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Yup, any form of MODERATE heat works great for shrinking things on that have to fit tight. Very common.
MODERATE being the operative concept. It's easy to destroy the heat-treating on some things if you get carried away, or to ruin bearings.
That's why a heat gun can be better than a torch, for some people. Especially for the kind of people who have trouble grilling a steak to a perfect "rare". But almost any source of heat can work. Boiling water is another good, controlled, predictable method, although sometimes inadequate.
The process can be helped by freezing the other part... my kitchen freezer for example is -34°F, which is around 125° colder than my garage on a summer day. Which means, you get the same degree of parts size adjustment, with 125° less heating.
You can wash a part in solvent, and put some cheeeep mineral oil on it. Then heat until the oil JUST BARELY starts to smoke. That gives you a somewhat reliable indication of temperature. With a bearing you'd want to heat it EVENLY and CAREFULLY so that no part gets any hotter than any other part; and of course, DO NOT spin the bearing AT ALL until AFTER it cools back down COMPLETELY.
You can try... Sometimes the bearings have been on there for so long, all the heat in the world short of melting the steel isn't going to grow them large enough to slide off.
Getting the bearings off usually isn't a problem because you're not going to reuse them. You can have the local machine shop press them off, or cut most of the way through the race with a cut off disc and use a chisel to finish popping the cut, or heat em up and tap em off. Plenty of ways to do the job. If you have room for a shop press, Harbor Freight is your friend.
Last one I did, I didn't want to fart around, so I just had the local machine shop press the old carrier bearings off and the new ones on. Had them pop the old bearing off the pinion gear too, IIRC... Then clearanced the inner race of the old bearing to an easier slip fit for use as a setup bearing. Eventually the new bearing went on with a little help from the heat gun.
Nice thing about the heat gun is it's a bit less likely to be a fire hazard. You can still burn hell out of yourself on the nozzle, or a part that you've heated, but you're less likely to ignite something sitting at the back of your workbench.
yeah - that's kind of where I'm at now, trying to decide if I want to give up more garage space for a press. Looks like all the differential work on a 7.625 10 bolt can be done without a press, but having one seems to make the job seem a little more official/professional and maybe even easier.
I hope it goes on as easy as it came off. I tried removing the carrier bearings using heat gun, but no luck. I think the problem is bearings are too close to the mounting point, and both the bearings and mount point are being heated equally.
But almost any source of heat can work. Boiling water is another good, controlled, predictable method, although sometimes inadequate.
