Need help getting old wheel bearings out. '79 1000 L

[Anonymous]

Hello,
This is my first post, but I've been lurking around for a few months. I am currently in the middle of a complete rebuild of my '79 1000 L, and have hit a stumbling block with the wheel bearings.

My manual says to use a "drift" to get them out. Now my understanding of a drift is a block that will press them out. I do not have a bearing press, and would like to avoid paying a shop to do the work. I have tried hitting them from the backside (throught the opposite side of the wheel), soaking them in WD-40, heating up the hub, all to no avail.

Also, is it possible to "push" the bearings through wheel in order for them to come out, or do they need to be "pulled" out form either side? Hopefully this makes sense.

Does anyone have any tips of suggestions on other ways to approach the situation?

Thanks,
-Tom
Batavia, Il

[Paul]

A drift is a piece of metal (or similar) that you use to put through the hub of the wheel, so that it's locating on the edge of the bearing, then hit the other end with a hammer!
A little bit of advice - every time you hammer the bearing, move the drift to another part of the bearing, so that you will be knocking it out fairly evenly.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Use a bigger hammer, I have a 5 lb hammer for those jobs

[Anonymous]

I had a feeling thats what is menat by drift. The author of my manual is from Europe somewhere. He uses words like drift, and petrol to name a few. Most of the time it is not a problem to figure it out.
Thanks

[Don Lobacz]

And don't forget about SPANNER. An old motor mount makes a good drift. Use the flared nut that most motor mounts use. Turn the nut over so that the flare is out - it does a good job of sneaking an edge between the bearing and the spacer so that your pounding can get a purchase.

[Anonymous]

I must say, I find it hard to get bearings out as the tubular spacer makes it hard for the 'drift' to get a good purchase on the bearing. I used a long, new/sharp regualr screwdriver to get my front wheel bearings out just recently, but it ruined the edge of the screwdriver. I got the edge of the screwdriver to barely grip the inside edge of the bearing while hitting the handle of the screwdriver repeatedly with a hammer. I also spent a long time (like 5 minutes) heating the hub with a propane torch before finally getting the bearing to come out. Once one of the bearings are out it's easy to get the second one out.

[Anonymous]

I've pretty much tried exactly what knelson did in the above post. No luck yet. The motor mount bolt trick sounds like it should work. I will give it a shot in the morning and let you know how it went.

[Paul]

I had a feeling thats what is menat by drift. The author of my manual is from Europe somewhere. He uses words like drift, and petrol to name a few. Most of the time it is not a problem to figure it out.
Thanks

We put petrol in the petrol tank, which is usually by the boot, where we keep the spare tyre. We carry a few spanners in our toolkit which we also keep in the boot with the wheelbrace & jack. Our motorways usually have 2 or 3 lanes. :roll: :roll:
And to think it is all the "English" language :roll: :roll:

[Bolder Biker]

I had a feeling thats what is menat by drift. The author of my manual is from Europe somewhere. He uses words like drift, and petrol to name a few. Most of the time it is not a problem to figure it out.
Thanks

We put petrol in the petrol tank, which is usually by the boot, where we keep the spare tyre. We carry a few spanners in our toolkit which we also keep in the boot with the wheelbrace & jack. Our motorways usually have 2 or 3 lanes. :roll: :roll:
And to think it is all the "English" language :roll: :roll:

Paul, don't forget about wings, windscreens, bonnets, blinkers, silencers. split pins, etc.

BB

[Anonymous]

It worked!! Using the old axle worked great on the rear wheel, but not the front. The trick seemed to be moving the bearing just enough to allow the inner sleeve to move out of the way. This exposed more of the bearing surface which made it easy to use a bigger hammer to drive out the bearing.

Anyway, they are out and I didn't have to pay a shop to do it. Thanks!!!!