Bearing Buddy Removal Suggestions

[Russ05]

Tomorrow I'm going to assist a friend pull the hub's on his dual axle Magic Tilt trailer . There are Bearing Buddy grease seals installed and my question is how easy, or difficult, is it to remove these ? Access to the carter pin and spindel nut is hampered by the housing on the " Buddy ". Initial inspection concludes that too much persuasion on the Bearing Buddy housing could cause it to go out of round and affect the integrity of the internal C-clip's and spring assembly. If anyone has experience with this exercise I would appreciate your comments. We are reconditioning this trailer and replacing the wheel bearings. I know the replacement cost of the " Buddies" is not excessive but just hate to destroy a piece of working equipment if there is an "insiders technique" to save them.


Thanks for any replies !!

[WildeOne]

Walk it out by tapping in one spot, rotate 1/4 turn, tap, keep repeating until it's out. Very easy. BTW, don't try brute force methods or you can wreck the spindle housing or the Bearing Buddy. Very easy!

[Tedj101]

WildeOne - 5/26/2007 11:15 PM

Walk it out by tapping in one spot, rotate 1/4 turn, tap, keep repeating until it's out. Very easy. BTW, don't try brute force methods or you can wreck the spingle housing or the Bearing Buddy. Very easy!

This is exactly right! (I also use a soft hammer...)

TED

[Drydocked]

Tedj101 - 5/26/2007 6:19 PM

This is exactly right! (I also use a soft hammer...)

TED

Or a block of wood to cushion the hammer blows.

You also have to tap them back in. I put the wood block over the end and tap them in that way.

[rwidman]

Another way is to slip a piece of pipe anout 12" long over the bearing protector (use the smallest size that fits) and hit that with the hammer.