a quick tip.... removing steering stem bearing races

[nd4spdbh]

Alright, well heres the story, i have my crf250x an 04, and have put many many miles on her, been a great bike. well about 6 months back i felt as if the steering was a lil too sloppy so i tightened the preload on the steering stem... just a little to much, and put some flat spots in the bearings and races.... which made it hard to ride in a straight line as the steering was literally notched.

so i ordered some bearings n races and got to tearing the bike down etc.... come time to remove the races from the frame i sit there doing a lil of this

i had all of about 2mm of lip around the bearing race to actually get ahold of... the slide hammer i have is a cheapie and none of the attachments are strong enough. I tried some punches... no work... and i even had a great setup with a flat head screw driver and long socket with extension that i could pound on real good... the things wernt budging.

So i went to class for the day, defeated at the project.... i come home and start searching online on how to remove bearing races... theres the weld trick to contract the race to get it to pop out... or the use of dry ice to cool the race down to contract it so it slides out.

Now i have a mig welder at my disposal... but was not going to go to that right away... and dry ice is hard to find localy where i am, so i got to thinking.... then the light bulb turned on.

CANNED AIR UPSIDE DOWN!!!!

Yup thats right, canned air upside down to spray the races with the -25*C fluid... sure as shit i had a thing of canned air in my stash of computer stuff (i am a big computer geek) went out and liberally sprayed the races, used my flat head screwdriver and long socket extension and both of the races came right out.



so for anyone stuck on getting bearing races out (pun intended) go grab a thing or two of canned air to shrink the races enough so they just about slide out.

Hope my tip / struggles help someone down the road.

[XRCajun]

Seems a little strange that if you would cause the race to constrict that it would become loose on the neck. Seems like the neck should have been constricted to make the race loose.

[nd4spdbh]

Originally Posted by XRCajun

Seems a little strange that if you would cause the race to constrict that it would become loose on the neck. Seems like the neck should have been constricted to make the race loose.

sorry i should clarify... this was removing the races from the neck tube in the frame... so constricting the races made their OD smaller which mad them easier to push out.

[XRCajun]

Originally Posted by nd4spdbh

sorry i should clarify... this was removing the races from the neck tube in the frame... so constricting the races made their OD smaller which mad them easier to push out.

Got it! I was think off of the stem.

[Stutz]

Park Tool Co. » RT-2 : Head Cup Remover- Oversized : Headset

[nd4spdbh]

Originally Posted by Stutz

Park Tool Co. » RT-2 : Head Cup Remover- Oversized : Headset

ah another great option.

The problem with the neck in the CRF250x, is that that the lip isnt really exposed, beyond the lip the inner diameter decreases quite a bit in a relative short distance.... so such a tool probably wouldnt be able to get a grip on the actual lip.

But another great option none the less.