like the title says, where's the closest/best place to get axle bearings pressed on?

 

Have any random sizes of pipe around? That's what I used all the time if I didn't have a press nearby. Just make sure its only touching the inner race.

 

man ive got too much money in these custom moser axles to be banging the bearings on with some pipe, i'd rather pay the $30 to get them put on right

 

Seriously. I have to have my moser axles in my 12 bolt done to get the LS1 backing plates off and the LT1s on, so it is nt something i want to be beating on for sure!

 

Ha, I WAS doing that on custom Moser's and other aftermarket equals. I used to go through bearings a lot when I was daily driving my off road toy, not being one bit nice to it on or off-road either.

I promise the only way you are going to hurt the axles is with a torch, I have pictures to prove that F up. No I did NOT cut through them or even scar them, only F'd up the heat treatment and they still took A LOT of abuse before breaking. (Oh & I welded one of them back together and drove on it til my replacement arrived.)

But that being said, I do have a press, its prolly not worth the drive to Spring for you Alex if it only costs you $30. (If I'm wrong let me know & its no problem. Zane just let me know when you want to do yours. I might even be able to come pick 'em up or something.

 

If you can find a place that has the right tool (it looks like a 100 lb, 4', steel "T" that the axle goes inside) it is possible to press the bearings off and on without damaging them.

Most axle shops will have one. Most regular shops will not. But it is the correct tool.
They have one at Sport Performance (by my shop), but they have changes owners since I last "borrowed" it and even then, they were missing some pieces...

 

what kinda shop do u have ?

 

It is basically a remote extention of my garage. Just some space I rent.

 

But can you remove my bearings without damaging them?

 

Shouldn't be a problem.

 

Shouldnt be or wont be? LOL, i found out that my backing plates are actually different and new ones to convert to LT1 brakes are near 100$ a piece, so now i am screwed among that part, unless i find a 12 bolt Moser with LT1 rears that wants to trade...

 

As long as there is room to fit the press plates (or bearing clamp) behind the backing plate and it sits square then there won't be a problem. If it doesn't then I'm sure I could cut/ weld up something to fit and work. & at worst I would just have to leave it alone. I'm not really in the business of screwing up people's stuff.

Well just let me know when you figure the plate thing out.

 

Yea, we will see...might make my own...err...make some stock ones work

Lord i dont know how i got so far in life without my welder!

 

I forgot to reply to this earlier. I used to do this on a regular basis for years and probably swapped out 100's of axle bearings.

Taking axle bearings off is not all that difficult with the right tools. Without the right tools, still not all that bad but a little more difficult. All of the pressed on bearings have a retaining collar, then the bearing, then the plate that bolts to the axle housing. On some vehicles like a bunch of Toyotas and a few others I cant think of right now the collar HAS to be cut off because of how its made. We used a cutoff wheel and chisel for this purpose. Cut most of the way through the collar, put the chisel in the cut, and smack it with a hammer. The collar will split at the cut and is then easily removed. GM and Ford axles you can generally ignore the collar and use a press to remove the entire bearing and collar assembly as a whole. The right tool is 2 steel plates that fit around the bearing, basically encasing it, and then you press the axle out. I forget the amount of force required but sometimes it takes quite a bit and will pop quite loud when the collar breaks loose. If you remove the collar by cutting it off, it'll be a lot easier to press the bearing off but its still going to take a press or something relatively close to get the bearing off, it does not just slide on. Its not a lot of force, but more than you could do with hand tools or the like. In a pinch, using a pipe and a hammer could work, but I'd avoid that method. We had an assortment of old inner races and specific collars that would fit on the inner race (these, from what I have seen, are never recessed so even a flat plate with a hole will work) and then we'd press the new bearing in place using the same 2 piece tool from above flipped over. A little bit of white grease on the axle will help things along. The collar takes a bit more force to install, but the only concern with a collar is that it is on all the way. It really cant be damaged.

If you were creative, you could probably make your own 'press' if you could find two appropriately spaced fixed locations to use to brace your jack and the axle against. It would be 1000x easier to find someone that has a press and use it though. The smaller presses out there (that most repair shops have) I would seriously consider cutting the collar off instead of trying to press it off, because they really do not have enough strength and force to do the job easily. Some might not even work, from what I've seen with people trying to remove bearings in them. Installing should go fine though.

Oh yea, and if you remove an axle bearing... please do me a favor. THROW IT AWAY! Even if the bearing is still ok, that collar will not be. I have heard of too many instances of collars coming off after having been reused. Dont do it, just spring for some nice new parts.

 

thanks for the info madmax! and yeah i agree with you, never reuse bearings they aren't THAT expensive...

i ended up cutting the old bearings off myself friday morning and driving alll the way out to pyle brothers in baytown, but the took care of me like always and pressed some new bearings on for free! i just had to pay for parts