oven.
 
I got the bearing races in today. Turned out to be fairly easy. I found two sockets that were the right size to drive the races in. It was a cool day today and I had the wood stove in my shop going so I just sat the hub extensions on the stove a few minuits to heat and the bearings went easily with my press. Never was able to get the old inner races out. The outer races came out because there was a notch to allow the punch to drive against the race. There was no notch for the inner races. If anyone uses the old races to drive with be sure and don't forget to grind them down. The first one I drove in, I skipped this step, and since the recess is not as deep as the bearing, the old race got stuck and I had to drive the race out partially to loosen it.
 
"I skipped this step" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif See I towed U to grind em down. So, thats what chu get when you don't mind your elders.---Keoke- /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angel.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
There was no notch for the inner races.

[/ QUOTE ]

Richard, when I got new hubs (about 4 years ago) they had small reliefs/notches for the inner race too. They were smaller and harder to see but you might want to check again.

I just reinstalled my hubs last weekend .. make sure you get the shim thickness setup correctly (per the manual). I used light oil only on the bearings while adjusting the shim stack float (or lack thereof) then dis-assembled, greased the bearings and assembled for a final time.

Excellent technical article on this here:
https://www.vintage-sportscar-touring.ca/technical/frontwheelbearings.html

Cheers,
John
 
Jest don't put nothing on them during the adjustment phase,makes handeling a bit easier.You know they wont stick together.---Keoke- /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
The new hubs have a notch to access the back of both bearings. The old ones only had a notch to access the outer race. Glad I read the above advice about not greasing the bearings before adjustment. I just bought a new can of axel bearing grease and intended to install them tomorrow.
 
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