Wheel Bearing Press

[markandson]

I made this a while ago to install my new GT rear wheel bearings. It is a simple frame, the long sides are 1 1/2 x 1/4" flat bar, the ends are made from the same material, but I fabricated a "T" so it would be very strong. The tube the surrounds the axle is a piece of 1 1/4" schedule 40 pipe (1 5/8" O.D.). The pipe is split along its long axis to remove the internal weld seam, otherwise it was too tight on the axle shaft. The piece at the bottom that I used to "press" is the old retaining ring. After being split with a chisel during removal it sprung open just enough to use, I just cleaned it up from the deformation that the chisel caused. It was a two step process, press on the bearing and then press on the new retainer. After the fixture was complete it took about 2 minutes to do the install.

[ddoyle]

Made that job easy, nice work!

Dan

[GTJIM]

A little bit of fabrication expertise can solve lots of Opel problems - nice one.

Just one thought - the retaining ring for axle bearings needs to be warmed up and dropped on then allowed to 'shrink' to hold the bearing on. Pressing a cold ring on will make it looser than it should be - I simply warm them up to about 200-250 degrees C, drop them on and hold them down till they cool and nip up tight. The nip fit is all that holds that axle in!

[Washout]

Nice work Jeff,

The time spent building the right fixtures is saved by not having to redo something screwed up when using the wrong tools.

[markandson]

Originally Posted by GTJIM A little bit of fabrication expertise can solve lots of Opel problems - nice one. Just one thought - the retaining ring for axle bearings needs to be warmed up and dropped on then allowed to 'shrink' to hold the bearing on. Pressing a cold ring on will make it looser than it should be - I simply warm them up to about 200-250 degrees C, drop them on and hold them down till they cool and nip up tight. The nip fit is all that holds that axle in!

Hmmm.....Did not read the FSM on this one, guess I should have. I did not heat the retainers, I only lightly oiled the shaft to avoid galling, I know they opened up when I pressed them on because the initial force was very high to get them started and then they went the rest of the way with a nice consistent press. Think I need to replace them?

[kwilford]

Originally Posted by markandson Hmmm.....Did not read the FSM on this one, guess I should have. I did not heat the retainers, I only lightly oiled the shaft to avoid galling, I know they opened up when I pressed them on because the initial force was very high to get them started and then they went the rest of the way with a nice consistent press. Think I need to replace them?

While heating the retaining ring is a good idea, it is one that the Factory didn't provide. No mention of it in the FSM, and when I did my axle bearings, I followed the same basic procedure that Jeff did (although I bought a small hydraulic floor press). JM2CW