F: Frame Wheel bearing extraction

Chris.R

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I have been reading up on this there are a few references on the web that say it is an old trick to weld a bead around the cup on cooling of the weld the cup will be shrunk by the weld metal and as a result often drops out with a gentle tap, at least that is what I am reading so David`s method would seem the way to go.
 

Robert Watson

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Ahhh Black Flash, you must not be a cheap Bas#$%d like me, I use straight CO2 and not the CO2 Argon mix that reduces spatter with the mig.......
 

Cyborg

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Robert,
use a mig welder which is usually in any garage. Clean and degrease the cup carefully, better twice with brake cleaner

Re the brake cleaner and welding. Do a search on Google regarding “ brake cleaner welding warnings” or something close to that and you will get:

“The active chemical in the brake cleaner is tetrachloroethylene. When this chemical is exposed to excessive heat and the gas argon, which is used in MIG and TIG welding, it produces phosgene. Phosgene gas can be fatal with a dose as little as four parts per million: basically a single small puff of smoke”.
 
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vibrac

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I am old enough to remember the trike baths in the factory machine shops where I was an apprentice. Boy were those bits clean ( and hot) when you pulled them out!
Amazing what we did back then like turning batches of asbestos plungers on lathes.and smoking heath and heather herbal mixture because tobacco was too costly.and the first thing to come off the milling machine was the guard
When you think about it riding a 650 Triumph on an L plate was probably the least risky activity of the day.
 

Bill Thomas

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
At a Jag' Garage, We used a big tin of Petrol, You know the old stuff that went BANG ! :) .
Till a Lad stepped in it, And another lad flicked a Fag' end at him, The flames were 2 feet above his head,
That Lad was Trouble, I was told he lost a Leg some years later.
 

Chris.R

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Thinking engineering solutions there has to be a puller that will do the job avoiding all the welding fuss?
 

greg brillus

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Most bearings drop out of the hubs..........throw them away and start again. Yes a removal tool sounds like an idea............Only there is no room to get behind the bearing, hence the weld/shrink method.
 

Marcus Bowden

VOC Hon. Overseas Representative
VOC Member
Chris R my handsome, there is an engineering solution and the VOCSC are using it.
Recently I bought a new hub to build a new front wheel for brothers "A" to have fitted Vincent Speet brake set and bought a set for me too, The new hub from the spares company came and there were two milled slots behind the bearing cup so a drifting tool could be applied, good idea I thought and did the same to the hub I used, Normally I use a sharp-edged mushroom drift as there is normally a little protruding beyond the casting and tap them out.
Bananaman.
 

timetraveller

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Bananaman is right. One of my friends makes the new hubs and he designed in the removal cut outs. They are machined from solid billet and should be superior to the original cast ones. However, this does not help the original poster who has a wheel already built up.
 

Peter Holmes

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I do not want to offend Normans sensibilities more than I have to, especially after my spark plug revelations, but if you get yourself a very sharp 1/4" woodworking chisel, the blades are normally fairly long, you will be able to get to and nibble out enough soft aluminium to enable you to drift out the bearing cup, you might have to regrind and sharpen your chisel afterwards, in my working life I used to retro fit mortise locks to aluminium extruded doors, I have often tidied a keyhole or faceplate with the tap of a chisel.
 
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