I have an 8" Highland Park cab machine Model 8EDC. I need to change
one of the bearings and I can’t figure out how to do it. I have the
shaft removed, the alan screws removed but I can’t get the bearing
to come off. I am not sure if there is something that I am missing.
Does the bearing need to be pressed off? Any suggestions would be
greatly appreciated.
I also own a Highland Park 8" all-in-one unit. I have changed the
bearings without mishap. If you have loosened the allen screws, and
the bearing will not budge, perhaps it is corroded on.
WD-40 time. Soak it down, whack on it a bit so the WD-40 or Liquid
Wrench penetrates, let it sit for awhile, then whack on it some more
and hopefully it will loosen up.
Also, if you have enough play with your grinding wheel, perhaps you
can loosen things up by yanking the wheel towards the bearing, as a
sort of built-in slide hammer.
Hi Mark I’m unfamilair with that model, but I suspect you may have
some rust between the shaft and bearing.
My approach would be to liberally apply a penatrating oil and let it
soak in overnight then use a brass punch and hammer to try to
persuade it. If that failed then I’d heat the bearing with a torch,
no more than a minute, to expand the metal, and try the punch again.
If for some reason it still wasn’t cooperating you could cut off the
outer race, (disc grinder or hacksaw or mini-grinder in a drill),
then lay the shaft flat and use a chisel, edge parallel with the
shaft, and chisel into the bearing. This will expand the metal
sufficently to remove it before you cut through to the shaft.
Afterwords clean up the shaft with a fine sandpaper to remove the
rust and use a light grease when installing the new bearing. Have
fun!
I replied to your post earlier and would like to clarify a couple
things. First I’m assuming you have the shaft out of the machine and
the wheels off. On using a torch to heat the bearing, the idea is to
heat up the inner raceway, causing it to expand.
You want to do this outside obviously and if it’s a sealed bearing
there’s grease which will heat up as well and may want to squirt out
so caution is advised, you could use a screwdriver and hammer to pry
out or punch a hole in the side seal which would allow the grease an
easy escape, you could even wash out the grease with a solvent before
heating.
But hopefully you wont need to go this far and will get the bearing
off with the brass punch and hammer. Brass to prevent marring the
shaft. Best of luck! Mark