# DiY blind bearing puller



## Ratt (Dec 22, 2003)

I apologize if this homebrew has been posted before.

I had 7902 bearings I needed to replace in a lower link. I used a 1/2" sleeved anchor.







The I.D. of the bearing is 15mm but the head the anchor was only 12.7mm and the sleeve only added 1.1mm x 2 = 14.9mm, a hair short.














I cut the sleeve in half and removed about 6mm so that I could insert it inside the original sleeve. I also made 2 additional 1" cuts in the inner sleeve so that it would expand when the wedge came against it.







Using 2 additional 3/8 nuts (Buy 3 so that you can press the bearing out too) as jam nuts to keep the bolt from turning as I turned the lower nut and expanded the anchor into the bearing. (put the wrench on the lower jam nut, its on the upper for the pics)







You could just hammer the bearing out at this point but because of the grease zirks in this link it was full of grease and I didn't feel like dealing with it. Normally I use 1" sch80 pvc and socket to push out 24mm O.D. bearings but this was a 28mm bearing. a 1" pvc coupler would have worked if I had one. I used a headset spacer and my handy 1" pvc to press the bearing out.














The bearing pulled out easy and the anchor was rock solid. The bearings came off the tool easy but on the 4th bearing I over inserted the tool and bent the fingers. Had to tap the bearing off the tool. If you put a hard stop on the tool to keep from over insertion it could last a long time.







For less than $3 I thought it was worth a try and it worked out better than I predicted it would.

You don't need to do a sleeve in a sleeve like I did, you only need maybe something .2mm thick on the wedge to help it expand further. But I do recommend getting the longest anchor you can find so to make the jam nutting easy and to use as a press if you choose. I really want to make one of these to pull my PF BB bearings out but the 3/4" anchors are only sold in 10 packs.


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## Cleared2land (Aug 31, 2012)

Excellent!

Yes, the concept of using a sleeve anchor has been addressed here before, but never with the detailed explanation and photos of the step-by-step process. Well done post!

I'm always a fan of resourceful innovation when the need presents itself.


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## Slash5 (Nov 27, 2011)

Seen it just recently but nice addition with doubling up the sleeve and using the PVC as a puller.


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## 06HokieMTB (Apr 25, 2011)

Love it


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

Nice. I've pulled bearings in a similar fashion but just with nuts, bolts (or threaded rod), washers & the PVC. One issue I've come across is when a bearing is shot or just stubborn and pulling only the inner race. If the outer race is up against a shoulder this will challenge your problem solving skills. Can you walk us through how you reset the bearings?


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## Ratt (Dec 22, 2003)

WHALENARD said:


> Nice. I've pulled bearings in a similar fashion but just with nuts, bolts (or threaded rod), washers & the PVC. One issue I've come across is when a bearing is shot or just stubborn and pulling only the inner race. If the outer race is up against a shoulder this will challenge your problem solving skills. Can you walk us through how you reset the bearings?


I generally use a bench vice. The jaws stay parallel so it seats the bearing straight everytime. I first push the bearing flush with a fender washer (if you want to get fancy use a magnet to hold everything in place), then seat the bearing with the old bearing. In the vice its really easy to tap the bearings till they line up perfectly for the final seating. Back when I was really careful I used to punch out the inner race on the old bearing so that it applies no pressure to the new inner race. If the bearing seats deep I would stick the race on a stick and let it spin off a bench grinder to take a 1/10"th off so that it will drop out after I finish. Sockets work great but the chamfered edges always bother me.

For stuck outer races I could see this method working but I can also see applying too much pressure making the race seat tighter in the bore. In the past I took a dremel and made a 80% cut (most the way in and deep) and split the ring with a screwdriver. And if that didn't work I would cut the ring with the dremel and put a good nick in the bearing seat.


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## cdn-dave (Jan 6, 2007)

Good timing and great write-up Ratt! I'm just about to attempt a bearing overhaul on my Solo...


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## Cannonf700 (Mar 13, 2020)

For anyone stumbling across this thread. I recently did a short video on using a sleeved / cement anchor as a way to grab a blind bearing and then punch the sleeve out.
Can be found here on YouTube:


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