Bearing Removal (blind bearing on widecase 450)

[captainkcorb]

I heated my cases per the recommended procedures and found it fairly straightforward to get the bearings out. On the right side case the rear transmission bearing (output shaft) took some persuasion as the case was lightly 'peened' over the bearing from the factory. This is visible in the first photo.

The forward (mainshaft?) bearing resides in a blind hole and there is no way to encourage it to come out without a blind bearing puller. One was kindly offered by a club member but I found a procedure that works well so I've taken a couple of pictures for anyone with interest.

Here's the bearing I was having trouble with:



I started with a 3/8 carriage bolt and crudely machined a 17mm lip on it so it would locate inside the bearing.



Then I welded it to the inner race of the bearing. On my first try I just tacked it on but that was not sufficient. It required a full weld that is visible in the last picture.



Once secured it's into the scrap bin for a suitable piece of pipe (ID larger than the bearing OD), any plate with a hole in it, and (optionally) a washer to ease the turning of the nut.



The family oven worked great to heat the case up to 270, then a few turns on the nut and the bearing slid reluctantly out. The required full weld is visible in this last shot.



Start to finish and including the reweld it took about an hour. It essentially cost nothing as the bits were all found in the scrap bin. If you've got the proper blind puller that's what to use but given their cost and the fact that the bearing is getting replaced anyway, this has been a decent workaround.

Cheers,

Brock