Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Greetings:

If you hammered ONLY on the outer race of the old bearing, it should technically be OK, but the noisy roll tells me you dinged the center race with that mallet. You can take it out and replace it now, or dig it out of shrapnel later...

Well I just went ahead and ordered 2 new bearings. Just gonna replace the other one too that I just installed to be sure. Build will have to wait till they arrive.

Greetings:

You are wise. No sense going to all that work only to have the crank bust. For $40 or whatever, new NTKs are cheap insurance.
I learned to freeze the bearings - as cold as the Casa freezer would go - and bake the cases to sub-rubber-bushing melting temperatures. The big socket is an excellent suggestion if you don't have a proper bearing installation drift. With the Hot-Cold interface, a gentle tap is usually all that's required. Ting-ting-ting-Tock.

Wheelman-111 wrote:Greetings:

You are wise. No sense going to all that work only to have the crank bust. For $40 or whatever, new NTKs are cheap insurance.
I learned to freeze the bearings - as cold as the Casa freezer would go - and bake the cases to sub-rubber-bushing melting temperatures. The big socket is an excellent suggestion if you don't have a proper bearing installation drift. With the Hot-Cold interface, a gentle tap is usually all that's required. Ting-ting-ting-Tock.

Ill leave the bearings in the freezer over night. What temperature should I set the oven to and for how long? I did 350 for 12 minutes and the bearings still wouldn't go in. They got about 1/8 of the way in before they stopped.

ive done the frezzer oven method and all my bearings just fell into place ive never had to hit one with a hammer .I bake at 320 for about 20 - 25 mins.Just dont do it with dirty oily case as it will stink out the oven,kitchen and the rest of the house and your wife will yell at you lol

paulpauly7 wrote:ive done the frezzer oven method and all my bearings just fell into place ive never had to hit one with a hammer .I bake at 320 for about 20 - 25 mins.Just dont do it with dirty oily case as it will stink out the oven,kitchen and the rest of the house and your wife will yell at you lol

Haha good thing I'm 19 and have no wife to yell at me, my girlfriend already hates my elite since its apart and sitting on my bedroom floor. Roommates might not like that though haha. But thanks, can't wait to get this thing finished, build has been taking wayyyy too long!

Greetings:

There's probably not a whole lot of difference between 300, 320 and 350 degrees as far as making the bearing socket just that few microns bigger. It's a "loose press-fit" clearance, so close that if you could keep it perfectly square (you can't....) it should theoretically slide in with thumb pressure. There is a BIG difference if the rubber in the mounting bushings starts to melt, so I never go above 350, maybe that's even pushing it.

So it's not so much a question of how hot/cold to make the case bearing socket, but keeping the bearing super-square to its destination is Critical. And it's not so easy to do, because you're burning your fingertips on the hot Alu case pretty quick. If one of mine occasionally hangs up, I just tap it out and start over.

The last time I did bearings in an alum. case I used a heat gun. Didn't leave it in place long enough the first time

I heat my cases with a heat gun. I heat the case to about 320 degrees. The bearing should drop right in. With the heat gun it puts the heat right where you want it, so you dont have to worry about cooking bushings and what ever else.

I add wheel bearing grease on the case and use a shop press in the crank bearings with lube grease.

well I dont want to heat the crankcase with heater gun, because crank seals wont hold well.. aluminum can wrap and crank bearings wont hold because of spun bearings in the crank case..

another way i use flat plate steel and and bearing installer tool to pull crank bearin the case. a big wrench to turn a big nut.

Well bearings arrived yesterday and I threw them into the freezer. Just went and put the case in the oven at 320 degrees for 22 minutes. Bearings dropped in with no effort at all, literally just dropped in. Really really happy as it went a lot easier than last time. Got my tusk crank puller and new crank and ready to start putting this thing back together!

Greetings:

Nicely done. Glad it worked out. Just make sure they're seated all the way with a tap on the OUTER race with a right-sized socket or proper bearing installer. Ting-ting-ting-TOCK means they're in.

VeeDubh is right to be concerned about seals - I remove and replace mine if I plan to cook the case. He's also right about the socket, indeed the whole case, warping with heat. However I don't think that's an issue when the heat is evenly applied, as in an oven, but I never use a heat gun or propane for that reason.

Wheelman-111 wrote:Greetings:

Nicely done. Glad it worked out. Just make sure they're seated all the way with a tap on the OUTER race with a right-sized socket or proper bearing installer. Ting-ting-ting-TOCK means they're in.

VeeDubh is right to be concerned about seals - I remove and replace mine if I plan to cook the case. He's also right about the socket, indeed the whole case, warping with heat. However I don't think that's an issue when the heat is evenly applied, as in an oven, but I never use a heat gun or propane for that reason.

Seals are yet to be installed. Have fresh brand new ones sitting in the package in my room. Going to put the seals on after I get the cases together with the tusk tool and I figure out which screws go into which holes

Greetings:

Yeah, it's easy to get that wrong.. They all stand about a half-inch proud when the right ones are matched to the holes. Be careful pushing in the seals, by the way. It's easy to push them in too far and you get to start over with fresh HondaBond.

Just got the cases together using the tusk tool. Gotta say, what a great tool. Here's a video of the crank rotating within the case. I noticed there not much clearance on the side opposite a boost port. I made a video just to be sure I didn't install it incorrectly and there is supposed to be that little clearance. Video posted below. Once I hear back that its alright I'll continue finishing up the build!

How far am I supposed to push the seals in? Don't want to go too far but I also don't want to not push them in far enough. Thanks guys.