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UPDATE: Resolved, but carry on. The problem WAS: 48" Exmark Quest, 2010. Starting to hear some bearing noise, not as smooth as it could be. Already replaced the three idler pulleys. Now, on to the 6203ZZ's in the three bearing housings that support the blade shaft. I am stumped. I've tried everything I know and I can't get the bearings out of the housings. The two shaft bearings have a sleeve in between them with the same 17mm ID as the bearings. I sold bearings for Motion Industries back in college. I know a little about bearings. I own almost every bearing puller and press that Owatonna Tool Company makes, and have extensive experience in their use over these last forty years. There is no way to employ them. The sleeve between the bearings prevents the tools from expanding behind the inner race so you can pull it out. Tried heat. Tried force. Tried reasoning with them. They continue to mock my existence. How do you get these out?

will they both drive out in one direction with a press or is the inner sleeve a part of the housing (which I suspect it is)? Weird stuff like that I used to try to use a cape chisel to try to catch a corner of the inner race from the opposite side, and work my way around to where I could use a regular punch to drive out whatever. Hard to give a definitive answer without seeing it unless it is the photo below. I know that on some bearings one can carefully lift the seal out, clean and regrease and they will quiet down if the ball bearings aren't pitted.

they sell the whole part. maybe part number 116-0379

432 × 432

Have you tried a puller like this or similar?





Or grind a hard steel rod so it curves out at the end on one side so you can try to catch the edge of the bearing from the opposite side and work your way around it until you have a space for a conventional blind hole / pilot bearing puller.

SKF Internal Bearing Pullers TMIC Series

If the housing is out of the deck you can stand them in your oven at 400 deg
Within an hour you will hear the bearings fall out then flip them over so the others can fall out .
Warning
This will stink the house out of burning grease which may not be a smell SWMBO finds appealing and grease will ooze out of the bearings rendering the tray they are un unfit for cooking with
You can do the same with a BBQ if it has a covered hot plate & bakeing facility but you will have to check the temperature very regularly .

If the spindle have grease nipples then warm the housing ( works with both alloy & steel ones ) & pump grease in with a high volume gun
This will usually cause one bearing to either pop or shift just enough to allow you push the spacer aside

If you have a good welder, pop the metal shield and run a heavy bead of weld around the outer race .
When the weld cools the bearing outer will be a poofteenth smaller and will almost fall out

Weld a bolt , steel rod to the inner race
Hold that in a vice with the housing down then tap the housing flange

If you have air compressor, get an air hammer and apply that to spacer
Lean in hard and the 10,000 little taps a minute will push it out of the way
Use the same tool with a long point on it to knock the bearing out

So there is 5 methods I have used all of them from time to time depending upon what was on hand at the time

Thanks. I'll go back over it with a new effort tomorrow. The root problem is that there is no inner bearing race ridge at the back of the bearing where a tool might gain a purchase. The sleeve (bushing) is the exact ID as the bearing, and it fills the space between the bearings completely. Haven't tried the oven yet. Will do that in the morning.

tonykarter said:

Thanks. I'll go back over it with a new effort tomorrow. The root problem is that there is no inner bearing race ridge at the back of the bearing where a tool might gain a purchase. The sleeve (bushing) is the exact ID as the bearing, and it fills the space between the bearings completely. Haven't tried the oven yet. Will do that in the morning.

Click to expand...

oven might work. That is how pinion bearings go into and come out of vw bus transmission cases.

sgkent said:

oven might work. That is how pinion bearings go into and come out of vw bus transmission cases.

Click to expand...

You got an old US army oven at your place ?

I play with vintage & veteran motorcycles and the oven method is SOP for most bearings in alloy cases

I take a drift punch and stick through one end and push the sleeve between the two bearings to one side and drive one bearing out. The sleeve will fall out and you can drive the other bearings out.

tonykarter said:

Thanks. I'll go back over it with a new effort tomorrow. The root problem is that there is no inner bearing race ridge at the back of the bearing where a tool might gain a purchase. The sleeve (bushing) is the exact ID as the bearing, and it fills the space between the bearings completely. Haven't tried the oven yet. Will do that in the morning.

Click to expand...

Most bearings do have a slight beveled edge that those blind hole pullers will catch. Sometimes you just go to use your feel as you install the puller. There even been times that I install the puller tip and used a press and arbor to drive out bearings.

I will be taking apart some Stihl gearboxes in the next few weeks when I get some long nosed internal snap ring pliers. On these there is no place to get a grip. These have to be heated in the area of the bearing seats to about 140°C (285°F) to remove the bearings. This one place a propane torch is used instead of an ACE torch.\ due how easily aluminum can go to a melted blob of liquid metal.

Definitely better be wearing heat resistant gloves.

THANKS guys! Oven worked. 350 did not work. 400 worked. Now, ONWARD...through the fog. AND DAMN THE TORPEDOES!

Not being able to move the sleeve spacer to the side tells the whole story well and this is almost always certain why the bearings failed .
The bearings were damaged with the first few revolutions when installed at the factory or buy someone that thinks they understand bearing installation but don't .

That spacer is a very necessary part but what the factory or others don;t know that having to press both bearings in will cause an un-due side pre-load on the balls .

tonykarter said:

THANKS guys! Oven worked. 350 did not work. 400 worked. Now, ONWARD...through the fog. AND DAMN THE TORPEDOES!

Click to expand...

Glad it worked, now go clean the oven!

Hi,
Appreciate that you already got the bearing out but next time try any of the bearing pullers for removing wheel bearing on motor bikes. It’s what I use and they also have a spacer like the blade spindles. They work really well as. Simple insert the plug from one side and insert the bar from the other end and flog it out.

SeniorCitizen said:

Not being able to move the sleeve spacer to the side tells the whole story well and this is almost always certain why the bearings failed .
The bearings were damaged with the first few revolutions when installed at the factory or buy someone that thinks they understand bearing installation but don't .

That spacer is a very necessary part but what the factory or others don;t know that having to press both bearings in will cause an un-due side pre-load on the balls .

Click to expand...

that makes sense. The bearings must free float. Driving them against each other removes the float.

sgkent said:

that makes sense. The bearings must free float. Driving them against each other removes the float.

Click to expand...

Actually only 1 bearing is all that needs to be push fit . The last J D i believe a LA 135 or close to that number , had 1 press and 1 bearing push . The lower bearing was pressed in until the outer race contacted bottom then the top bearing being a push fit seeks it's correct distance when the blade nut is tightened if the outer race is installed a little proud of housing bottom .