Bearing Pullers and front wheel bearings

T

thomas g. warner

New member
Mar 24, 1998
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Just received two e-mails from the mailing list that says there is to much
controversey over the winterfeldt bearing puller. I am puzzled at what
motivated the comments.

>From what I remember the front wheel bearing maintenance is the number 1
topic over the last several months.

Am I mistaken in believing that this is a forum for one GMC owner to help
another? Are we all looking at performing maintenance on our coaches so
that they run trouble free for long periods of time? Are we looking at
better and cheaper ways to perform the maintenance on our Front wheel
bearings every 25K miles and hopefully learn to do it ourself,do it right,
or at least understand how to do it so we don't get ripped off by an
unscrupulous repair shop?

How many of you can personally afford the $500-$550 for a bearing puller to
do the job right. Almost every GMC owner that I have talked to would like
to have a puller of their own. This is not a contest to see which bearing
puller is the best. I have access to the technology and machines to produce
one for us. I have offered to help others to get a first class puller for
$200 or less.

How do others feel? Are we willing to stop this kind of interchange?
Tom & Marg Warner
Vernon Center NY
1976 palmbeach
 
Hear, hear Tom! You've got my firm commitment to purchase a first class
puller for $200 or less. I can't justify $500+ for a tool that I will use
very infrequently. I prefer to do my own maintenance, and IMO, this is a
reasonable price for this shade tree mechanic. I have no experience with
the other tools available, and rely upon your engineering expertise to
deliver a tool that will accomplish the task.

I have not had buyer's remorse on any of my previous acquisitions that came
to my attention via this net:

Stainless Steel Brake Lines
403 engine & trans/axle
Halon Extinguishers
KYB Shocks
Alcoa's
Torsion Bar Tensioner Tool
"Mike" the G.E. Microwave
Front Turn Signal Housings, complete (Thanks, Arch)
Ragusa Aluminum products
Jim DeLamaerre SS tanks
TrueCharge Converter

Let's continue looking out for each other (and good deals), and I hope we
get the necessary commitments to make this tool a reality.

Chuck
77 Kingsley
North Idaho

>
>How many of you can personally afford the $500-$550 for a bearing puller to
>do the job right. Almost every GMC owner that I have talked to would like
>to have a puller of their own. This is not a contest to see which bearing
>puller is the best. I have access to the technology and machines to
produce
>one for us. I have offered to help others to get a first class puller for
>$200 or less.
>
>How do others feel? Are we willing to stop this kind of interchange?
>Tom & Marg Warner
>Vernon Center NY
>1976 palmbeach
>
>
 
Tom
I do want to participate. Keep me informed of you progress.
I now have the Wallace bearings. Since I love to do all my own maint.
your effort is appreciated.
Herm

>
> Just received two e-mails from the mailing list that says there is
to much
> controversey over the winterfeldt bearing puller. I am puzzled at
what
> motivated the comments.
>
> From what I remember the front wheel bearing maintenance is the
number 1
> topic over the last several months.
>
> Am I mistaken in believing that this is a forum for one GMC owner to
help
> another? Are we all looking at performing maintenance on our
coaches so
> that they run trouble free for long periods of time? Are we looking
at
> better and cheaper ways to perform the maintenance on our Front wheel
> bearings every 25K miles and hopefully learn to do it ourself,do it
right,
> or at least understand how to do it so we don't get ripped off by an
> unscrupulous repair shop?
>
> How many of you can personally afford the $500-$550 for a bearing
puller to
> do the job right. Almost every GMC owner that I have talked to
would like
> to have a puller of their own. This is not a contest to see which
bearing
> puller is the best. I have access to the technology and machines to
produce
> one for us. I have offered to help others to get a first class
puller for
> $200 or less.
>
> How do others feel? Are we willing to stop this kind of interchange?
> Tom & Marg Warner
> Vernon Center NY
> 1976 palmbeach
>
>

_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
 
Tom,

I, for one, appreciate your efforts to come up with another option for
us to consider regarding the front wheel bearings and tools to service
them. I don't know anything about the tools that are already on the
market, so I can't offer any advice---just encouragement to continue
with your project and keep us posted. I know that with in a year or so
I'll have to make the decision to buy tools or pay someone else to
service the bearings for me.
Phil Stewart
'76 Transmode, TN
 
Tom, I agree with Phil. I would like a set but I would not spend over
$200. Even that is stretching my threshold. I also want a set that I
can take with me when I travel.

