Tri-z lower stem bearing help...please!

[retiredmxer]

I'm trying to get this up to a rolling chasis but I'm stuck at getting the lower race out of the steering stem. I searched but couldn't really find anything definitive. I've tried to get a punch or even a long screwdriver to catch a lip so I can pound it out, but no success. Next I tried to cut it into pieces with a dremmel in hopes that I could get a punch on one of the cut notches. Still couldn't get that to work. Anyone have any ideas on how to get this out?

I've attached some pics of the frame upside down so you can see the race.

Thanks for any ideas as I'm all out at this point :confused:

[DeePa]

when dirtcrasher removed mine he took a dremel with a gridning wheel and made a notch in the head tube just above the bearing race so he could get a punch down onto the race and drive it out.

[retiredmxer]

No worries about that weakening the head tube? Have you had any issues?

Thanks for the help too

[johnny's X]

Torches! heat the race up and it will shrink enough that you should be able to break it loose.

[Lukeatc185]

i buy cans of Co2, heat up the head tube and race. when there both nice and hot. spray the co2 (kinda like frozen air) directly onto the peice of bearing thats stuck. it will get cooled way faster then the head tube. and in most cases you can hear it crack loose. and it should just pop out.

[fabiodriven]

Torches! heat the race up and it will shrink enough that you should be able to break it loose.

If he heats anything it would have to be the stem, not the race. Heat expands metal, cold contracts it.

[fabiodriven]

i buy cans of Co2, heat up the head tube and race. when there both nice and hot. spray the co2 (kinda like frozen air) directly onto the peice of bearing thats stuck. it will get cooled way faster then the head tube. and in most cases you can hear it crack loose. and it should just pop out.

Not a bad idea.

[Lukeatc185]

the co2 cans i buy have the tube from the nozzle like WD40 cans have. so you can easily cool just the bearing peice. i use it for any locked metal on metal.

[retiredmxer]

That co2 sounds like a good idea. Where do you get those cans of it?

[Lukeatc185]

i get them at computer places. the stuff to blow out your keyboards.

[johnny's X]

i was thinking heh would let it cool and the race would shrink

[Dirtcrasher]

The notch I ground was teenie tiny and there wasn't another way we could think of....

I'm starting to forget all the chit Mike and I worked on :lol:

[mike from long island]

Why were you trying to remove it in the first place?

[Yamaha_Rules69]

Another way would be to bring it to a machine shop where they have a BIG drill press. They would have to use a really big drill bit, but with any luck they will have one that size. You would be suprised how easy the drill would take it out. I had to have somthing like that done once, and it only cost me $20. I tried heating it, beating the piss out of it for two hours, making a puller, and no go, so I gave in, and the drill had it out in 5 minutes. Good luck.

[honda250sx]

For all you Rookies...

This is what the pro's use.
http://www.motorcycletoolchest.com/Park_Tool_Steering_Race_Remover_1_1_1_2_p/rt-1.htm

[dmotoxrider]

That's a pretty cool tool. Might have to get one. I ended up using a dremel on mine also.

[DeePa]

if there is no lip to grab how does it work?

[honda250sx]

There is always a lip. They are designed to be replaceable.

[Dirtcrasher]

I'll tell, there was ZERO lip on Mikes' Z - Like I said it was a very small groove which harmed nothing, but I like that tool yet I can't see how it would have worked for us??

Drills don't remove hardened races. Carbide tooling with the neck bolted on a mill is a possibility though.......

[DeePa]

there is no lip on the z lower steering stem bearing race

[sblt500r]

i just removed my tecate steering races. no lip to get a punch on. so i welded a scrap peice of steel across the center of each race, then took a punch and hit the scrap steel from the opposite side. came right out. heat from welding and a easy place to put the punch made them slide right out.

[retiredmxer]

I just wanted to thank everyone that replied with ideas...I tried to heat the stem and race, and then selectively cool just the race with the compressed air...didn't work for me. I then pulled out the dremmel and made a small groove just above the race. I was able to get a long screwdriver on it and then tap it out.

[Tri-z addict]

I got my mig welder out and welded two big blobs of weld each side on the face of the race, so i had something for the punch to hit it out!! it worked a treat and the heat from the welds helped too!!