Front wheel bearings replacement

[guns_usn_20]

My front wheel bearings are bad. I've never replaced them. What is the easiest way to do them. I won't have,any help.

[cowpuc]

Just another Puc IMHO's but this has worked for me thru the years,,

Remove the front wheel. Lay an old couch cushion on a good solid work bench and lay the wheel on its side on top of it. Take a long punch with a good flat surface ground on its face so the edges of the surface are ground so flat that it is sharp along the perimeter of the edges. Use a punch that will lay at a slight angle (loosely fitting inside the bearing ID's). Slide the punch thru the bearing ID that is facing upward and is on top of the wheel (hub facing upward) and put pressure against the long shim/tube that lies between the bearings (that shim tube is there to capture the bearing inner races as you tighten the axle nut against the fork and will have a slight amount of movement to it sideways as you press against it with the punch). When the punch face meets the inside edge of the bearing race laying at the bottom hub (the one facing downward) you will feel it snag. Once it snags, continue holding the punch at an angle and pressing downward to hold it against the bearing race face and smack it with a beater (old gearhead term for a +2 pound hammer). As the bearing moves outwardly in its hub journal the punch will begin to hold on the edge easier. When this happens move the punch around the edge of the inner race and hit er again. As the bearing moves out of its journal be careful that you are not moving the punch edge outwardly toward the journal = you want to keep the punch edge/face hitting on the ID race of the bearing you are driving out. She'll pop right out. Once that bottom bearing comes free and is laying on the cushion the shim/tube between the two bearings will fall out. Flip the wheel over and knock the other bearing out with the punch by beating on the bearings ID race outwardly.

Take one of the two old bearings and grind the OD race surface down so the bearing will fit loosley back into the hubs, now grind the surface of the inner race, where the shim/tube would meet it, down so it cannot contact the surface of the new bearing(s) when you use the old bearing as a driver . Clean up the hub journals with carb cleaner, if there is any visible high spots (DO NOT HIT THOSE JOURNALS WITH YOUR PUNCH but if you accidently do, be sure and clean em up with a little sand paper/emery cloth) clean it up. Take a new bearing and with the wheel back on the cushion, place a new bearing into its mounting journal and press it in a little with your finger. Bump the outer race on its edges with a light hammer to get it started and continuing hitting in a circular way to drive the bearing squarely into the journal of the hub so it starts squarely and is not going sideways. It will go in somewhat hard but if you listen while your tapping you can actually tell by sound that it is moving as you rap on it. Once you get the bearing driven down to the edge of the hub where you are in danger of hitting the hub with the hammer, take the old bearing and place it on top of the new bearing and use the old bearing as a driver to knock the new bearing to the bottom (you can also use the old bearing as a driver before getting near the hub if you are concerned hitting a new bearing surface - either way though MAKE SURE YOU ARE FACING THE INNER RACE THAT HAS HAD MATERIAL REMOVED ON IT TOWARD THE NEW BEARING SO YOU ARE NOT BANGING ON THE ID RACE OF THE NEW BEARING = THIS IS IMPORTANT) of its journal = keep driving it until the new bearing bottoms out in the hub and has that distinct "thud" when you hit it. The bearings/hubs are designed to be mated both on the circumference of the outer race of the bearing AND along the face of the bearings outer race. Flip the wheel over = DROP THE SHIM/TUBE BACK IN!!! = now drive in the new bearing on the other side just like you did the first one.. Other then reinstalling the front wheel,, that should get ya back out CTFW!

** all this is for replacing SEALED bearings = not wheel bearings like a car would have (Timpkens) = those are a whole different animal with a whole different method of removal and install..

[luvmy40]

WOWZY WOW WOWZERS Puc!

 

I would have said " Knock the old bearings out with a drift and beat the new bearings in with a socket with the correct OD".

 

 

You said it better:big-grin-emoticon::stickinouttounge:

[cowpuc]

WOWZY WOW WOWZERS Puc!

 

I would have said " Knock the old bearings out with a drift and beat the new bearings in with a socket with the correct OD".