Ted Schurman
73 Glacier 73

>
> Tom,
>
> I, for one, appreciate your efforts to come up with another option for
> us to consider regarding the front wheel bearings and tools to service
> them. I don't know anything about the tools that are already on the
> market, so I can't offer any advice---just encouragement to continue
> with your project and keep us posted. I know that with in a year or so
> I'll have to make the decision to buy tools or pay someone else to
> service the bearings for me.
> Phil Stewart
> '76 Transmode, TN
 
The need for one while travelling brought up an interesting thought. Most
of these tools seem to be designed in such a way that the bearing almost
needs to be in perfect condition to use the tool (ie to keep it straight,
to catch the race, etc).
This requirement is fine when the tool is used for its intended purpose
(preventative replacing/greasing). I would expect that if the tool were
used during travel, however, that the bearing would have failed or at least
started to fail. I wonder how effective these tools would be with a
partially/totally failed bearing. Anyone have any experience with this?

Zak

>Tom, I agree with Phil. I would like a set but I would not spend over
>$200. Even that is stretching my threshold. I also want a set that I
>can take with me when I travel.
>
>Ted Schurman
>73 Glacier 73
 
The bearing tool that I am suggesting will either pull it off or break it.

>The need for one while travelling brought up an interesting thought. Most
>of these tools seem to be designed in such a way that the bearing almost
>needs to be in perfect condition to use the tool (ie to keep it straight,
>to catch the race, etc).
>This requirement is fine when the tool is used for its intended purpose
>(preventative replacing/greasing). I would expect that if the tool were
>used during travel, however, that the bearing would have failed or at least
>started to fail. I wonder how effective these tools would be with a
>partially/totally failed bearing. Anyone have any experience with this?
>
>Zak
>
>

>>Tom, I agree with Phil. I would like a set but I would not spend over
>>$200. Even that is stretching my threshold. I also want a set that I
>>can take with me when I travel.
>>
>>Ted Schurman
>>73 Glacier 73
>
>
>
Tom & Marg Warner
Vernon Center NY
1976 palmbeach
 
Tom,

I am not saying any particular bearing puller design has a problem. I have
no personal experience with any of these pullers. I am only bringing up
the possibility that the puller design in general might not be as good for
emergency use as we might expect. I'm guessing, however, that, if the
pullers were used for proper preventative maintenance, they might never be
needed for emergency use.

Breaking the bearing would be a big problem. The way it would probably
break would force you to have to cut it off. Of course that is how we
change ours anyway :). It seems that most of these puller tools use the
bearing itself to keep them straight. It doesn't matter how many tons of
force the puller applies. If it isn't pulling the bearing straight off, it
isn't going to get it off. It also seems that most of the pullers are
designed to barely catch the inner race. This also seems like it would be
very difficult without the rest of the bearing available to keep the tool
centered. I've never used one of these pullers, so I can't tell if these
would be problems with a damaged bearing or not. I was hoping someone that
had used one might be able to offer some insight. I don't recall anyone
here using this type of puller to remove a damaged bearing though.

Zak

>
>The bearing tool that I am suggesting will either pull it off or break it.

>Tom & Marg Warner
>Vernon Center NY
>1976 palmbeach
>
 
Dave,

I'm glad to see that these tools work well on hurt bearings. That puts my
concern to rest. Thanks for telling us about your experience.

Zak

>Zak, your question hit a vivid image for me. While traveling through
Colorado
>a number of years ago, we had the misfortune of a front bearing failure which
>started as a periodic clunk at low speed and progressed to enough friction to
>require about half throttle to creep off the road (We had tried to limp back
>to town at 3-5 mph. If I had the tools, I would have stopped before this
>point). I believe I forwarded the gory details to Arch last fall for bearing
>failure histories. Anyway, after being towed to Winterfeldt's house, his son
>used their bearing tool to disassemble the knuckle to see what could be
>salvaged. If you know Daryl's son, you know he is a stout man. He put a lot
>of energy into working that tool, and he was successful. I can not speak to
>whether the tool was usable for future jobs. I would feel comfortable
>traveling with his tool set, or a similar one for field replacement duty. If
>a set really can be made for $200 that can be demonstrated to do the job,
>count me in.
>
>P.S. The knuckle was marginally usable, the hub was not, IIRC
>
>Dave Evans
>Rochester, MI
>'73 Canyon Lands
 
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