Well I've finially got the time to post about my Bearing change.

Day 1
Well first things first. Thursday, the 25th, I got my jack(Bobcat 328 Excovator) and a chain. I picked up the front end of my bike and brought it behind my shed where I would be blocked from the north wind. I then measured the distance from the big tube on the bumper to the radiator and came up with that a 6" plate going from the big tube runing on the little suports back to the radiator would do the trick for mounting the winch. Before I put it on jack stands(cement blocks in my case) I decided to measure the ground clearance with the factory tires(26" 495s) and the newly installed High Lifter lift kit. At normal ride height I got 13" at the frame directly in front of the most forward a-arm mount. At the skid plate between the floorboards I had 11". This is up from 12.5/10.5 with no lift kit and MUCH smaller TRUE 28x12" tires. I can't wait to see what it is after these tires.

While I was at it I decided to see how much lift I could get with Fretzo38's lift kit(his lift kit and HL's combined). Fretzo's lift is just like Cowboy's but he used the plastic spacers on the shocks instead of custom made ones, he also did it along time before Cowboy. After lifting my front end to where my shocks would only sag about 1/2" I measured 15" WITH STOCK TIRES. The CV's look alittle too far down at this angle, so I will probaly not do it unless I have an extra set of shocks that I can swap in and out for those speacial ocations where I would want that kinda of clearanace.

After all of this I removed my wheels(after lifting it up on cement blocks and all), then I seen something not so good. My right front Ox-Lite was bent back JUST alittle, but with the lift kit this made it bad cause the boot was closer to the ox-lite and the ring that holds the boot on was scraped up alittle but not totalled.

Day 2
I removed both of my Boot guards and they will stay off untill I modify them to my likings(also gonna make a custom inside boot guard). I also removed my front bumper/grill/brush guard so my dad could have it welded on for my Rule winch. I also measured the distance from support to support to be about 16". So I would need a 6x16" plate for the Rule.

After all that I got to work on my dissassembaly. First I took the Rubber "arctic cat" boot off of the castle nut/cotter pin. I found that it was VERY corrodid LOOKING. It was alittle tight. I used a 36" pipe wrench on it with the brakes and the brakes were not strong enought to hold it. So I talked to a couple of my dad's employee's and they recomended a few things(like a back up wrench and air Impact). So I got another 24" wrench as a back up and put it on the square part of the hub. With the back up it took a VERY light tap to get the castle nut lose. After that the castle nut cleaned off the threads of the CV joint stub so it wasn't corrodid anylonger. Since it was getting very dark I put it back on the stub and sprayed some kinda penatrating oil(orange stuff) in the cap and put it on to break the corrosion on the nut down to clean it up and saved it for the night.

Day 3(Monday the 29th, G/f had me busy juring Saturday and Superbowl was Sunday)
I removed the rubber cap and castle nut. After that I removed the caliper and used some soldering wire to hang it from the shock(never let brakes hang by there hoses, could cause leaks or damage to the hose). Then I was able to remove the Hub. I could then see that the teeth on the cv and hub were in great condition and had a good bit of grease on them. I then put the hub back on so I would not damage the teeth or anything else on the cv. I then lossened up the bolts that hold the Knuckle to the ball joints on the a-arms. I could not get the ball joint to separate from the knuckle. SO I removed the bolts totally and tired to pry the ball joint open with a screw driver. Still nothing. So it was getting late again so I put the bolts back on(so I would not lose them) and put it up for the night. I came in and just happen to run into Niteowl Monday night after HL's trivia. I asked him if I should remove the shock to get the balljoints lose from the knuckle and he said yea.

Day 4
So when I got home from school I removed the shock from the a-arm and tied it up out of the way. I removed the knuckle/balljoint bolts again and tried to work the balljoint out of the knuckle. After this didn't work I Hammered the flat head screwdriver into the knuckle enought to pry it opene and hammer the top balljoint out of the knuckle. After that I was able to remove the cv from the knuckle and after more of the same thing I did with the top balljoint I removed the knuckle completely. I then put the hub back on the cv to protect it again and went home with the knuckle assembaly.

When I got home I got a plastic bucket and let all the dust and and shavings fall in to it. I then tired to pry the seal out with no luck. Then I noticed that the inside part of the bearing (race???) was lose enought that I could pull it out. What suprised me is that it's 1 single bearing, yet the inside "race" is 2 parts. So I removed both parts and the ***** and stuff fell out. I inspected the ***** to find that some were no longer round. Some had squarish flat sides. And the parts that held the ***** apart looked so trashed they were not realy recognizeable. I pried and pried on the seals untill my dad got home and he said to take a screwdriver and hammer the seals out. So I put it up for the night.

Day 5
Well today I got my flat head hammer and pounded out the seals. The inside seal was alot harder to get out than the outside seal. I then removed the bearing clip, this holds the bearing in place so it don't walk out.

I knew that the bearing went out to the out side part of the knuckle so I found a fitting that fit inside of the knuckle and tried to pound the bearing out. It would not move at all. A couple of my dad's employee's got back to the shop and tried to help, still no luck. Even with a sledge hammer I was not able to get this bearing out. Finially a freind of mine and employee of my dad's came to the shop and started helping me. After he pounded with the sledge hammer for a bit he decided to go ask a freind who is a machinist for help.

So we get to the machiniest house and after going over the knuckle and bearing he tells me the problem. We have been pounding on the back side lip of the knuckle, not the bearing. So after taking some measurements he measured the inside of the lip and custom made a peice that would fit inside this lip(1.5" I think) and rest on the almost microscopic raised edge of the bearing and he was able to press it out. He then told me that my knuckle was not damaged and was reuseable. He also gave me a tip for installing my next set. Said that putting them in the freezer helps alot. After all of this he didn't charge me a dime. I then told him that if he EVER wanted to fix up his VERY new Honda 300 4x4 which was all stock that he could give me a call and I would help him.

So thats it so far. My dad is SUPPOSED to go to the bearing place to get my replacement bearings made tomorrow, but knowing him I will be waiting for quite a while. I'm also gonna talk to him about when he is gonna have his welder bring the welding machine and metal back here at the shop so either I can weld it or he can.

Well Sorry for the killer long post, but I just felt that I would let you guys know in case you ever have to do this. I think that will help you guys.

 

I had to replace my bearings also. I tried everywhere to find bearings that would fit..The only ones is ArcticCat. I found them at Fiser Truck and Tractor in Arkansas. They were much cheaper than the local dealer. They sip the same day you call them..You can find them on internet. I order all my ArcticCat parts from them. Good luck on repairing.. It is a job

 

Well where my dad is going they MAKE bearings so I should be ok. BUt if you could give me a way to contact that place you mentioned I would greatly appreaciate it.

 

boner,, Fiser.com is web site..call 1-800-776-4069 to order parts.. you will be pleased with prices and service they give.