'91 front bearing race removal and install

[falls guy]

I've got a '91 4x4 with manual hubs . Can I get the bearing races out of the rotor myself or do I have to bring the rotors and new races to a shop to have them pressed out and in? Thanx in advance.
Peace

 

[Positive Vibes]

The outer bearing is usually easy. The inner you may need a big socket and a hammer of vice.

 

[frstxplorer]

you can definatly do them youre self ive found that a drift punch with a good flat tip gets right on the back edge of the race and you can slowly tap around the edge working it out evenly so you wont mess up the seat

 

[scott.475]

I've had good luck using brass drifts. You can find them almost anywhere, and they are cheap inusrance against dinging up the race. The trick is not to tap on one spot to much, but to keep working around the circumference, otherwise it will want to bind a bit. Once is finally starts to loosen, it will come out pretty quick.

 

[falls guy]

Right on. I replaced the bearings on the one side without changing the races. Duh! Now I gotta do it all over again the right way because they never stopped howling. I guess some people have to learn the hard way. LOL.
Thanks guys
Peace

 

[scott.475]

"I guess some people have to learn the hard way"

I do ALL my learning that way! :roll: Anyway, I don't know whether you have a work bench or not. I don't have one in my garage yet, so I do a lot of work on the floor. Whenever I'm pounding on something metal, like brake rotors, the ringing from the impacts about breaks my eardrums, so I put the workpiece on a couple lengths of 2x4 and it really helps control the sound, as well as protecting the floor. (This might be a dumb little add-on to this topic, but my ears are really sensitive to high pitches and sharp sounds...just trying to save a little pain for anyone else).

 

[Maniak]

If you change/maintain the bearings out early, you don't "have" to change the races.. I still have the races in my front rotors that came with the ART rotors.. I've changed the bearings twice since the set I put on with the ART rotors.. Thats about 140k miles or so.. same rotors, same races..

I repack them every time I do brakes or after I go through water (over the hubs) or after it rains hard for a few days (I live on a dirt road).... and only 1 bearing looked/felt bad so far.. (it was getting too loose, so I changed it).. I only run Timken bearings and use mobile 1 synthetic grease so maybe that is helping...

~Mark