 

 

You said it better:big-grin-emoticon::stickinouttounge:

 

Hearing ya 40,, = sometimes these wild eyed fingers of mine just gotta bounce off the rev limiter,,,, sometimes

The OP will probably just shake his head, skip what I wrote and go directly to your advice but that's ok,, my fingers and I still had a pretty good time writing that disertation :big-grin-emoticon::rasberry:

[Patch]

GOOD One! lol I'm going to laugh this off for a while, writing thru teary eyes! Poor OP trailered bike to a shop..

Puc you sure can bring life to a party!

[cowpuc]

GOOD One! lol I'm going to laugh this off for a while, writing thru teary eyes! Poor OP trailered bike to a shop..

Puc you sure can bring life to a party!

 

It's just another on the longggg list of flaw's in my Character Patch ,, wouldn't it be interesting if the mechanic at bike shop the OP went to had never swapped out a set of wheel bearings on a scoot, googled the process for accomplishing the task and ended up following my off beat suggestion, miraculously was successful in swapping in new bearings and charged the guy 200 bucks for labor LOL... CRAZY world we live in brother LOL

 

P.S. = how would YOU have done the project with minimal tools?

Edited June 11, 2019 by cowpuc

[Patch]

It's just another on the longggg list of flaw's in my Character Patch ,, wouldn't it be interesting if the mechanic at bike shop the OP went to had never swapped out a set of wheel bearings on a scoot, googled the process for accomplishing the task and ended up following my off beat suggestion, miraculously was successful in swapping in new bearings and charged the guy 200 bucks for labor LOL... CRAZY world we live in brother LOL

 

P.S. = how would YOU have done the project with minimal tools?

 

I don't agree that a post such as,,,is a flaw Puc in fact it is a gift!

It wasn't your post that made me laugh it was Luv's reply then followed by your, need to push the rev limit;)

 

Tell you a quick one; yesterday morning I offered help to a neighbor which usually revolves around passing over the fence some carpenter tools. I get a kick out of both him and his wife as they are retired now, yet always looking for something to fix around the house, he swings and she backs him up, never more than 10' between them! Now I could say that's not the way to do whatever but I get that he is her hero she admires his way, his effort and I smile deep down and just keep passing another tool over:)

 

Also yesterday SK had asked me to do some repairs to his SUV so I was working on it when a young fellow I had seen once before in our lane, hangs with the kid next door say 18ish... first he approached me asking to listen to his engine, timing chain guides I said.. Second time he asked if he could borrow my floor jack parked inside but close to the open door (so in plane sight) and I said I just had my small one stolen so that big one might be too big for your car... Let me shed some of what I picked up from this kid, no confidence, approaches older men with eyes low, then says its ok I'm sorry to bother you... The third time he ask his friend to ask me a question, the question made no sense so I said wait till my hands are free and I'll take a look. So I did, but now more of his friends showed up all hovering around with clean hands and knees; I'll tell you somethin else, he was the only one there that didn't have a PHD at home, in fact his old sport Nissan had more patches on her than I do holding me together - where as the other rides had fancy paint, mags.... So I knelt down by him as he began panicking out his problem. Here is what he was attempting to do, install the connecting/tie rod from the strut to the torsion bar. This tie rod has a small ball joint at either end and when he would attempt to turn the nut down the stem would rotate! (: I held the rod in my hands and said take a good look at this and tell me what you see? He went on to explain that he thought the problem wash the "white ring" in the nut and "am I suppose to remove it" ok I said take another look and I pointed to the head and asked, what would hold this end while you tighten the nut? He grabbed a socket up off the floor and said "one of these" Not wanting to embarrass the kid I gave him the answer and the size and guess what that wasn't enough, I had to pick one up off the floor to show him what a key/wrench/spanner looked like!

 

Now here's a curve ball for you Puc; As I watched how difficult it was for this kid to brave forth a question, I could not help wonder what ill tempered S.O.B/Bastard broke him.

You Puc are a patient fellow who goes way out of his way to explain your experiences; not only do you do so regularly but you do so with humor, so, just keep on your roll Puc it works for us.

 

As for how I would punch and set, punch was covered and for set for someone that never done it or rarely, block of wood till flush then torque the rest in on wheel installation; or a threaded rod 2 nuts 2 washers, but I do have a press so...

[Wrecit]

What???? You guys don't throw your berrings in the freezer first? If you have access to some liquid nitrogen it makes the prosess even quicker. Get em cold enough and they will drop right in.