R65LS Swinging Arm Bearings

[gra]

 Does anyone have any tips for me trying to remove the outer shell of my very worn swinging arm bearings? I have tried heated up the swingarm, using a Dremel drill to split them but are stuck solid. I guess these are the original bearings seeing that they are so firmly stuck in there. My LS has 63k miles on it from UK roads, so am having an 'interesting' time bringing it back to shape after obvious years of neglect by a previous owner. I think there may a few other gremlins hiding in her but I will battle on to the end. Any advice for this newcomer gratefully received.  Gra

[R65Guy]

I've never had to remove mine so these are just ideas - no experience.  I presume you don't have a puller.  Can you get to the backside with a drift and punch them out?  How about heating things and then applying ice to the bearing race to shrink it.

Good Luck!  Neal

[gra]

Thanks, can't get into the inside of the arm, so the drift idea ain't a goer.... tried heat and ice, did this when removing my old steering head bearings too - they eventually came out too with help of my dremmel and splitting then bashing them out with a really hard driver and mallet. When they came out they came out in a few pieces, and came out fast. I thought this might work for the swing arm bearings too ... I'll try again this weekend this method as I don't have a puller. Maybe I should invest in one of those for the future... are the pricey?  Gra

[R65Guy]

Good brand name ones can be pricey but there are also cheaper ones that should work well too.  I presume there is a lip on the backside that the puller can grip.  I have 2 or 3 pullers but I never seem to have the correct size when I need one  - you will need a smaller one.

[thrang]

When I did Bimbo's swing arm bearings first time round I took the arm to a little engineering work shop in Sunderland and got them to pull them for me.  They only charged me a couple of quid  which was just as well as I was a student and could not afford a puller. Since you're in Honley why don't you give motorworks a ring as they are bound to know someone who can yank them locally, since they used to be based the old school house.
Cheers
Tony

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I never thought about taking the swingarm someplace to have them removed.  That is brilliant!

If not a machine shop - anyplace that can run a bead of weld around the inside of the race.
When it cools, it shrinks the diameter of the race enough that it should fall out.

You can then use it as a drift to seat the new outer race.

[gra]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll some of them out.