wheel bearings...

[bimmer8604]

nope, pretty sure shit shit expands when you heat it up. we always used to torch stuff that was really rusty, but thank god for access to all BMW special tools for any car! I bet they used the welder to break the rust/crud loose so they could pull it out.

Now if you would have took a torch, and heated the surrounding area, and then froze the bearing with like, liquid nitrogen or something, and then if you added the thickness of the bearing to the radius of the bearing + the square root of 348483928101 and subtract the weight of the earth, and add your total square foot of the interior of the car, and submerged it in petroleum jelly and dont forget to add 12, then you could just pull it out by hand............this isn't rocket science, so however he got it out(or they got it out) just means they got it out. might not be the best way, but hell, it worked for him.

I'll stick to using the right tool for the job thankyouverymuch.

kyle

[fwappy]

BTW, anyone got a Sir Tools B-90 i can borrow/rent?

[87-325ic]

i planned when i did my own rear wheel bearing, to have an extra car/ ride on standby,

and to just go to the hardware store, and get a bunch of washers and threaded rods, hopefully finding a combination of things to fit the sizes of the bearing races..

thats all the sirtools kit is.

[Bmjpv]

Rear bearing removal

We use the SIR tool in my shop and It WORKS! Heat does expand! Expands on the inside (bearing) ,I would never used heat on the inside, outside yes. Them heating/welding on the bearing most likely expained the bearing and bearing housing. They got results and they got lucky! Next time heat the outside and cool the inside. When I INSTALL these rear bearing I'll throw in the freezer (hour) and they almost slide in with your hand! joe

[fwappy]

I have a basic wheel bearing kit, but there's one thing it doesn't include that i need. I need the 3 1/4" diameter 'cup' to push the bearing into. This is really getting aggravating. Errrr....

[JOE BMW]

Three and half hours??? Thats fast?? Dude i've done both left and right sides in that amount of time.

[LINUS]

As a pump mechanic / general welder / machinist, (stay in school kids!) - I use a 110v powered bearing heater all the time to slide bearings onto pump shafts that take a hefty puller to remove.

If you have the means, as it's kind of an antique, archaic tool, they make quick work of an install.

You heat the bearing untill 15 sec after you see the first wisp of smoke on the bearing (you lay a little oil in the race to get the smoke) - then with a good set of gloves grab that thing fast and get it on - no screwing around!

You also prep the stub by smoothing any burrs, then a liberal coat of anti-sieze compound so it glides right into place. Hold it with tension for 15 sec or so after placing so it doesn't shift.

2 bearings installed in less than 10 minutes.

Also just in case you have access to one of these beauties, make sure when you power off that you did it on the proper sine wave (electricity) by putting a paperclip on a string & hold it close to the bearing.

If it is magnetic, blip the power switch on & off until de-magnetized, otherwise the magnetized bearings wear out in 1/2 the time or so.

[homegrone30]

7. After you weld your bead, find a slide hammer(rent one or barrow one if you dont have one) with the correct sized attatchment and proceed to hammer the bearing out. It took me about 8 or 9 forcefull hits to pop that baby out.

im just wondering what kind o attachment your talking about if i go out and buy a slide hammer will it come with this attachment?

[Lsb_E30]

So my car is whining like crazy from the left rear i assume i have to replace this sucker, what tools do i need so i can do this right?

[Rocla]

1. The heat does break the "bond" between outter bearing collar and control arm.

2. The weld bead "pulls" the outer diameter of bearing smaller after it cools down.

Yes the welding does help, but with good tools it's not nessecary.

[E30/M30]

If you've not got a welder or a big slide hammer use a Dremmel with a small grinding bit to grind a grove in the old race thats stuck in the trailing arm, once the race cracks where you've been grinding it becomes so easy to tap out.

This is may be not the quickest or best way to get the old races out but if you are stuck it might help.

If you are going to use threaded bar get some big/thick bar or the threads will strip.

When using threaded bar to pull the hub into the bearing make sure the hub goes into the second inner race properly otherwise you could ruin the bearing.

[matthew-mayhem]

that is amazing I will do my own next time, and forget the mechanic shop

[apexede30]

I just spent 6 straight hours working on ONE bearing. ONE! I tried heating it up with butane, I tried a slide hammer...I ended up taking the trailing arm off and beating the hell out of it with a regular hammer for literally 2 of the hours.

[EtaSport]

I just spent 6 straight hours working on ONE bearing. ONE! I tried heating it up with butane, I tried a slide hammer...I ended up taking the trailing arm off and beating the hell out of it with a regular hammer for literally 2 of the hours.

dang, and i thought i had it bad (original bearings with 450k). The hardest part for me was getting the axle out. Took a very big hammer and used the socket to hit it out, just messed the threads up a bit.

After that I took the trailing arm off, took 5 taps to get the hub out and about the same to get the bearing out. Didnt think it'd be that easy.

[apexede30]

Yeeeah. It was hell. Somehow things just didnt...go well. It was horrible. Atleast I did suspension while I was all in there. Let us never speak of this again.