Topic: All Ballz Tapered Bearing Help!

[briancwynn]

All, the bottom bearding does not want to slide down to the bottom and I don't want to destroy the bearing trying to bang it on. How do others get this down? The races went in great.

[Johnie]

Works good to put the triple into the freezer for a while. Here is the tapered bearing thread that floats around a lot. Very informative...
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=1516.525

[strynboen]

yes and put the bearing in the oven ..then it falls in...but be hurry..it must fit in sekunds..or it get stuck halfvay

[750cafe]

TT in freezer for a hour and bearing in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour.
Use a piece of pipe that rests on the inner part of the bearing and clears the steering head to install.
Do not drop the bearing or burn yourself.

Eric

[Stev-o]

I used a piece of PVC pipe, no oven or freezer needed.

[Johnie]

I used only the triple in the freezer and the PVC. No heat on the bearing and worked fine.

[setdog]

$3 piece of precut PVC from home depot, about 2ft long, over the stem, washer from kit
Over the bearing, hit it 2lb sledge.  Done.  I took a washer to HD to find right size diameter PVC.

[Jayelwin]

[oldhatt45]

Here is a downloadable pdf copy of Kirkn's Tapered Bearing Installation THread.
Suggest reading and printing it out.

Charlie

[Jayelwin]

Most people's banging down method will put impact pressure on the cage of the bearing holding the balls. I think this is a mistake. All the pressure needs to only go onto the inner part of the bearing assembly. I adressed this in my video with a thin washer I made.

[Dunk]

Pipe is best. I think when I did mine I just used a small drift and worked around the lower tree with the drift against it and worked around the diameter. Went on pretty easy for me. if it's really difficult to get on check for any burrs and file them smooth and also emasure the ID of bearing vs OD of the tree. I haven't measured it but interference should be a couple thousandths at most.

[oldhatt45]

If you read Kirkn's thread (attached above) the PVC that he uses (and I used when I did mine) is just slightly smaller than the Steering Stem (in the bearing area) in diameter.  Consequently when you slit the PVC lengthwise, it sits against the steering stem with about an eighth of an inch opening in the PVC.  So, when you hammer either end, the PVC is working on the inner race of the bearing and not the cage.  All in all, Kirkn's method works out very nicely.

Charlie

[briancwynn]

All, the PVC did the job. Thank you for the help.  I did have to bang pretty hard for it to go down. But no damage seen on the bearing and rotation is free.  Thanks again.

[tennesseebreeze]

I took a minuscule amount off the interior of the bearing with a Dremel and a sanding disc bit. I took my time and just ran the tool around with even pressure for each pass. Worked great with a snug fit.

[tfrasca]

Pipe is by far the easiest. I just used A heavy piece of plumbing pipe, and an appropriately-sized washer that only contacted the inner race.

For some reference, this is the "official" tool to seat lower races on bicycle forks. Basically a pipe with some washers: