Bearing race put in upside down....

Hey all not sure if ya'll remember me but about 3 years ago I had a carb fire and nearly burnt my MKII to the ground. Well I'm pleased to say Project Phoenix is well back on track. Was putting the steering stem bearings in and somehow managed to put the bottom one in upside down. I've heard a few suggestions (torching, air hammer, 3 prong slide hammer, buy a new frame.....), Anybody done something like this?

Ouch! Might try a long punch, the longer and thinner the better. Drive it out by putting the little end of the punch on the edge of the race and striking the punch with a hammer. Work your way around the race. I would have a new race available just in case the old one gets dinged.

If there is no lip on the race to put the punch on, then a cut off wheel with a Dremal might be your only choice. Make a slice as deep as you can with out hitting the neck. Then whack the cut with a sharp chisel. Good luck.

Never tried this but maybe a large half inch drive socket that mates up with the race with a long extention put thru the steering head and drive it out with a large Hammer. Just a passing thought . Good Luck

Assuming you're not concerned about the race, run a couple beads across the face (shiny part). When it cools down it will fall out.

You should be able to knock in out with a brass drift punch if there is enough meat on the race to enable it, or this kit is decent.
www.amazon.com/4579-9-Way-Slide-Hammer-Puller/dp/B0015DMNIS
If any bit of metal of the race is inwards where the fingers can get a grasp, either the two prong or three in the kit should work. Documentation, instuctions for use are lacking on this kit, but it is kind of easy to understand, it has a cone shape thing you can thread on to force the fingers out to grasp whatever if it's possible to grasp, then the slidehammer will pull it right out and I'd wager without damage, then punch it back in the correct way.

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Lazyman06 wrote: Was putting the steering stem bearings in and somehow managed to put the bottom one in upside down. I've heard a few suggestions (torching, air hammer, 3 prong slide hammer, buy a new frame.....)

Buy a new frame is my gut reaction. Removing this piece is the the hardest job I've ever come across working on bikes. Damn thing even sent me to the hospital once...

My first suggestion would be to write off this lower race and buy another (assuming it's a factory piece and you don't have to buy the whole kit again). It's likely you're going to mess up the bearing surface.

The manual suggests to pound it out with a drift. Don't do this! In my experience once it gets even a wee tiny bit cocked in the bore it's dead stuck, and requires much hammering (back in, aka the wrong direction) to get it moving again.

I made a puller that has a slug that drops into the head tube, and a plate that sits on the outside face. I put a threaded rod through the whole thing and tighten the nuts to pull it out.

It seems like the parts in this kit might be generic enough to create this same setup:


The slide hammer would also be a good solution, assuming you can get a good grip on the race. Normally this would be tricky, but since yours is in upside down this should help the jaws to grab it. I think there is a factory tool as well for the later bikes (J model?) that is similar to what I described above.

I would try using a punch if theres enough to get on to. If not ive have to cut them before just be really careful not to cut into the neck.

the chances of getting the race back out and re-using it are slim.
however you can save the frame.
either weld a bead around the face as steel suggested or,
weld a plate across the bottom and knock it back out.

leon

New frame... :blink:

Dremle tool w/carbide disk the damn thing out.... New race and you'll be good...

Old Man Rock wrote: New frame... :blink:

Dremle tool w/carbide disk the damn thing out.... New race and you'll be good...

Absolutely! I had to dremel out my old races (top and bottom) to put in new roller bearings. Burnt up the dremel tool but it was worth it to replace the bearings.

Long time no talk. unfortunately I haven't made any headway on the race. Forgot to mention it's a all balls bearing kit....

What type of bearings are you installing? Tappered bearings have a race that leave no lip to push it out, I discovered this when I installed mine.

The solution to get the race out seems to be to weld a bead all around the race, when the weld cools down and contracts it contracts the race too and it just falls.