Hi Jon, good info but... I have a CAST aluminum wheels on my 2005 Hammer, which obviously will not fit in my wives oven (lol)... can I heat the hub of my cast wheel with MAP gas to help me remove the bearings... I have been told it is bad to heat these cast wheels... please advise.... than in advance... Tommy D...
Interesting technique, perhaps add a clip on how to remove the hub off the wheel of a Cross Country. I for one am unsure how I might go about doing that myself. By the way, I do love your DIY You Tubes on how to work on our Victorys. Now after a quick reviewing of your Rear Brake one, I'm off to replace my rear brakes tonight. :)
Get a heat gun that is normally used for paint removal. Don't use a torch! They burn too hot and will destroy any painted surfaces. For heat control, go to a welding supply store and get a Tempil stick for 350 degrees F. When you heat the hub with your heat gun, occasionally run the Tempil stick over the surface you are heating. When the stick melts and becomes liquid looking instead of chalk like, you have reached temperature and can pull the bearings. Never try to remove these bearings cold. It will destroy the machined surfaces inside the hub and you will be looking for new wheels. If you are working with wheels that you do not have the history of you might find that someone tried to pull them cold and ruined the hub. Occasionally you can use a centre punch to put small punch marks inside the bore. This will cause the bore to "swell" and you can refit new bearings with some blue loctite once or twice before the punch marks are too small to retain the bearing. THIS IS STRICTLY A TEMPORARY FIX! It will however give you some time to locate some better wheels and get your cash together for purchase. If you can find a machine shop with a lathe large enough you can have the hub machined out and press in sleeves made to bring your hub back to size. In the event that the bearing falls apart when you go to replace it, you will find the outer race will stay in the hub. These are very hard to remove with a puller if any kind. A better way is to take them to a welding or machine shop that has a TIG unit and have them run a bead or two inside the trapped race. Let it cool off and it should be easy to remove because the welding shrinks it down several thousanths of an inch making it small in the bore. Another way is to heat the hub up to 350 and then cold shock the race only using a baby syringe of a straight syringe filled with ice water. This will cause the race to shrink while the hub stays hot. With the wheel in a horizontal position and the race on the lower side, use a soft faced hammer and strike the wheel hub on the opposite side from the race. The shock will cause the race to drop down with gravity. You may have to do this two or three times but most come out on the first go. Look at your snap ring and you will see one side has rounded edges and one side sharp. When you install the snap ring make sure the rounded edges are towards the bearing and the sharp side is away from the bearing. If you install it backwards it can work its way out and it will damage the snap ring groove.
There is no set mileage for wheel bearing replacement. Every time you pull your wheels for any reason, stick your finger in the inner bore and try to turn them. If they show any sign of "notching" (a cycle of turn stick turn stick turn stick) or are resistant to any reasonably free movement you should consider replacement for what they cost. You can get wheel bearing kits from All Balls with new bearings and seals for a much better price than Victory bearings or take samples to any bearing shop and they can match them up for a reasonable price. I can replace both sets of bearing, front and rear, for less than the cost of one set from Victory by simply going to a bearing shop and the chances are my replacement bearings will be better quality.
NEVER hammer on the inner race on the new bearing ,..... or use slide hammer to take a good bearing out. Your putting all that force against the balls in the bearing and the races.
For heating, you can use the heat gun. I guess.
Thanks Jon! Much appreciated! ~ Matt Cook
Just gotta get a bigger oven now to hold my wheel.
Thanks
Does the wheel bearing kit with seals come with 2 wheel bearings and seals or does it take 2 kits to do one wheel?
No Grease needed on the new bearings?
hello please can you show us how to change 5 laced broken on a Victory wheel front ??
Hi Jon, good info but... I have a CAST aluminum wheels on my 2005 Hammer, which obviously will not fit in my wives oven (lol)... can I heat the hub of my cast wheel with MAP gas to help me remove the bearings... I have been told it is bad to heat these cast wheels... please advise.... than in advance... Tommy D...
