Wheels, bearings and know how....or lack of it

[Monstyr]

I'm trying to clean up my tatty wheels and the only way to get them done properly is to have them grit blasted as it will take me forever to do it by hand.
To enable this the bearings need to be removed from both wheels, a job that is beyond me as I dont have the tools or the know how to do this without causing disaster like I've read elsewhere on this site. The visible wheel furniture is off already and the front wheel circlip is out already, dont know if the speedo worm drive comes off or not
The nearest bike shop to me is twenty odd miles away and I'd like to be able to tell them if theres any particular knack to removing these that may otherwise catch them out.While I'm assuming their general level of competence is OK I'm not expecting them to know about every model so any info I can give them will help make the job easier.
I think the front bearings are new(ish) and different in appearance to the rear ones where I can see the balls amongst the grease.

I've already read about replacement bearing sizes (6202 6203 off the top of my head,but I'd look that up again)

Hopefully after they're out I can get the wheels cleaned and painted before asking the same shop to refit new bearings.


As with the finest of projects it's these irritatingly necessary side jobs that are bumping the cost of everything upwards while slowing overall progress to a snails pace.

[Monstyr]

Does the speedo transmission/ worm drive come off the wheel, if so how?

[EVguru]

The only way to get the speedo drive off is to trash the wheel, or use liquid nitrogen.

If you don't trust the blaster to mask off the drive, then don't trust them with the wheels.

The bearings come out fairly easily although it helps to heat the hub.

You need to push the spacer to one side to get a drift to the bearing (alternating sides to drive the bearing out evenly), or you can use a suitably sized rawl bolt as an expanding driver.

[3potjohn]

I used the big rawlbolt approach.This was easy. Local bearing chap sold me double sealed stainess bearings.Much easier than my BMW's tapered roller set up.

[HoveActually]

If you want to be sure not to risk splitting the speedo drive as you knock the bearing out that side, either heat the wheel as EVGuru suggests or simply use a dremel to gently grind the inside of the hub underneath where the speedo drive sits. By gently, I mean you need to remove less than 0.5mm evenly all round.

[Monstyr]

Thanks for the advice chaps, though the wheel went to the workshop the day after my first post, so I will find out how they got on when I get back home from a few days on Mull.
I have to admit I'm not following the rawbolt idea, if it makes any difference the front bearings seem quite new so must have been replaced in the last few years, hopefully that'll make them less problematic to remove.

[3potjohn]

get the large size rawlbolt,insert into the bearing,expand to grip the inner race and after heating the hub use a drift through the wheel on the bolt to knock the race out

[Monstyr]

Well, a phone call to the workshop has let me know they haven't been able to shift the bearings and dont want to force them so I'm off out to pick up my wheels now.
I am a bit disappointed but somehow not surprised after reading some of the stuff on this site about wheel bearings.

I'm not an experienced rebuilder and cannot picture what you guys are describing or how you managed your wheels therefore its very hard for me to offer any constructive help to the workshop, just saying 'add heat' isn't really much use, how much heat and to where precisely.

Looks like I have a long and dull job of manually stripping these wheels as its now my only option before getting them repainted, again my only option now.
At least I wont have to disturb these damn bearings that way.

[chirpy999]

Dont give up Monstyr, this is not a difficult job to do yourself. I cannot believe a workshop cannot get them out.
Check out youtube for plenty of information on wheel bearing removal.

Dont waste hours refurbishing your wheels, if it comes to the worst get the wheels repainted then change the bearings.

[Monstyr]

I'm just back in from the workshop(its the nearest one to me and its twenty odd miles away) and they have agreed to have another go at it. I sat with them and found the PDF parts diagram on their computer and on Monday they will phone NLM and ask them how to get the bearings out.

They are a decent independant dealers and I'm happy to trust them with the work, they just dont want to break anything in the process and are being cautious.

The wheels themselves are very tatty and need properly cleaned, the paint is flaky and missing and theres a bit of corrosion visible too so idealy they ought to be blasted- thats my next problem after this as there doesn't seem to be anywhere in southern Scotland that does anything other than shot blasting though one place said they do grit if thats suitable. I'm very reluctant to post them anywhere and prefer to go to the workshop that'll do the work.



Do you have any links to specific youtube vids on morini wheels?

[72degrees]

I had to do the front wheel bearings on mine last year for the MoT and I know they had never been changed before in 30 years so was dreading it. No problem though once I had heated things up. Perhaps cast wheels are easier because there is more alloy to expand - though it needs more heat input? Anyway, I heat mine (same procedure on my YZs) by pouring boiling water in to the 'hub' and waiting until the alloy becomes uncomfortably hot to touch before trying to get things moving. As Evguru said the first thing is to shift the spacer bewteen the bearings out of the way. Levering with a strong screwdriver always works for me. Support the wheel on two pieces of 4 x 4 timber or similar to avoid damage (particularly to the speedo worm gear). Then using the rawlbolt dodge or a suitable drift and a club hammer drive one of the bearings out from the 'other' side if you see what I mean. Once one is out the spacer will be free for removal. The other side is then much easier to get at.

You made sure the circlip was out but also clean up any corrosion first before trying removal. You could also try the trick I use for getting needle roller suspension linkage bearings out. After heating as hot as you can get (though that can't be as hot just with boiling water as you can do with a bare alloy linkage by popping it in the oven) try spraying the bearing with Holts 'Shock & Unlock' freezing/penetrating spray. This cools the steel bearing quickly and promotes differential contraction away from the wheel. Then quickly set about it with drift and hammer. Once you can get one to shift just a fraction you know you are winning and all will be well.