Axle Bearing Service - Dos and Dont's???

CharlesinGA wrote:
Race drivers are cheap and readily available. I used a punch and care for many years, till I bought a race driver set. Night and day difference. Can drive the race in a couple of good hits and move on to the next one, and no worries about anything slipping and damaging the race or your fingers.

I gave up doing things the hard way.

Since most auto parts stores have them in the loan pool, why fight it?

For seals I use a wood block and hammer to get it started and then off to the arbor press with a socket that sits just right on the seal.

JRscooby wrote:
The only "special" tool I grab is a punch, long enough to reach thru hub, leave room to hold. Needs a flat point, to catch the edge of race. And works better if it is something hard, tool steel, so it will transfer the impact to race, not distort or bounce around. Mine is long enough that I can catch the seal thru bearing, and pop it out.

Though I do not own any, Snap On actually makes punches specifically for bearing race removal that are oval tipped. Not cheap but if you do a lot of bearing races, its probably worth having. I miss the older auto hubs with notches cast into them behind the races to give you full access to the back side of the race,

Back when I was doing maybe a couple dozen axles a year, I had all the tools to do it fast and easy. (Many times, before I grabbed the hammer I would run a bead 1/3 of the way around on race. The heat break loc-tight, weld pull reduce the chance of damage to alloy hub.)
Down at the landscapers shop, there are tools I made to use press to install races and seals. The kid I trained can handle them pretty quick. But how often does the average person looking at this site service bearings? I do mine every other year.