Ah! The old tricks are the best tricks.

Thanks for bringing it up again Timm. Lots on newbies might not know this one.


d

 

Old mechanic's trick, but if you figured it out by yourself you're a genius!

Dennis B.

 

I saw that trick done on tv last week, but I remember an oldtimer telling me how to do it when I was young. but some times simple is allways best. Patrick

 

I have used that trick in the past. Works great!

 

Have used this medthod when the "correct" tool would'nt remove them. The tool is a slide hammer and attachment. The gease trick works better. have also heard soap could be used in place of grease. Pack the hole with a bar of soap and whack. Often though of making a thread in bushing that had a zerk fitting in the end. Tap the old pilot bearing,screw in the bushing,few pumps with a grease gun and pop. course this would probally only work on bushing and may not work on the bearings but would be fun to try.

 

So satisfying, I might just hammer in the old bushing so I can take it out again!

Thanks for the tip. Go ahead try it a couple more times...practice makes perfect.

 

I have used the grease trick many times, but last year I saw a tip to use soap. A bar of irish spring soap cut into slices and packed into the pocket works great. It is thicker than the grease and will not leak out as easily. It also cleans up with water and smells great!

Bobby

 

I came across this trick just by accident. Was looking at the pilot bearing and thought about using the hydrolic effect of grease. Put in one of my socket extensions backwards and did one whack with the hammer. Came right out.

Coolest solution ever....especially when you go to help someone in a garage who's never heard of it before and has been spending hours trying to remove the stupid thing. A minute later, it's done.

 

We just screwed a bolt into the throwout bearing and as it threaded itself in, when it bottomed out the bearing just moved up the threads and came out.
Jim

 

the trick of the grease trick is to pack the grease so there is no air bubbles which will
compress instead of hydrolicing the old bearing out,,,
is that a real word ?

 

I posted a thread on this about 3 years ago encouraging other quick fixes...can't find it now in the archives.

 

Next time I'll use soap for variety!! Good to know that this is well known, I bet that a thread on "old dog ticks" would be very FAQ worthy!!

 

Never tried soap. I'll have to remember that.

I have used the grease method but prefer wet toilet paper (you should probably go in the house and get water to wet it ). The first time I tried the grease trick, I had a very stubborn bearing and grease squirted out (with some force) from around my 'grease packer'. it worked but I got coated with the stuff, as did the underside of the car. The second time I used wet TP and it worked just as well but still spit out between the bearing and packer tool. This time however, I just let it dry out and brushed it all off.

I would recommend using the soap or TP unless you have a very snug fit between your bearing and whatever you use to hammer on or devise some type of shield that contains the escaping grease. Much less messy if you get a stubborn bearing.

my $.02