Pulling pesky angular contact bearings.

[Mathieu_Schneuwly]

Hi. This is aimed specifically at tallboy 2 owners, but the technique might be transferable to many other bikes that use angular contact bearings.

 

I bought my Tallboy 2nd hand and the pivot bearings were in a pretty bad state. I did the usual clean and re-pack with grease and was able to keep riding like that for ages, however I recently decided it was time for new bearings.

 

Off I went to the LBS, pivot linkage in hand to show what bearings I needed. The friendly staff handed me four shiny new Enduro bearings and asked if I wanted them to remove the old ones for me. I thought sure that'll save me a few minutes at home, how friendly. As the pivot headed off to the workshop I got nervous and decided to go check how he was doing it. I find him with the whole pivot clamped tight in a vice, he's using the mushroomed end of a chisel to violently "pry out" the outer bearing race. I panic and beg him to stop because I will rather do it at home and he's like "NO no relax we do this all the time, listen i'm the mechanic"

 

Not a chance, I extracted it from his mis-guided hands and did it at home. I'll tell you how in a bit but let me finish my story. 

 

Turns out the bearing seat in my pivot is full of holes, the previous owners lbs must have tried to drill out the outer race. I started searching online, but all the techniques mention various forms of pullers and complex setups and none provide the easiest solution. How are people getting it so wrong? Stop going full rambo on expensive bikes!

 

If you've tried replacing your pivot bearings before you'll probably know the issue. The inner race is one sided and breaks free when you pull on it - leaving the outer race and balls behind in the pivot. Here's the fun part, the outer race ball groove is two-sided. So, stick the inner race onto an implement and approach the stubborn outer race from the other side. You've reversed the bearing and can tap it out with ease from behind. Now, sit back and use all the time you saved to contemplate why so many people and bike shop mechanics can get it so wrong sometimes.

 

I don't take my bikes to the bike shop for anything at all for this reason.

[myveonix]

How are people getting it so wrong? Stop going full rambo on expensive bikes!

 

Amen to that brother, AMEN. 

[NotSoBigBen]

Good tips there, did you perhaps take pics for technically inept persons like myself?