How to Remove Blind Bearings with a wet Paper Towel

[Ron Moomaw]

I hope you wont delete me. I read every email you send and use that information to my advantage. I am not as smart as a lot of guy's I read about. Ma be some day I will come up with something interesting. Thanks to all.

[Toolmaker51]

I hope you wont delete me. I read every email you send and use that information to my advantage. I am not as smart as a lot of guy's I read about. Ma be some day I will come up with something interesting. Thanks to all.

In reality a high percentage of us probably aren't smart; we all know smart folks who don't know not pull an adjustable wrench on the moving jaw.
We're more likely observant, creative, and dedicated. We certainly are welcoming, generous, congenial too.
But most of all, everyone is combined mentor and student.

[WmRMeyers]

Pretty clever. Thinking about this I'm recalling somewhere reading about how the paper towel makers have been changing the mix of materials to include fine filaments that add substantially to the wet strength of the towel. I think this is the key to it all. When sufficiently packed into the confined space the wet towel material essentially solidifies sealing the insides of the ball bearing and turning it into a piston of sorts. You can't do this with plain grease or any other true liquid material that will simply be forced past the bearing shields (or seals as the case might be) by the "hydraulic pressure" created by the hammer blows and the high pressure shock wave that they produce.
The bottom line here is that a combination of knowledge of basic physics and strength of materials is critically important to the skill development of all mechanical technicians and not just the engineering types (like me). Not that tribal knowledge isn't important. But an understanding of underlying science can save a lot of trial and error.

I'd not care to bet on that if I were you, Ed, as I've done it with grease and pin that fit the bearing tightly. I know just grease will do the job if the pin fits well. Remember this is in a blind hole. Unless the shields are just flat gone-rusted out or worn away, they'll still apply the force of the compressed grease. Will it work better with paper towel? Haven't tried that method myself, so couldn't say, but I know it can work with only grease. I've done it. Though honestly I hope I never need to do this again, either!

Bill

[Okapi]

Thanks for this idea, more cleaner than mine with grease in place of paper and water under the hydraulic press!!!
Have a nice day.
Pierre

[Bustednuckles]

Nice hack, not messy like using grease.
I had to get a pilot bearing out of a crank once and din't have any grease handy so I used margarine.
Worked like a charm.

[baja]

Lol, I just showed this trick to my stepson last week to get the pilot bearing out on his Toyota. He didn`t believe until it started moving. My foster father taught me the trick in the 60`s but using grease. Paper towels and water are significantly less messy.

[Gromet]

How did you remove the outer race of the rear bearing?

[baja]

How did you remove the outer race of the rear bearing?

It`s a one-piece sealed bearing so it all comes out as a unit.

[FEM2008]

Thank you for this is incredibly useful trick. Now that I have seen it done, it will be etched in my memory forever (or go senile, whichever comes first). Next time my son needs a a practical example for his school physics, I am going to show him this.

[Ronj]

Stiff, almost dry mud works very good also.