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Fri Nov 19, 2004 10:14 am

Just wanted to know if anybody has any tricks for removing the out rear bearing on a swingaxle with the tranny in the car? Any tricks out there to get the bearing out if it's stuck to either the axle or the axle tube? Any tricks or info would be appreciated!!!!

Thanks in advance!!

Fri Nov 19, 2004 10:31 am

After removing the seal and backing plate remove the ring that holds the swingaxle tube onto the transaxle, then use a puller on the tube and the axle and it will pull right off.

Fri Nov 19, 2004 10:54 am

The bearing is a press fit on the axle and you need a puller to get it off without damaging anything. All you need to remove is the brake drum and backing plate. The axle tube can remain in place while you pull off the bearing.

Muir mentions how to get it off with a couple of vise-grips and if you search on the forums you'll see how other people got it off. I tried and tried but I finally broke down and bought a very pricey puller made by Sir Tools that's a duplicate of the VW shop bearing puller. If you lived closer to me I would drive over to let you use it. Comes off in two minutes.

CAUTION!!! If you pull on the axle while you are trying to pull the bearing off (without using the tool), you may pull the axle out of the transaxle just enough to have a couple of shims drop behind the end of the axle. If this happens to you (it did to me) you will have to remove the axle tube and pull the whole axle / side gear assembly out of the transaxle in order to get the shims back in place. More fun than anyone deserves to have.

Fri Nov 19, 2004 12:06 pm

i agree on the "don't pull the axle out when you pull hard on the bearing" I'm guilty of doing that in my frustration when converting to rear disks. contrary to what 79Vert said, I could think a million "funner" things to do! :shock:

Fri Nov 19, 2004 3:08 pm

Can I pull the backing plate off and the use a puller to push the axle in little to break the press fit of the bearing. Kind of opposite of when you install everything and pulling the axle out when tightening the 36mm nut.

Or even tap the axle (with a nut to protect the threads) with a mallet to break the fit.

I have installed the rear axle/brake assembly before just never had to remove the bearing once installed. Any more tricks/solutions are greatly appreciated!!!!!!

Fri Nov 19, 2004 5:46 pm

you can rent a puller from autozone for free.
its an easy job..also the bearings they sell have a lifetime warranty.

Fri Nov 19, 2004 9:46 pm

79SuperVert wrote: I tried and tried but I finally broke down and bought a very pricey puller made by Sir Tools that's a duplicate of the VW shop bearing puller. .

Where can one of those be had? Checked with several companies in the past and have not been able to find any.

Sat Nov 20, 2004 7:30 am

just go to autozone..why buy it if your only gonna use it once in a blue moon.

Sat Nov 20, 2004 8:50 am

I had to change one in my 64 and I turned the castlated nut on inside out on the axle and gave it a couple love taps with a heavy sledge and it broke free and slid right off. No noticable negative effects.
Should I not have done this??
Can I drive the axle back into something it should not be introduced to?

Sat Nov 20, 2004 3:26 pm

squareweave wrote: Can I pull the backing plate off and the use a puller to push the axle in little to break the press fit of the bearing.
Or even tap the axle (with a nut to protect the threads) with a mallet to break the fit.

It's not something you break. The press fit is over the span of several inches. It has to be pulled off the entire distance. The bearing is actually only press fitted to the axle. It slides in and out of the end of the axle tube without much force.

Sat Nov 20, 2004 3:37 pm

bugntjw wrote: 79SuperVert wrote: I tried and tried but I finally broke down and bought a very pricey puller made by Sir Tools that's a duplicate of the VW shop bearing puller. .

Where can one of those be had? Checked with several companies in the past and have not been able to find any.

It is part 242 in the Sir Tools catalog. There is a master set, which you don't want. You want the puller body plus just the collet with the appropriate number of "fingers" for your wheel bearing (the number of fingers corresponds to the number of spaces between the ball bearings). Here is a picture of what the tool looks like, but you should contact either Sir Tools directly or a Sir Tools dealer for the correct part:

http://www.sirtools.com/vw_audi_pg_2.htm

Sat Nov 20, 2004 3:41 pm

Riff Raff wrote: I had to change one in my 64 and I turned the castlated nut on inside out on the axle and gave it a couple love taps with a heavy sledge and it broke free and slid right off. No noticable negative effects.
Should I not have done this??
Can I drive the axle back into something it should not be introduced to?

I can't picture what you did. You say you screwed the castellated nut onto the axle with the openings toward the bearing, and you were able to turn it far enough onto the axle to contact the bearing? The threads on the axle don't extend that far towards the bearing.

Sat Nov 20, 2004 6:22 pm

What I did was turn the nut on to the threads on the axle far enought that I had maximum thread engagement between nut and axle. Now, when I tap the nut with a sledge, I am contacting the nut, not the end of the axle.
This way, I can drive the axle back into the tube. The bearing cannot move up the tube, beacause the axle tube stops it.
In this way, instead of pulling the bearing off of the axle, I knock the axle away from the bearing.
It only took a couple of gentle fwaps with a five pound sledge, and I drove the axle back into the housing far enough that the bearing broke free and slid off the end of the axle.
I slid the new bearing on, new seal, new brakes, tightened up the 36 mm nut to proper torque. That pressed the bearing onto the axle.
I have been driving it for several months now.
What I was wondering is if I could damage something in the transaxle by using this method?
Did I just get lucky that I didn't pooch anything?

