How the hell do I get this bearing out????
Discussion
The bearings in the shock link on the back of my mountain bike have died, so over the weekend, I took the link off the bike, squirted some WD40-type stuff into the old bearings to loosen them, and ordered some new bearings.
Said new bearings having now arrived, I've just been out to the garage to change the bearings. Easy, you might think! Just find a socket smaller than the hole on the link that the bearing sits in, but larger than the diameter of the bearing itself, and then tap the bearing out, just like any other bearing I've ever changed.
Except in this case, it's not that simple! Specialized, in their wisdom, have seen fit to engineer the link in such a way that the diameter of the hole the bearing sits in is exactly the same as the inner diameter of the outer bearing race, so there's absolutely nothing against which to gain any sort of purchase! How the hell am I supposed to get the old bearings out???? Two of the bearings fell apart as soon as I took the retaining bolts out, and the other two, whilst intact, will just fall apart if I try to press them out using the inner race to press against, so I'm now totally bemused as to how I get them out!
Photo 1 showing the outer race from the outside...
...and photo 2 showing the hole in the link from the other side. The outer race is still sitting inside the hole.
Any impression photo 2 gives that there's an edge to push against is purely down to the angle of the photo. There is a shallow channel that the balls sat in in the middle of the race, but it's too shallow to get any sort of purchase on to push the race out.
Said new bearings having now arrived, I've just been out to the garage to change the bearings. Easy, you might think! Just find a socket smaller than the hole on the link that the bearing sits in, but larger than the diameter of the bearing itself, and then tap the bearing out, just like any other bearing I've ever changed.
Except in this case, it's not that simple! Specialized, in their wisdom, have seen fit to engineer the link in such a way that the diameter of the hole the bearing sits in is exactly the same as the inner diameter of the outer bearing race, so there's absolutely nothing against which to gain any sort of purchase! How the hell am I supposed to get the old bearings out???? Two of the bearings fell apart as soon as I took the retaining bolts out, and the other two, whilst intact, will just fall apart if I try to press them out using the inner race to press against, so I'm now totally bemused as to how I get them out!
Photo 1 showing the outer race from the outside...
...and photo 2 showing the hole in the link from the other side. The outer race is still sitting inside the hole.
Any impression photo 2 gives that there's an edge to push against is purely down to the angle of the photo. There is a shallow channel that the balls sat in in the middle of the race, but it's too shallow to get any sort of purchase on to push the race out.
normalbloke said:
You beat me to it! That is what I use.ouninpohja said:
Run a bead of weld around the inside of the bearing race this will shrink the bearing race when it cools and the bearing race will fall out.
This.I've spent so much time trying to remove stuff by gently cutting, drilling, tapping etc. Just go straight for the heat and a big f-off hammer method and save yourself loads of time and frustration.
dai1983 said:
ouninpohja said:
Run a bead of weld around the inside of the bearing race this will shrink the bearing race when it cools and the bearing race will fall out.
This.I've spent so much time trying to remove stuff by gently cutting, drilling, tapping etc. Just go straight for the heat and a big f-off hammer method and save yourself loads of time and frustration.
Fotic said:
dai1983 said:
ouninpohja said:
Run a bead of weld around the inside of the bearing race this will shrink the bearing race when it cools and the bearing race will fall out.
This.I've spent so much time trying to remove stuff by gently cutting, drilling, tapping etc. Just go straight for the heat and a big f-off hammer method and save yourself loads of time and frustration.
Heating it with a blow torch isn't an option either (I assume) as it will presumably wreck the paint on the shock link? If that isn't the case, what are the relative expansion properties of steel and aluminium? Is there a risk that the steel would expand faster than the aluminium, and therefore just stick it in further?
I'll have another crack at getting purchase on the ball groove with a small chisel later,
Fotic said:
Is welding really the easiest way?
Without looking at it then I won't know. Welding would also give you something to rest a chisel or punch against to hit it out. It may not be suitable here though due to the small size of the bearing and the risk of touching the linkage.dai1983 said:
Fotic said:
Is welding really the easiest way?
Without looking at it then I won't know. Welding would also give you something to rest a chisel or punch against to hit it out. It may not be suitable here though due to the small size of the bearing and the risk of touching the linkage.NeMiSiS said:
The bearing has been pressed into a hole with a seat/lip on the rear face, so you can't hit it out from the rear of the unit.
I would drill two small holes into this seat/lip and insert two pop rivet stems or similar into the holes, then I would set it in a vice with a suitably sized socket on the open end to allow the bearing shell to pass through. On the pop rivet end I would simply set the two stems along the vice jaw and then slowly close the vice.
The two holes that you drill in the bearings seat/lip will not be a structural issue or effect performance.
The idea with pressing bearings it to keep the bearing or remains square at all times.
Hope this helps, if not buy a complete unit you minge.
If I could find a complete unit (especially a red one!) then I'd probably take this route, but it's an 8yr old bike, and nobody seems to do spares for them other than Specialized themselves, and they wanted £70 just for a set of replacement bearings that shouldn't come in at more than £20 tops, so I dread to think how much they'd want for the linkage! I would drill two small holes into this seat/lip and insert two pop rivet stems or similar into the holes, then I would set it in a vice with a suitably sized socket on the open end to allow the bearing shell to pass through. On the pop rivet end I would simply set the two stems along the vice jaw and then slowly close the vice.
The two holes that you drill in the bearings seat/lip will not be a structural issue or effect performance.
The idea with pressing bearings it to keep the bearing or remains square at all times.
Hope this helps, if not buy a complete unit you minge.
Hi i just did all the bearings in my Specialized FSR. One broke up when trying to remove it so I went the dremmel route and cut through the outer race, came out easily.
By the way mine is 12 years old and the bearings are not easy to get so I took one to a local bearing factors, they ID'd it and sold me 10 for £17. Totally tranformed the bike. I was looking at selling it but it now rides like new so it's staying
By the way mine is 12 years old and the bearings are not easy to get so I took one to a local bearing factors, they ID'd it and sold me 10 for £17. Totally tranformed the bike. I was looking at selling it but it now rides like new so it's staying
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