From a race install gone bad. 
Knuckle bearing help! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter NexusD
- Start date
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Wow! Hard to imagine how that carnage would happen. Changing knuckle races is usually easy and straight forward: just pound the old ones out and the new ones use. I like to use a 5 pound sledge and an aluminum bar, but a lighter hammer and a brass drift will work just as well. I tried the HF driver set and it wouldn't cut it. Maybe it will work for something else sometime.
One trick I learned from a heavy equipment mechanic is the easy way to get a race out is to weld a bead on the inside surface and then let it cool and it will just fall out.
Actually I messed up and drove it in upside down. I wasn't paying attention and pounded it in... Had to get it out and because it was thin side down I couldn't get the punch to work. Need less to say it took a few hours of hard careful work to extract it, especially so I didn't damage the housing. Not my brightest day on Earth.
Your welding trick would have really come in handy!
Also, following Jonesys video, you can add assembly lube to the race prior to inserting.
Just did my rig and a friend's rig too a few weeks ago. Used the HF aluminum race / seal driver set. Worked like a champ. In fact, it made me mad that I didn't get these years ago. I did have one that gave me a little problem due to it getting a little skewed. Took it out, put it back in straight, and it went right in. And I didn't have to use a BFH, just a regular ball peen. Something ain't right here.
