mk7 rwd spigot bearing

[flyingclutchman]

Faced with the task of removing the remains of the spigot bearing has anyone any tips before I start drilling holes in the casing. As well as being a sturdy item access isn't exactly great

[karl]

weld a bolt to the inside,another mechanic who i work with came up with the idea

[flyingclutchman]

yeah I can see how that might work, haven't got the facilities for that I'm afraid.

[karl]

yeah I can see how that might work, haven't got the facilities for that I'm afraid.

to be honest its the only way if it knackered

[Airthies]

Yep old fashioned but tried and tested way of removing bearings from inside a housing. when you weld round the inside the weld shrinks as it cools reducing the outer size of the bearing.
Not seen the size of one of these before but you could use a allenbolt (as there much harder) and grind down the head to try and catch the back of the bearing then put it in and hammer a second bolt down the side of it jam it in there so you can pull it out using a nut and bar like in the pic or a sliding hammer. It's surprising what you can make one out of if you have a wee bit of imagination

[flyingclutchman]

The problem is the shape of the outer housing. (the bearing itself has been removed) Unusually this design has a 'back' to the casing, and it's quite solid. I could try drilling a suitable hole in it, tapping a thread in it and putting a bolt into it I suppose.

[karl]

wont work its a dead bearing and up tight to the fly wheel

[Airthies]

Are they ball or needle bearings?

[karl]

Are they ball or needle bearings?

needle

[Airthies]

They don't look very big by your pic Karl? Could a you get a big rawlbolt into it? Tighten it then drag that out?

[karl]

they look small but belive me its a mission to get them out once they are knackered, we tryed many options including tapping a big tap to the cavity wall of the bearing but was to tight so,austin came up with welding a bolt in it to extract it, a freind of mine who owns a garge and hes had the same problem and uses the same method as the picture above

[Airthies]

Yea been welding bearing cups since I was an apprentice, but if you don't have the luxury of a welder it doesn't help much.
Other ways I've taken out needle bearing shells:
V-small hook/heel/pry bar or old screw driver bent at 90 degree hammered in behind back lip then twist sideways (rather than pulling against blade) then just keep working round it moving out slowly and something under back of screwdriver to take up gap?

Snap/crack/break off outer lip at least a third of diameter and sharpen a round punch to a nice angle then force it down the back of the shell. It's hard to get it started but once it starts they tend to collapse fairly well . through most of its depth releasing enough pressure to again using above method to force it out.

Die grinder/drill with grinding stone rather than carbide bit, grind down the shell at one point to make shell weak and again sharp round punch/chisle as above.

If it's got a thick shell and you can find something that fits well and seals and can drill/tap/screw in a grease nipple then force the whole lot out with a grease gun. Not easy......

Hey flyingclutchman how'd you get on?

[flyingclutchman]

not tried it yet. A garage who I often work for told me they use some sort of grinding bit on these. I won't have access to mains power so it's going to have to be done cordless.

[flyingclutchman]

update. I did get access to mains power which was a good job as I was at it for a couple of hours. I bought a tungsten burr to cut through the sides. This casing is mega tough and about 2mm thick. Eventually I worked out ( after grinding off half the casing) that if you cut through the casing on both sides you can wedge a 1" cold chisel in and lever against it. It came out bit by bit. I never want to do one of theses again!

[trannyfreak]

I got the same problem