Mine is a 1995 916 Biposto, but common to a lot of models it has a spacer between the front wheel bearings with just a tiny tiny D cut in the spacer to drift the bearings out. Haven't managed to get enough grip to drift it out so thought of a different approach, but not sure if it's a good or bad idea so I'd like to get you opinions. What about pressing/drifting one bearing IN to push the opposite bearing OUT. Then remove the spacer and press/drift the other bearing out. Should work in theory IF the internal of the wheel is constant. Good idea, bad idea?
If you have a blind bearing puller that will get it out. That's what I use to remove the bearings on my Ducati wheels.
No no no do not do that. There is a step behind the bearing that the bearing sits up against to prevent it from being pushed in to far. Get a small enough drift to fit in the "D". As you drift the bearing out you will get more room to get a decent hit on it
I agree with the guys above. Additional tip, heat is your friend with bearing removal and refitting. Use a heat gun (a hairdryer on it's hottest setting will do at a push) and carefully and evenly heat up the hub till it's too hot to touch comfortably. This expansion of the hub will make what little purchase you can get with a drift, or even a bearing puller, go MUCH further. You'll be surprised how much difference a little expansion can make (so the wife says!). When refitting, make life even easier by putting the bearings in a plastic bag in the freezer overnight. This will get them to contract. Then heat up the hub as before and run and get the bearings out of the freezer. You should find that the combination of expanded hub and contracted bearings means that you can virtually drop them in! Happy days, glass of beer or a cuppa and high-five the wife
as above, it might take a while to find or fabricate just the right punch, I know some people have used a modified Allen key even. To add to procedure :- you need to constantly check the bearing you are working on, to see if it protrudes i.e. To confirm that you have moved it a little, and and then swivel the spacer so the next strike on the punch is approximately 180° away to ensure bearing comes out more easily/ less risk of damaging housing.
I use an old, long screwdriver with a hook-shape ground into the end to get a good purchase in the notch. Using careful but firm hammerage tap the bearing out from the other side, keep turning the spacer to make sure it comes out evenly. Once out the other one is easy.
I couldn't get my bearings out using the drift and having the D at the bottom. Flipped the wheel the other way round so the D was facing up and drifted the bearing out that way. As others have said, once you get the spacer out, open the D out a bit more for future use.
Not me, guv! I just remember reading on the RSV forum about somebody who forgot to put the spacer back in. It didn't end well ("another set of bearings, please").
Success at last. Got my bearings out without using any special tools or heat. Thanks to ALL for your advice. Here's what I did... Tried every tool in my chest that might possibly fit the angle from one side of the axel into the tiny D notch on the other side, but no joy. Really needs a special tool. Then, using the widest flathead screwdriver I had, I noticed there was just the tiniest lip of the bearing protruding past the spacer. Holding the screwdriver firmly against the lip, a few short whacks got it moving. After that, rest was easy. Red998: Wasn't aware of a blind bearing removal tool. Great info but I'm an amateur so probably will never need it again, and some online are MAD money! Locknload995: Your feedback was most crucial. Thank you. Without this I would have tried to whack the bearing out to the other side...expensive consequences. But this leads to another question (or maybe another thread? ) What is the function of the spacer? I thought it was to prevent the bearings drifting inwards?
The outer race of the bearings are up against the wheel but the spindle butts up to the inner races and you tighten that up against the spacer, otherwise the bearings would collapse inwards.
