Modern Vespa

While I wait for my next trip back to Melbourne I am doing my planning for putting my ET3 engine back together.

Most posts and videos suggest fitting bearings cold from freezer and a hot casing 1 using a chuck/socket with a hammer to drive the bearing home.

Can you use a bearing puller to pull them into their seat instead of hammering them in ? Or does the cold bearing and hot casing heat up/ cool down to quickly to pull it in effectively?


Sorry if this has been asked before.



Paul

there are some bearings that can be pulled into place with a little bit of fiddling about and cobbling together a washer/jack screw arrangement. but, for the most part a puller is just that: a puller.

personally I use either dedicated factory drifts, after market "universal" sets or just regular ass sockets.

either way, heating one and freezing the other makes life easy and you'll find the stuff damn near falls into place.

just no open flame on bearings or seals and use a small hammer.

Thanks Greasy. A bearing drift it is then.

I'm at a similar point in my rebuild. Have a read on my bearing adventures.

VNB5 rebuild project

The main thing I would say is if using any kind of force to install a bearing would be to avoid having the force transferred through rolling elements of the bearing.

In other words if the inner race is being installed over a shaft force should be applied to the inner race and not the outer race. If the bearing is being installed in a housing the force should be applied to the outer race.

Which ever is being used a steady pressure is better that impacts. Yes there are times when one has to use a hammer but in that case try to keep the tool that is against the beard tight and do not hit directly on the bearing.

" The main thing I would say is if using any kind of force to install a bearing would be to avoid having the force transferred through rolling elements of the bearing."

Absolutely.

being an agent of chaos, I generally will approve of and even employ the violence. however in this situation, discretion is better suited. big heavy drift, smallest hammer you can get away with. use wood or your body to support the work piece.

as with life: lube, pressure and angle of attack will get you there.

Well and truly, words to live by. Tequila also helps. Or is that redundant to lube?

No

^^^
a multiplier to great effect.