Swing arm bearings

[Rasputin]

Any tips or ideas that make the removal of the swing arm outer races easier?

Frame is off to powder coat tomorrow and while I am going to replace these bearings, I am wondering if there are any easy solutions for removal. Should I leave them in and remove them after the blasting and powder coating is done? Should I remove them before and mask it off?
Any input from anyone with experience with powder coating is more than welcome. Thanks.

[crazy steve]

The shaft side race isn't all that bad to get out, but I have yet to find a non-destructive way to remove the brake side. I've tried long screwdrivers and punches, but you can't get enough 'angle' to get a bite on the race. It just knocks the edges off the tool....

The only thing I think of where you won't risk chewing up the machined bore where the race fits would be to try running some weld beads (with a wire feed) on the race to 'shrink' it. Or just weld a heavy washer in there to give you something to beat against.

Unless the races are pitted, I'd leave them. These almost never wear out and the only damage you'll usually find is light surface rust (which will usually clean off) or if somebody badly overtightened the bearings and mashed the rollers (which rarely hurts the races). Because of the limited range of motion, new bearings on the old races should be fine.

If you are determined the change the races, I'd pull them before coating. No matter which you do, mask the holes. I built a 'fixture' that both protects and masks the races and keeps powder out of the recess for the seals during blasting/coating.

[CaptonZap]

I made a puller out of 1/2 inch all thread, washers, and a piece of steel that was cut to shape. The trick is to get the piece of steel into the tube and down to the race on the right side. I took the idea of the washer with one side cut off, as used in the back lugs of the frame, which holds something on. and cut the steel piece so that it could be inserted through the hole in the u-joint housing on the left side, held the piece with a magnet on a stick, then inserted the all thread from the outside, through the steel piece, a nut put on, the whole assembly pulled out until the steel piece caught the race, a deep socket or piece of pipe, slightly larger inside than the out side diameter of the outer race, put over the all thread, a large fender washer put on to cover the end of the pipe/socket, a nut run down, and then you just keep the all thread from turning, run the outside nut down, and it pulls the race out.
The piece of steel was a piece of 3/4 in by 3/4 in bar stock, cut long enough so that the ends could be radiused to fit through the inside hole of the race socket. I used the bearing socket on the left side as a pattern to grind the steel to fit, assuming that the right side socket would have the same size lip, and so it did. Drill a slightly larger than 1/2 in hole through the center of the steel piece, and you are good to go. You have to grind the back side of the piece so that it looks like a fat Woodruff key with a hole through the center. This allows you to insert it through the hole that allows access to the cross tube and get it back into the plane of the race, before you insert the all thread. The race only sticks inside the socket shoulder by about 3/64ths inch, so you have to be fairly precise on your grinding of the steel piece. I turned mine on the lathe, but some careful file/grinder work would accomplish the same thing.
Most of you won't want to go through the work of making one for what you hope is a one time job, but I enjoy making special tools for jobs which are important for long term reliability of the machine.
And mostly I'm cheap, and this allowed me to reuse the seals, since they came out with the bearing and races.
And any of the xsives in the neighborhood are welcome to borrow the puller.
CZ, (who is part of the tool making group on the evoluntionary tree.)

[Rasputin]

I took the swing arm to a welder buddy I have. He ran a quick bead around the bearing races. They simply fell out! Fred's age old advice kept ringing in my head about this problem as I watched dumb-founded how easily a bearing race can be removed.
Thanks for the reminder Steve as that is exactly what I did.
Now to decide whether to powder coat or simply paint as I missed the deadline to get in in with a batch of other stuff, so I could get the powder coating for free.

[ViperRon]

You may find if you heat the swing arm they will drop out with a tap mine did.

[Tang_Killss]

Removing the outer races before powder coating is generally a good idea. This allows for a more thorough coating job, and you won't have to worry about masking or protecting the bearing areas.

Consider using a bearing puller tool, which is designed to safely and effectively remove races from a housing. It can make the process easier and reduce the risk of damaging the swing arm.

Sometimes, heating the swing arm around the outer race and freezing the race itself can create enough temperature differential to make it easier to remove. The expansion and contraction can help loosen the race. In addition, I found a better bearing website, I hope it can help you:https://en.tradebearings.com/

[Rasputin]

Being as this originally posted over 10 yrs ago, I think I have handled it by now. Running a bead on the race face has served me well since. It is quick and easy and works on any bearing including those buggers in the steering head. To each his own, but welding a bead works like magic.

[bikerphil]

I did this a month ago, removed the races. The driveshaft side can be pulled out with a bolt and some proper sized washers and a large socket. The brake side I used an extra rear motor mount bolt, the long one that goes thru the footpegs. It grabbed the side of the race no problem while being tapped out from the other side.

I think it's great when someone revives an old thread.