New help removing steering bearing.

[xredjokerx]

Im in the process of replacing my bearings and I have no idea how to remove the lower steering bearing and also the bearings surrounding plate (outer brace?)

I need help asap since im at a friends place. We're dremeling the bottom bearing now but cant get through without damaging the stem. Help please!

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

[92xjunker]

I beleive they are pressed on. A press would get them off... and on...no press? take them to a shop to have it replaced or you can try to heat it ( the bearing) then use a puller to remove it, you'll need a press to replace the bearing.

[xredjokerx]

Thanks. What about those caps that usually go around the bearings? Theyre stuck in the frame

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

[92xjunker]

don't know about those, never had to pull them..The manual says to drive them out with a BRASS drift. install them with a proper size socket and a soft hammer.

[arsenic]

A punch and a hammer knocks them out every time. They aren't called "caps that go around the bearing", they are bearing races.

[xredjokerx]

Thanks guys. Will probably bring the steering stem to the shop to remove whats left and put on the new one, then buy a brass punch to get the bearing races off.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

[arsenic]

You can use anything as a drift. A socket extension works. A piece of re-bar, any random piece of metal. You don't need to buy a punch.

[Kreylyn]

I generally use a 4" angle grinder to remove the old bearings off the stem.

Pry off the clip that holds the bearings on the race and remove it and the bearings. That should leave just the bearing race on the stem. Using the flat side of the angle grinders disk parallel to the stem remove part of the race until you have a thin layer left. If you think of the bearing race being a big O... when your done with the grinding it will be shaped more like D as you have removed a flat section off the edge.

DO NOT GRIND ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE STEM!!! <---can't emphasis that enough!!! You have to stop before you get to the stem. Your not grinding it off, your just setting the race up for the next step.

Use a chisel at the thinnest point of the now modified bearing race and give a good tap with a hammer. The chisel should be positioned so your hitting on only the race directly towards the stem. The long edge of the chisel surface is parallel with the stem and only contacting the race. The lower race will "break" at that point and slide off by hand. So if the stem is placed this way... =======| then the chisel edge would be placed - that way on the thinnest point of the race now that it's ground down.

At no point should the chisel, hammer, pry bar, or grinder ever touch the stem or other parts that is not the bearing for this process. You do not have to make it super thin to risk getting all the way down to the stem, I've broken them this way easily with the race still 1-2mm thick. The heat from grinding it down weakens the race and makes it brittle.

I use a pipe that is large enough to easily slip over the stem but catch the inner race of the bearing to press the new bearing on. I've used car jacks before as the press between 2 boards placed between 2 short distance sturdy points like 2 trees next to each other. You can get creative, just realize that it's alot of pressure.

You can get brass rod at lowes or home depot to use to tap out the races on the stearing neck. Just place the rod against the edge of the race from the oposite side and tap in a circle around the race. It won't generally just pop out at first, you have to work it a little at a time and keep it moving evenly by moving the point around the edge of the race as you go.

I use a socket generally to tap them back in, matching the outter edge of the race to the socket. Place a piece of wood flat across the socket and hit the wood not the socket with the hammer so you do not damage the socket or anything else.

Krey

[kayakkermit]

Actually the easiest way in the world to remove a bearing cup (a tapered roller bearing consists of the cone - the part with the cage and rollers, and the cup - thats the outer portion) is to stick weld all the way around the cup ON THE FACE THAT THE ROLLERS ROLL and let it cool. The weld shrinks as it cools and the cup pops out very easy.
FWIW, I've been in the bearing industry almost 25 years now and have never seen it fail.
No more cutting or grinding and very little or no punching. Easy as that.

[xredjokerx]

my friend ended up working on it last night and sent me these pics. Looks like its on well, is it okay that there are some grooves on the stem?

thanks for all the help guys, you are life savers!