How to change 5 radius broken on a Victory highball front wheel year 2015 ??
And for the ones who have a solid wheel and hub assembly and can’t remove the hub?
Same process. You just don't have to unbolt hubs.
@@witchdoctorbillet Aluminum frame wheels won't fit in my oven, the hub is part of the wheel.
Interesting technique, perhaps add a clip on how to remove the hub off the wheel of a Cross Country. I for one am unsure how I might go about doing that myself. By the way, I do love your DIY You Tubes on how to work on our Victorys. Now after a quick reviewing of your Rear Brake one, I'm off to replace my rear brakes tonight. :)
Inner bearing puller from harbor freight $ 70 and a heat gun. Prop heat gun and heat up hub for half hour or so and pops right out with puller
Hey thanks for the tip!!
Glad it helped you
Hopefully you can fit your whole wheel in the oven. Might want to drop the air pressure in the tire. ;-)
Or maybe there's another way to heat it?
Get a heat gun that is normally used for paint removal. Don't use a torch! They burn too hot and will destroy any painted surfaces. For heat control, go to a welding supply store and get a Tempil stick for 350 degrees F. When you heat the hub with your heat gun, occasionally run the Tempil stick over the surface you are heating. When the stick melts and becomes liquid looking instead of chalk like, you have reached temperature and can pull the bearings. Never try to remove these bearings cold. It will destroy the machined surfaces inside the hub and you will be looking for new wheels. If you are working with wheels that you do not have the history of you might find that someone tried to pull them cold and ruined the hub. Occasionally you can use a centre punch to put small punch marks inside the bore. This will cause the bore to "swell" and you can refit new bearings with some blue loctite once or twice before the punch marks are too small to retain the bearing. THIS IS STRICTLY A TEMPORARY FIX! It will however give you some time to locate some better wheels and get your cash together for purchase. If you can find a machine shop with a lathe large enough you can have the hub machined out and press in sleeves made to bring your hub back to size.
In the event that the bearing falls apart when you go to replace it, you will find the outer race will stay in the hub. These are very hard to remove with a puller if any kind. A better way is to take them to a welding or machine shop that has a TIG unit and have them run a bead or two inside the trapped race. Let it cool off and it should be easy to remove because the welding shrinks it down several thousanths of an inch making it small in the bore. Another way is to heat the hub up to 350 and then cold shock the race only using a baby syringe of a straight syringe filled with ice water. This will cause the race to shrink while the hub stays hot. With the wheel in a horizontal position and the race on the lower side, use a soft faced hammer and strike the wheel hub on the opposite side from the race. The shock will cause the race to drop down with gravity. You may have to do this two or three times but most come out on the first go.
Look at your snap ring and you will see one side has rounded edges and one side sharp. When you install the snap ring make sure the rounded edges are towards the bearing and the sharp side is away from the bearing. If you install it backwards it can work its way out and it will damage the snap ring groove.
do you sell the snap rings? I can't find them
buywitchdoctors.com/products/retaining-ring-by-polaris-1?variant=39545497354302
How tough would this be without heating it up?
You can do it but its much harder. Harbor freight makes a bearing puller that will work but I have found its pretty hard to do.
Hi how often is it necessary to change these bearings?
There is no set mileage for wheel bearing replacement. Every time you pull your wheels for any reason, stick your finger in the inner bore and try to turn them. If they show any sign of "notching" (a cycle of turn stick turn stick turn stick) or are resistant to any reasonably free movement you should consider replacement for what they cost. You can get wheel bearing kits from All Balls with new bearings and seals for a much better price than Victory bearings or take samples to any bearing shop and they can match them up for a reasonable price. I can replace both sets of bearing, front and rear, for less than the cost of one set from Victory by simply going to a bearing shop and the chances are my replacement bearings will be better quality.
Kind of hard to put a mag wheel in the oven.
You don't reuse the old bearings, per the service and repair manual
NEVER hammer on the inner race on the new bearing ,..... or use slide hammer to take a good bearing out. Your putting all that force against the balls in the bearing and the races.