Hi folks,

I'm doing the left-hand gearbox gaiter on my car at the moment. Got the shaft out of the hub and it's on the bench - I got the old bearing off, but how on earth do you get the new one on?!

I found a piece of calibrated plastic tube which matches the tool shown in the HBoL, but unsurprisingly this wasn't up to the job

Anyway - I've found a few threads where people detail the process, most people suggest drifting the new bearing on with a piece of wood. With a piece of wood on the inner race of the bearing, I've not been able to get it to shift without splitting the wood.

It did go down a bit by walking it down, tapping it on different sides with a hammer and a bolt on the inner race - but this seems a bit savage. I don't want to damage the bearing.

Any tips? I'm wondering about getting a garage to do it because it's really annoying me...

Or am I just not hitting it hard enough? :slayer:

Thanks :devil:

You are right to be cautious as it is easy to damage the bearing without the correct tool. I have found in the past my jack handle was the right sort of size and did successfully do one with that, and I did another with a piece of wood before that, but as you say the wood tends to split so it's not easy. A small amount of damage on the face of the inner race is not an issue, just as long as the bearing still turns freely then it will be fine.

I have since had a tool made by a machinist as per the Haynes drawing which makes it a doddle. If you are really struggling I could be persuaded to stick it in the post as long as costs are covered and it comes straight back to me.

Force out the inner sleave from the old bearing and use that as drift, ideally cut it with 1mm cut discs to make the removal of the /drift easier.

Photo guidance here http://www.fiatuno.pl/fiatuno,1,399.html

This is a good idea kolza!

I actually pulled the bearing off the sleeve when I took the old one off, so the two are already separated...

I'll cut a slice in it and try bashing it on with that.

panda1408 - Thanks for the offer. I'll see if I can bodge it first - but I may well take you up on that if I get really stuck.

Kolza's idea is certainly a good one, I have done that with plenty of other bearings, but never thought to do it with a driveshaft bearing for some reason!

Success. I think a large part of the problem is that my vise is mounted onto a wooden bench - so much of the force when smacking the bearing onto the shaft was actually going into flexing the bench.

I took it to work and used a vise mounted on a metal bench. I also used the sleeve from the old bearing and a bolt to direct the abuse. This worked really well, actually - good suggestion there

No more gearbox oil leakage now. Hooray!

Been struggling with this today, good idea kolza - my inner race fell out when i removed the old bearing, sure I've not thrown it away... But curse my garage for being too small to have a bench and thus vice in it, can't see this ever happening without a vice to hold it tight!!