[Vwdiesel] Front Wheel bearing

[Val Christian]

>   I forget for sure what the best trick is for removing the inner 
> race.  It was either a cutoff wheel or a torch I believe.  Sometimes 
> you can wedge, pry, etc or use a chisel to in-effect pry with 
> but hitting the race directly with a chisel will most likely result 
> in getting your skin pierced in one fashion or another. 
>      Loren

I've tried all three, and a few more.  Cut-off takes forever, due to the
hard bearing race material.  The chisel leaves shrapnel all over, and a 
full face mask doesn't adequately protract you.  (A "friend" urged me to 
try it, and said it worked for him.  I now figure that little particles
of bearing race are embedded in his frontal lobe.)

A half-moon on the press sometimes works, using an air-chisel to 
wedge the race down the hub, leveraging away from the flange.

The absolute, safe and preferred method is an oxy-acetylene torch.
Fast, and quick.  I can't say why I even tried the other methods, except
dumb curiosity.  

If you don't have a torch, show up at a local welding / fab place 
early in the morning with a dozen doughnuts.  They'll cut it off
in 60 seconds, and then enjoy your doughnuts.

Val