Bearing tools

[sethschmautz]

Looking to do a bunch of bearing replacements over the winter. In general, looking to do upper and lower pivot bearings on my hightower, wheels mfg bottom bracket bearings, and assorted hub bearings. In the past I've used long bolts, washers and sockets and have been successful (albeit sometimes not pretty). With the quantity I'm thinking of doing this winter having the right tools for the job makes sense.

I don't think I need pro-level tools. Any recommendations out there?

On a related note, my wheels mfg BB has about 2500 miles on it and seems to be clicking and popping and in need of bearing replacement. Does anybody know if all of wheels mfg bearing options (ABEC-3, angular, ceramic) are all compatible with their BB shell?

Thanks!

Seth

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[J. Barron DeJong]

Haven’t used them, but the Alt/Alt tool was designed for that purpose - made of Acetal plastic, so lower cost/less durable than pro grade tools:

https://www.altalt.ca/products/suspe...ring-press-kit

[jamal]

I have some stuff from here. Pretty cheap, takes a few weeks to show up though.

https://www.bearingprotools.com/

But also have access to a bike shop so I only got some cup and bolt BB extractors and the specific puller for most of the suspension bearings. (main pivot i just took out with a hammer and punch).

[Andeh]

Your best bang for your buck setup is probably going to be getting the Alt-Alt presses and some Wheels Mfg blind pullers for whichever bearings you have that won't come out with the Alt-Alt setup. I started with some stuff from Bearing Pro Tools and it's serviceable but the threads on the press rod aren't as clean and smooth as Wheels, and the blind pullers don't work as well as Wheels. The Alt-Alt drifts are perfectly serviceable for the situations that don't require a blind puller or pressing the new bearings back in.

All the Wheels BB bearings (assuming same spindle size) are cross-compatible. So if you started with the cheap one, you can upgrade to Angular. Don't do ceramic for MTB.

[sethschmautz]

Your best bang for your buck setup is probably going to be getting the Alt-Alt presses and some Wheels Mfg blind pullers for whichever bearings you have that won't come out with the Alt-Alt setup. I started with some stuff from Bearing Pro Tools and it's serviceable but the threads on the press rod aren't as clean and smooth as Wheels, and the blind pullers don't work as well as Wheels. The Alt-Alt drifts are perfectly serviceable for the situations that don't require a blind puller or pressing the new bearings back in.

All the Wheels BB bearings (assuming same spindle size) are cross-compatible. So if you started with the cheap one, you can upgrade to Angular. Don't do ceramic for MTB.

Thanks!

How about Ceramic for gravel?

Seth

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[Andeh]

I don't do that, so not sure how bad the grime infestation is. My local hivemind experience with it for MTB is that if you get a lot of dirt on your bike and wash it somewhat often, grit gets into the bearings and quickly destroys the ceramic bearings.