Front wheel inner race removal

[autotec]

Alright, I'm going to stop looking at things on my bike. Everything I look at or check, needs work. The only thing left on my bike is the case, trans and rear wheel. (Done venting now)

I have tried every puller, tool in my tool box to remove the inner race from my front wheel. (97 Softail) I googled it and a bunch of people have had luck welding a bead around the inside of the race. Then when the weld cools, it shrinks pulling the race in. It should just fall out then. Has anyone tried this? I spent 4 hours just trting to remove 1 race with no luck. I really need a beer......

[gruss]

not saying it will work in this case, but over the past many years, i've used a little trick that involves dry ice...
with the outer hub at room temps or higher ( i suggest placing a portable heater in front ) heat the entire hub assembly for one hour.

this will give you time to prepare your dry ice chunk, that is just the right size to fit the front of the race....( be careful that you dont get freezer burn )

once the hub is heated up, lay it down with the race facing up, and place the dry ice on the inner race...Let sit for 2 minutes, or until the bulk of the ice is consumed.....remove any left over ice, quickly place the puller into the race, and pull it out....

again, i've used this method on many different bearings, and it has worked every time.....

the dry ice is so cold, that the bearing race will shrink as much as 10 %.....good luck, and post up the results for us.....g

[steveston]

Gotta agree with Gruss...The dry ice is a favourite in the aviation business for bearing installs and removals...

[autotec]

Thanks for the responses guys, I finally figured it out this morning. It turns out when the prior owner had the wheels chrome plated, they never removed the races. This in turn glued the races in with chrome. What I finally did was scribe the chrome right where it met the race, heated it up enough to crack the chrome right where the scribe was. Then I had to weld a large washer right to the race and use my slide hammer to extract it. It was a huge PITA. But it's done, the wheel is back on and now I can start putting my engine together.