How to - Remove beam needle bearings in ten minutes or less!

Discussion in 'How To' started by RM92, Jun 24, 2015.

  1. Just replaced my needle bearings and researched several different methods. So here's mine. Had all 4 out in 10 minutes.

    1. Here's the suspect. Remove grease to give you a good eye ball at the blighter.
    image.jpg

    2. Get a small screwdriver and prize it between the bearing outer and inner casings. image.jpg


    3. And then lever out the bearing carriage image.jpg

    Part 1 over. Now all that is left is the bearing outer casing.
    image.jpg
    Take a power file, or needle file, or hand file ( for people who have lots of time) and file in a constant area until only a minute amount of the outer casing is left. Be very careful as you do not want to file into the tube itself. That spells problems.
    image.jpg

    Filed. Now get a large flat blade screw driver and a hammer....
    image.jpg

    And give it a good THWACK image.jpg


    Horrid old needle bearing. REMOVED! Now put in your nice new ones. image.jpg
    image.jpg

    This may be quite a crude method but it proves very effective.

    Enjoy!
     
    fritt, Moons, snotty and 3 others like this.
  2. well done...:hattip:
     
    RM92 likes this.
  3. One other method that might work is to get a length of copper tube, flatten and round the end, then stick it in the other side and use it as a long drift to tap the bearings out.
     
  4. Or weld a piece of 6mm round bar in, and use a slide hammer to pull it out!! :cool:
     
  5. Remind me: do these bearings have an "end stop" in the beam tube, or do you have to carefully drive them in the right distance? Also...is there an (NLA) nylon bit somewhere? Seem to recall there is.
     
  6. yes theres little spot welds they but up against but that said if you hit it hard enough im sure youd start scraping past them!
     
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  8. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    When you re fit the new bearings, pop them in the fridge for an hour or two, the steel will contract slightly and less force will be required to put them in..thus reducing the chance of damage in the process.

    We, when replacing bearings on pump motors, depending on where they fit either:

    Shrink the bearing & expand the case slightly

    or

    shrink the shaft and expand the bearing.

    Works a treat and they last for years!
     
  9. I had to replace a bearing on my bus with the beam in place and fully assembled and used a piece of M12 threaded rod with a nut on the end wedged behind the bearing by the torsion springs. The other end of the rod was bolted to a thick steel plate which I whacked with my trusty lump hammer, thus pulling the edge of the bolt against the inner edge of the bearing with good force. By alternating the sides I managed to get one out in about ten minutes without risking grinding into the bearing seat.

    To put the new bearing in I used the old (largely undamaged) bearing shell pushed onto the torsion arm, followed by the new bearing. By pushing the torsion arm into the beam 180 degrees out from its normal position I was able to hammer the bearing in gradually with a rubber mallet until it was fully seated, then knock the arm back out, remove the old bearing shell and hey presto.
     
  10. there's a nylon bush further in that locates the shaft of the torsion arm and keeps it from wobbling. If I ever have to replace that I think I'll throw in the towel.o_O
     
    snotty likes this.

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