So i was riding home from work today and out of nowhere it felt like my brakes got stuck on, it made a few squeel noises and about tossed me off. Got home and there was no visible damage, took the brakes apart to check for rocks and what not, nothing. Figured it might be a bearing, took the wheel off and the right hand bearing fell out in a thousand peices. Only thing that didnt fall out was the outer bearing casing, that bad bou is seized inside the wheel, anyone ever had this happen? Any ideas on how to get it out?

 

When you look at the bearing from the backside, through the rim, you should see two notches in the "shoulder" that the bearing sits against. Probly under a lot of crud so you need to clean the area to see them. Gently tap it evenly from both sides so you can get it out straight. Hammer it only from one side and it is sure to wedge itself into the hole. Another method if you have access to welding gear is weld two "lumps" into the bearing to get it to heat up and hit it out from them before it cools down. Careful with the welder so you don't burn through the race and into the wheel. For ease of fitting I've used to toss the new bearing into the freezer for overnight to get it to shrink a few thousandths so it will go in easily. ONLY hit or press the new bearing from the outer race, NEVER from the inner. The old outer race makes for a great tool to do this, just saw a split into it with an angle grinder so it can compress and comes out of the hole once the new bearing is in place.

 

Are you sure you can access both bearing from the inside of the wheel? Not to doubt you, i did get the left side bearing out by using a screwdriver and hammering from the other side through the wheel but the right side looks like one peice, its entirely possible that it built up gunk from 20 years but the one side looks like the wheel was manufactured differently. I may or may not have taken a screwdriver and hammer to it, and that may or may not have put a small gouge in the bearing seat, it that a serious issue?

 

Well me saying so doesn`t make notches in there if there are none, then you just have to try and get a gap between the bearing and the seat somehow, normally by tapping with a screwdriver and a hammer. The (small) gouge in the seat doesn`t matter as long as there are no protruding shavings so file/dremel it down at it should cause no problems.

 

Find something to cut through the old outer bearing in the race.
Normally you would only see the inner part of the bearing on that side, but its busted out.
If you can use a dremmel or file or something, cut through the outer bearing, but not into the race. Once you have the one cut, it should be easier to pry out.
If not, two cuts on opposite sides.

 

The dremel did the trick, had to cut it into 8 prices to get it out and broke 2 screwdrivers but its out, thanks for the input.

 

OK so I got it back together and went for a test ride, all seems well but I have a few issues now, at about 50 if I let go of the bars I have a tiny and I mean tiny shimmy in the bars, any slower and you can't see it, you can't feel it at all, even at 50 but you can see it, is this going to cause any issues? I'm assuming its a very slightly off kilter bearing I just installed and normally even a tiny shimmy would be completely unacceptable but I just broke a bearing trying to get it out. I forgot the spacer in between the bearings the first time around and broke the new ones getting them back out so I'm on my second new set in two days and don't want to mess with them again. Any thoughts?

 

I Dont think it would be your bearing (although I could be wrong), it could be a tire balance issue, or possibly the axle bolt. I'd give everything a once over, if you can't find anything blatantly wrong, take it apart quick and see what you come up with.

 

Steering bearing possibly as well.

 

So i rode to work today, first long ride since i changed the bearings, and something just doesnt feel right, i cant reall pinpoint what it is, no noises or anything but just feels funny, like somehow the handling has changed. so ill be taking it back apart in the morning to check a few things and have a few pre-emptive questions to help my workflow, what order do the spacers go? I know one is larger than the other, what side does that larger one go on? Could that cause it to handle differently? And how tight should the inner bearing spacer be? The one that goes inside the wheel that the axle goes through, i remember trying not to make it too tight but maybe that caused it to be off balance or something. Thanks in advance, you guys are always helpful.