axel bearing help?

[Chevy305]

I need to replace the axel bearings in the 14bsf I am rebuilding. I cannot get them out for the life of me. I rented a slidehammer from autozone to use and no luck. I ended up breaking a cunk off the race and all the roller balls fell out so now I just have the outer part of the bearing stuck in the axel housing. I tried using heat to it with a maap gas torch but still nothing, just ended up litterally dragging the axel across my garage continuing to use the slide hammer.

I am all out of ideas, anyone have some suggestions?

 

[4X4HIGH]

Carefully use a die grinder or dremel and cut the outer race as far as you can to the axle housing THEN use the slide hammer puller. This will relieve a ton of the pressure and it should come out with one slide.

 

[Chevy305]

Carefully use a die grinder or dremel and cut the outer race as far as you can to the axle housing THEN use the slide hammer puller. This will relieve a ton of the pressure and it should come out with one slide.

Tried using a hack saw blade to do just that and didn't even make a stratch...

 

[4X4HIGH]

Tried using a hack saw blade to do just that and didn't even make a stratch...

That's because the race is hardened steel. Hardened steel can only be ground or cut with a grinding wheel not a saw blade.

 

[driney]

I've not tried it yet, but I was told you could lay a bead inside the race in a spot or two and when it cooled, it would shrink enough to slide out.

 

[bp71k5]

Any chance you can run a long solid bar or pipe in from the other side and drive it out?

 

[Chevy305]

Any chance you can run a long solid bar or pipe in from the other side and drive it out?

I looked into it and the diameter needed to fit through the carrier would be too small to make contact with the bearing.

 

[bp71k5]

I looked into it and the diameter needed to fit through the carrier would be too small to make contact with the bearing.

I guess if you don't pull the carrier, you might be able to thread the end of a thinner bar that fits through and then slip some kind of bearing driver onto the end after it's through.

Or just cut it out like Scott mentioned. Dremel make these small metal cutoff wheels you can get at lots of hardware stores around here.

 

[Slapperbar]

Scott is right. Not that it needs to be reiterated, slice it CAREFULLY and it'll pop out. Trust us.

In the welding world we call it "blue lining". Grind it until the cut turns into a blue line. Really thin discolored metal.