How to fit wheel bearings...

[Max724]

Easy, with liquid nitrogen 😁

http://youtu.be/Y3YaVspU_kw

[Dirty]

Likey likey :)

[utopia]

I wonder what such extreme cold would do to the seals ?

I'll stick with the freezer.

[Max724]

I thought the same, so I checked with the guys who use this stuff all the time. After watching them freeze a banana and an apple, then twat it with a hammer. We finally got round the question of super-chilling the bearings.

Their response was as long as you're not leaving it in for hours, and once fitted you don't heat it up to expand it quicker than normal, they "should" be alright. However they cannot guarantee it. Which is fair enough.

They seem alright now, but worst case scenario is if they're knackered, it only cost me £6 for 5 bearings so not exactly breaking the bank lol!

[Darkness]

Easy, with liquid nitrogen 😁

http://youtu.be/Y3YaVspU_kw

Impressive. That's almost as easy as dropping them off at MotoRapido. :biggrin:

[slob]

Half hour in the freezer and then in with two taps of the hammer works for me, especially since I don't have a bundle of liquid Nitrogen sitting around.

[Max724]

Yes yes, I know, there's other and easier ways of doing it. But I had nothing better to do at work, and as they use LiN in another section of the building, I thought why the hell not?

Plastic tub didn't bode too well though :biggrin:

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o81/Max724/Bike%20Bits/78AD7EF4-444F-4E39-867D-7F5DA14E0500_zpsxt3f5kzo.jpg

Plus you get to do stupid crap like this :freak:

https://youtu.be/SOqxKm0j8G8

[Darren69]

I find putting new ones in using conventional methods is always much easier than getting the old ones out!

[utopia]

Ah, I didn't realise they were your own wheels .. thought it was just a n other youtube clip.
And if I had access to liquid nitrogen at work, I'd be curious to try it too.
With any luck the seals will be ok, but I don't really buy the analysis that a short immersion will help preserve them since, being so thin, they will rapidly drop in temp as soon as they even smell the liquid nitrogen.

[Max724]

Ah, I didn't realise they were your own wheels .. thought it was just a n other youtube clip.
And if I had access to liquid nitrogen at work, I'd be curious to try it too.
With any luck the seals will be ok, but I don't really buy the analysis that a short immersion will help preserve them since, being so thin, they will rapidly drop in temp as soon as they even smell the liquid nitrogen.

I wholeheartedly agree mate, and if I hadn't got the extra bearings then maybe my approach would have been different. It was pretty amazing how quickly they went in though, and I didn't even have to heat up the wheel lol!

At the most all I'll have to do is knock them out and replace them with ones that have only been chilled down to -25 :biggrin:

[350TSS]

just caught up with this, I would be worried that the liquid nitrogen would change the crystalline structure of the metal and make it either brittle or susceptible to rapid wear. In the Antarctic where temperatures (only) reach -50C machinery breaks due to this.

[Darren69]

just caught up with this, I would be worried that the liquid nitrogen would change the crystalline structure of the metal and make it either brittle or susceptible to rapid wear. In the Antarctic where temperatures (only) reach -50C machinery breaks due to this.

Like what happened to the Terminator in T2?

[slob]

You're not using the parts at low temperature, just cooling them for a while

http://www.300below.com/motorsports/

[Dukedesmo]

The freeze/heat thing works just as well in many cases.

When I changed the steering head bearings I did the freeze the stem, heat the bearing and it literally dropped on - then I realised I hadn't put the ally washer underneath the bearing race, unfortunately it didn't 'drop' off so easily. Although maybe had it been superfrozen it might...?