Stuck front wheel bearing races

[RJ80]

This is a continuation of a previous thread, as this is a better place for it: http://fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=30140

After diagnosing a strange noise as a bad driver's front wheel bearing, I ordered the parts I needed and finally got to work today. Everything was going smoothly; I removed the front wheel, brake caliper, and brake disc without a hitch. Undid the axle nut, took out the washer, slid off the hub and well-worn outer roller bearings came tumbling out. Pulled off the rear seal and snap ring and the inner bearings came out fine. Set to knocking out the inner and outer races with a 2lb sledge and a punch and they wouldn't budge. Heat, PB blaster, more pounding. No go. It only took me an hour to get to the point where the races had to come out, then I spent all afternoon trying to remove those to no avail. Went to Harbor Freight twice to try two different types of bearing removal tools, neither worked.

Finally, at 5:30pm drove to the local garage a mile from my house and the guy there told me he'd remove them for free in the morning, but the shop was closing for the night. Guess that's what I'll do -- and pay him for his efforts, of course. So frustrating though. I was really hoping to be done with the job today.

Anyone had a similar experience? YouTube videos and other online tutorials make removing the races sound like a piece of cake. There's so little lip to for the punch to grab onto -- I think that's half the problem.

[toyfiats]

I went through the exact same ordeal recently. Yeah, the videos make it look so easy, and conceptually it is, but if they are the original bearings getting those races out for the first time takes a lot of patience. I was ready to have a shop do it, but persevered and got it done. It took several different drifts to find the right one for the job, and I had to get over my hesitancy to really whack the %^&% out of it, but they eventually started moving, and even then, it took awhile, slowly working around, little by little.

[DieselSpider]

Sometimes you do have to work for it. Some thoughtfully applied heat is sometimes required and others you may need an air hammer or press.

[RJ80]

Well, I ended up taking it into a local shop this morning. The German guy who owned the place was super nice. He used a drift that was half-moon shaped at the business end, about a quarter-inch around and a foot long. About seven or eight whacks on each one and they were out. I couldn't believe it. He told me the punch was the key.

I also had him install the new bearing races while I was there. He used his press and specifically shaped and sized pieces of metal (lots of trial and error) to push them in. Total cost for everything was $10 and the whole ordeal took about 20 minutes, half of which was spent finding just the right size metal blank to install the new races.

It took me about 40 minutes to carefully button up the job when I got back home to the car, took it for a 10-mile test drive and all is well!