MTFCA Forum

I have a 24' Touring that I am in the process of changing out a front wheel bearing. It had a Timken roller bearing that was badly packed so it was shot and has the old inner and outer cup in place for the roller bearings. I am replacing the bearing with another Timken roller bearing. My question is how do you know if the race needs to be replaced. Where do find the wear on these cups or races? I have been reading in some of the forums in order to get the race or the inner or outer cup out you need to really heat up the race and let it cool and it should fall out. Looking for any advice as to leaving the current race in place or replacing them along with the new bearings and if I do need to replace them the what is best way to get them out. I don't have a welder as I have read some people used a mig welder to heat up the cup. Thanks for reading!!!

The cup is the cheapest part of the set-up. I would not fit a new and expensive roller to a used cup.

On a 24 model, the hubs should have two reliefs on the inside of the hub which will allow you to use a round drift/ pin punch to drive the bearing cups out of the hub. They are not usually a problem. The weld/heating trick may be necessary to get the cups out of earlier hubs which do not have reliefs to allow access to the inner edges of the cups.

Allan from down under.

The reliefs that Allan mentions can be seen in this photo of the hub. The arey the slots inside the hub.


You come in from behind with the drift, through the hub, and try to get on to the back of the race. Then hit the drift with a hammer, occasionally alternating sides. I found it challenging to get good contact with the back of the race, so I modified a drift on the grinder.


Be careful with heat. A friend of mine just had a hub ruined that way, but many others swear by it, including many of our T gurus here in the forum.

A little more detail and forum responses with my struggle with races can be found here. It starts out as a discussion about loose races, but removing the races from the second hub was a challenge.

Thanks Allan for your advice, my gut was telling me what you were advising in needing to match a good new cup with the new bearing but my eyes were the little devill on my other shoulder telling me that looks like too much work. But your explanations and pictures helped. I am not going the heat route. I feel like there could be more damage to the hub in that whole process. Arbs, I really appreciate the pictures and the thread you posted of your last adventure. Definitely going to have to modify my drift like you had pictured as I was not seeing the right angle to make contact on the race from the back side. Much appreciated gentlemen!!!

The race is cheap. When installing a new race, some people place the old race face to face with the new race. This helps to apply pressure evenly so the new race goes in nice n straight.

A rubber hammer on a drift? I live and learn, perhaps. Hard nylon maybe, but the riving force is better coming from a real hammer.

At a club function a bearing company representative eschewed even using a brass drift. They can chip, leaving nasty bits in the works. A steel drift was his recommendation.

Allan from down under.

Simply use a steel or other hard head hammer to drive the bearing cups out with a drift as shown above. Not sure its even possible to remove bearing cups using a rubber hammer. You will need to alternate your hits from one side of the bearing cup to the other in order to remove it.

It can be (quite) difficult to get a drift in those little notches to apply the right impact to the race. In that case, the welding trick works well. I don't think it heats up the hub excessively since you are just welding short beads to the race. Just don't weld your race to the hub!

Welding a bead on the race works because as the weld puddle cools, the metal shrinks, shrinking the race. Simply heating the race and letting it cool , not so much

A fellow who makes a living rebuilding old cars welds a short piece of steel across the race then taps against that from behind to remove it.

If you want to use the old race to set the new, grind a little off the outside of the old so it doesn't stick.

If your new race fits slightly loose (but you can still screw the hubcap on) you can secure the new race with Loctite 660 which is designed for that purpose.

Read and understand the Ford Service book on the subject.

Here's what the Ford Service tool looks like for installing new races.

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Langs