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Useful hack for blind bearing removal: Hot cross buns! V7 Swing arm bearing

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lewisham_phil:
Well I didn't hold out much hope for this, but I saw it suggested by a Canadian dirt bike mechanic who often pops up on my facebook feed, and he always seems to know what he's doing. When I find out his name I'll credit him..
Anyway, I don't have a blind puller, so I gave it a try: A slice of bread, well squished up, then poked into the bearing centre, until it is filled (other bakery products would be suitable; I actually didn't have any bread, and used a hot cross bun, complete with raisins). Then take the swing arm pivot pin, and wallop it into the inner race - DON'T bottom it out; you're basically applying force against the back face of the bearing outward. Before it bottoms out, remove the pin, pack more bread paste in, and repeat. After about five top-ups, it began to move, and after half a hot-cross bun, it came out. It was quite corroded in too, as shown on the images, so I think there was quite some force going on.
Note that you do need a close fitting 'piston', like the pivot pin, (or whatever is running in the bearing centre) to get the pressure. It certainly works on sealed bearings, not sure about unsealed. The pressure deforms the inner bearing seal as well, so don't plan on re-using if that's an issue. Clearly not an issue for mine.
After this I had a nice cup of tea, and half a bun. You can see from the image the size of puck that the other half ends up.

jrt:
That's hilarious.  Long time ago, I worked with university plumbers as a student, run-around, do-all kid.  Corky (yes, that was his name) would plug copper pipe with a piece of bread if the shutoff valve didn't work well, then solder it up to repair or whatever.  The bread would dissolve and flow out through the faucet pretty easily (remove the aerator).

I guess for this to work, there has to be a space behind the bearing to 'squish' the hot cross bun into? 
And what do you do with the icing???? 
Now I have a hankering for a hot cross bun.....

SIR REAL ED:

Sir, the inbred redneck in me salutes you!!!!  I come from a long line of cheap SOB's who would go to any length to avoid buying proper tools, and even I have not heard of using bread as an incompressible fluid to push out a bearing.

To put the icing on the cake, or hot cross bun in this case, please, please, please tell me that you went the final mile, to make my people proud and that you ate the smushed hot cross bun after you got the bearing out.

To not eat it would be a waste of money, and in many circles (perhaps even WildGuzzi) you would be thoroughly shamed and humiliated!!!

Hot cross buns do not grow on trees after all........

Oca Grassa:
Used grease and a punch a time or two to remove a pilot bearing from the end of a crankshaft. Grease as the incompressible fluid and a pin punch the same diameter as the transmission input shaft.

Heard of using bread too, from some of the old head mechanics I apprenticed with back in the 80s. Same guys who taught me about Babbitt bearings and using oatmeal to stop a coolant leak….or saw dust to quiet a noisy rear diff!

One guy bought his 1st wrench from the Snap-On truck in 1948. Another was drafted towards the end of WW2 and worked on P-51s in the Army Air Corps on Okinawa. The war ended while he aboard ship headed there.

He taught me about using inert gas to displace oxygen so he could use an oxy-acetylene torch to cut open a fuel tank and repair a broken baffle. Literally used the exhaust gas from running another truck in the shop with a hose from the tail pipe to the broken tank.

Learned a great many lessons from those guys….the majority of whom passsed on a couple decades ago now.

SIR REAL ED:

--- Quote from: Oca Grassa on May 19, 2025, 10:36:40 PM ---Used grease and a punch a time or two to remove a pilot bearing from the end of a crankshaft. Grease as the incompressible fluid and a pin punch the same diameter as the transmission input shaft.

Heard of using bread too, from some of the old head mechanics I apprenticed with back in the 80s. Same guys who taught me about Babbitt bearings and using oatmeal to stop a coolant leak….or saw dust to quiet a noisy rear diff!

One guy bought his 1st wrench from the Snap-On truck in 1948. Another was drafted towards the end of WW2 and worked on P-51s in the Army Air Corps on Okinawa. The war ended while he aboard ship headed there.

He taught me about using inert gas to displace oxygen so he could use an oxy-acetylene torch to cut open a fuel tank and repair a broken baffle. Literally used the exhaust gas from running another truck in the shop with a hose from the tail pipe to the broken tank.

Learned a great many lessons from those guys….the majority of whom passsed on a couple decades ago now.

--- End quote ---

Amen to those who grew up in hard times and passed on the secrets of "doing without" to the younger generations!!! 

Additional kudos for passing on the experience of dealing with people who possessed gruff demeanors and the philosophy of  "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words shall never hurt me!"

"Old Bill" (who was born around 1900) had his welding shop in with my father's construction business.  As a kid, I always marveled at his green Snap-On toolbox!  I wrongly assumed Snap-On's corporate color was always red.

"That's the problem with you young people, you don't remember anything!" 

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