How do I remove this bearing? (solved)

[MarkE]

Trying to replace the bearings on my planer cutter head. I was able to remove the one on the pulley end of the cutter head using a 3 jaw gear puller.

The bearing on the other end is pressed into a recess in the gearbox case. The cutter head shaft goes through the case and seats into the bearing.

The instructions from Grizzly say to insert a screw into the end of the shaft and tap with a hammer to slide the shaft out of the bearing. I have tapped, pounded and pleaded with it, but it will not budge. I sprayed the shaft with penetrating oil yesterday and tried to tap it out. When that didn't work I sprayed some more penetrating oil and let it sit overnight. Tried again this morning and still no luck.

Some pictures:

 

[nn4jw]

Re: How do I remove this bearing?

Did you put that bolt into the end of the shaft? If it was already there, remove it and possibly that cross piece part. Then try the method Grizzly said.

I can't tell from the picture if those parts were part of the assembly originally or not, but if not...

 

[MarkE]

Re: How do I remove this bearing?

The bolt in the end of the shaft was added by me, following the Grizzly instructions. Probably to protect the end of the shaft and the threads in the end of the shaft.
There is no cross piece on the end of the shaft. The end of the shaft has flats machined to accept a helical gear that is screwed onto the end of the shaft using the threaded hole that the bolt is now screwed into.

 

[Raymond]

Re: How do I remove this bearing?

Can you use a brass drift pin from the back side to try and beat it out?

 

[MarkE]

Re: How do I remove this bearing?

No access to the back side of the bearing. It is pressed into a recess if the gear box case casting. The end shaft of the cutter head goes through the gear box casting and into seats in the bearing. The diameter of the cutter head blocks any access to the back side of the bearing. You can see the small gap between the cutter head and the gear box case in the first picture.

 

[Charlie]

Re: How do I remove this bearing?

Take 2 small chisels (or screwdrivers, anything tapered), and insert between the end of the cutterhead and bearing. Insert them 180 degrees from each other and slowly and equally tap them in.

 

[MarkE]

Re: How do I remove this bearing?

Thanks everyone. Charlies plan worked like a charm. Thanks so much!

Now to put this thing back together.

 

[ehpoole]

Re: How do I remove this bearing?

Buy or rent a slide hammer at your local auto parts store (or online, they are handy for equipment maintenance and not all that expensive) to grasp the inner race and see if you can slide the bearing out and off the shaft (provided you plan to replace the bearing, which you will need to do anyhow if you’ve had to pound on the shaft). If that does not work, try heating the bearing (remove your bolt first if using heat with a slide hammer), the shaft should cool a bit faster than the bearing given its greater mass. To actually extract the bearing you may well need to remove the screw above if it is retaining the bearing.

Or at least that is what I would try. Interference fit parts are often a hassle to disassemble since heat may well have been used in the original assembly. You will likely also need heat to reinstall the new cbearings and remember that if you need to pound a bearing in you never want to apply force across the bearing balls (only hammer on the inner race when installing in the shaft and in the outer race when installing the bearing in its receiving cup (a common trick if you don’t have a bearing driver kit is to use appropriately sized ratchet sockets).

If all else fails take the assembly to a machine shop where they have presses and a lot more experience.

I wish you all the best as it can get frustrating sometimes since these are tasks most of us don’t get a lot of experience dealing with so we never get to learn all the tricks. God knows I’m familiar with the frustration!

Edit: I missed the final post, congratulations!