Sat Nov 20, 2004 7:31 pm

Riff Raff wrote: What I did was turn the nut on to the threads on the axle far enought that I had maximum thread engagement between nut and axle. Now, when I tap the nut with a sledge, I am contacting the nut, not the end of the axle.
This way, I can drive the axle back into the tube. The bearing cannot move up the tube, beacause the axle tube stops it.
In this way, instead of pulling the bearing off of the axle, I knock the axle away from the bearing.
It only took a couple of gentle fwaps with a five pound sledge, and I drove the axle back into the housing far enough that the bearing broke free and slid off the end of the axle.
I slid the new bearing on, new seal, new brakes, tightened up the 36 mm nut to proper torque. That pressed the bearing onto the axle.
I have been driving it for several months now.
What I was wondering is if I could damage something in the transaxle by using this method?
Did I just get lucky that I didn't pooch anything?

Yes, was what I was asking about, But I thought about using a two jaw puller and hooking up the jaws on the back of the square end of the axle tube with the center of the puller on the axle and tightening. Thus pushing the axle back into the diff. The bearing would be forced to stay put by the axle tube and the axle would go inboard and be essentially pressed out. Can I hurt anything insde the diff by doing this. Obviously going to far would damage something but I am talking about just a little bit to break free the bearing.

The bearing was new last year but I had to purchased Brazilian axle boots because my local shop was out of German ones. After approx one year the boot tore and I didn't notice until I jacked up the car one day. So the tranny ran low on fluid and voila the bearing was nuked. Anyways making a short story long this bearing has not been on the tranny for years so I am hoping it hasn't made a permanent home with lots of "crud" on it.

Let me know your thoughts. It's my daily driver and I don't want to get into trouble by having to pull the tranny because of ruining something.

Sun Nov 21, 2004 9:39 am

It's an approach I never heard of but it seems to work, I guess.

The inboard end of the axle tube slides against a plastic shim and is held in place by a retaining ring around the outside of the transaxle. It doesn't have any horizontal movement unless you loosen that ring by removing the nuts holding it to the transaxle case. Then pulling the axle tube towards you slightly and tapping the end of the axle back into the transaxle would work, except that you run one big risk: even a small movement of the axle shaft out from the transaxle can cause the shims inside the differential to slip out of place and prevent the axle shaft from going all the way back in, especially if you are vibrating it by tapping with the hammer. If that happens, you will have to remove the axle tube, undo the lockring inside the transaxle and pull out the axle shaft and gear to relocate the shims.

No matter what method you use, even the correct puller, you run the risk of those shims slipping out of place if the axle shaft slides out of the tube. So I guess you pick whichever method works best for you.

Sun Nov 21, 2004 11:04 am

Riff Raff wrote: What I did was turn the nut on to the threads on the axle far enought that I had maximum thread engagement between nut and axle. Now, when I tap the nut with a sledge, I am contacting the nut, not the end of the axle.
This way, I can drive the axle back into the tube. The bearing cannot move up the tube, beacause the axle tube stops it.
In this way, instead of pulling the bearing off of the axle, I knock the axle away from the bearing.
It only took a couple of gentle fwaps with a five pound sledge, and I drove the axle back into the housing far enough that the bearing broke free and slid off the end of the axle.
I slid the new bearing on, new seal, new brakes, tightened up the 36 mm nut to proper torque. That pressed the bearing onto the axle.
I have been driving it for several months now.
What I was wondering is if I could damage something in the transaxle by using this method?
Did I just get lucky that I didn't pooch anything?

I did something a lot like this. As my bearing walked off of the axle I then used the axle tube as as sort of slide hammer and it came right off.

Thu Nov 25, 2004 5:55 pm

here is what my haynes manual said. i did it and it worked.
the easiest way to remove the bearing is use a fine probed puller which engages between the steel balls. this is a special and expensive tool. plan b is to drive the shaft inwards just far enough to enable the bearing and shaft together to be pulled out of the housing just enough to get levers behind the bearing and so remove it with a more conventional puller. there is sufficient clearance at the inner end of the shaft to permit this, but great care must be taken not to overdo it or damage will be caused to the diff pinion gears. make sure to protect the splined and threaded end of the shat by replacing the nut and using a block of wood as further protection. use a heavy hammer and after each blow check to see that you have obtained enough clearance to get a 2 lever style puller behind the bearing and draw it out. plan c is vise grips to the lip of the outer bearing race and the use the nose of the wrench jaws to ease the bearing out. (i used plan b)

Thu Nov 25, 2004 6:15 pm

i just checked my muir book. there is a proceedure for making a bearing puller out of to 3/8 x 6" bolts. this looks like the cheapest safest method to me. i don't like the hammer idea, which i did.

Fri Nov 26, 2004 9:03 am

tacky wrote: the easiest way to remove the bearing is use a fine probed puller which engages between the steel balls. this is a special and expensive tool.

Anyone within 50 miles of me is welcome to the tool, which I have. Call me, we'll set up a date and time, and I'll bring it over and help you use it.

Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:58 am

tacky wrote: i just checked my muir book. there is a proceedure for making a bearing puller out of to 3/8 x 6" bolts. this looks like the cheapest safest method to me. i don't like the hammer idea, which i did.

I can't find this in the Muir book I have... what page number?