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I need to replace the bearing in the cam support cover (which is running rough) but it's stuck fast. There's lots of references on here to removing a reluctant cap but nothing that I can find about the bearing.
I have put the assembly in the oven at 175C for a few minutes to no avail and have found a suggestion that welding a nut to the bearing inner race and using a bolt to "push" the bearing out can work.... but my welding isn't up to much and I'm not sure how the aluminium would respond to the pressure from a bolt. So before I take it to an engineer (if I can find one) does anyone have a clever suggestion?
Cheers
Phil

Hi, I used a blind bearing puller. Heated the cap up on the bbq, then fixed it to the bench. The puller is a slide hammer type and it just came straight out. Bearing replacement was by heating the cap and dropping the bearing in from the freezer.

Hope you find a solution

Dave

Will most likely just drop out if heated up.

LaceyDucati wrote:Will most likely just drop out if heated up.

Hi Nigel.
Any suggestion for temperature/duration? I did 10 minutes @175°C (bearing pointing downward in a metal cylinder) not a millimetre of movement.
You'll recall all the other bearings in that engine, it wouldn't surprise me if it had Loctite 638 (or similar) keeping it in.......
Cheers
Phil

Hi Phil,

You can fashion a puller out of an expanding wall fixing, or I have made one in the past with a nut and bolt and a couple of pieces of aluminium sheet that jam the bolt behind the bearing, but the easiest way is to buy eBay item no 226524357987 Inner Bearing Puller Set for about £16; I have used this many times on engine bearings and it works like a charm. Money well spent.

Cheers,

Colin

I would certainly try the oven at a higher temperature and for a lot longer first. I don't know any domestic oven that would get hot enough to harm the alloy housing.

Ian

...and always advisable to do this when your better half isn't home

Having used the "Rawbolt" method, the heat method, 100°C for 20 minutes, once the thermostat has come up to temperature in a fan oven and both work, the latter if some "glue" has been used!

Colin's suggested eBay purchase is also available as eBay lot number: 235439808242 and for a fiver less, but apparently from a Dunstable seller as well, using an alternative eBay account?

As for waiting until your "better half" has left the building! Not in this house and the fan oven is quick at bringing the casting/bearing up to temperature. To be honest, I suspect that an air fryer would do the job just as well, providing that the thermostat and timer were reasonably accurate and you could have that out in the workshop, then do your jacket potato after!

Good health, Bill

If you've tried 175C then it's most likely stuck in with loctite! plenty of other good suggestions have been made, which should work.

I just pulled my cam cover off when the engine was hot and the bearing was stuck on the camshaft. Easy