Any tips, please, on using a cheap 3 legged puller?

NealB

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Last week, it was pretty easy to use a cheap 3 legged puller, to remove the shaft, with bearings attached, from the body of my VP 2003 raw water pump.

Sadly, I didn't have the same success with this morning's little task, which was to remove those 2 bearings from the shaft (I want the spacer, from between the two bearings, to put on a new shaft).

I'd watched this excellent short video, several times:


See about 9 minutes in, if you're interested (and thanks to 'Sailing with US', if you're on the PBO forum.)

It convinced me that it looks fairly straightforward, even for one with my very limited mechanical engineering aptitude.

Hmmmmmmm ...... well ....... All was ok to start with, as the bearings moved steadily to the end of the shaft.

Once there, however, events took a turn for the worse, as the bearings refused to shift any futher.

I think the problem was that the 'drive shaft' of the puller wouldn't stay right in the centre of the pump shaft. I dismantled the puller several times to try get it lined up neatly, but all in vain.

So, in good, traditional, accountant, mode ....... I just went for brute force and ignorance, and wound the spanner with absolutely every ounce of my strength.

Eventually ...... oh dear (or words to that effect)......... there was a loud 'Crack!!', as the two bearing casings fractured.

So, I'm now left with the even trickier task of removing the remains of the bearing cases and the spacer.

I thought youtube would be packed with, 'how to use a 3 legged puller' vids, but I found nothing informative.

I agree, the theory is simple and obvious, but I found the real world application beyond me.

Any tips most gratefully accepted.
 
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pvb

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Cut through most of what remains of the bearings with an angle grinder, then use a Dremel very carefully to cut the rest without damaging the shaft. With a screwdriver in the slot, the remains of the bearings will slide off easily.
 

NealB

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Thanks pvb.

Damaging the shaft wouldn't matter: I've got a new one, ready to fit, in the service kit.

The spacer is the only bit I plan to re-use.

I've got a washer that just fits over the shaft, and, tomorrow, I'll try using that to pull the first bearing off the shaft.

My real worry is using the puller to fit the new bearings onto the new shaft: the puller and shaft just don't 'want' to stay centred and in-line with each other.

I may play safe and ask a local engineer to fit them with a hydraulic press.
 

pvb

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Thanks pvb.

Damaging the shaft wouldn't matter: I've got a new one, ready to fit, in the service kit.

The spacer is the only bit I plan to re-use.

I've got a washer that just fits over the shaft, and, tomorrow, I'll try using that to pull the first bearing off the shaft.

My real worry is using the puller to fit the new bearings onto the new shaft: the puller and shaft just don't 'want' to stay centred and in-line with each other.

I may play safe and ask a local engineer to fit them with a hydraulic press.

Probably a good idea - those 3-legged pullers are dreadful contraptions!
 

NealB

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Has the end of the shaft been pounded ? Something has prevented it moving off the end, perhaps slightly mushroomed.

There's no sign of any 'mushrooming'.

I suspect that the off-centre pull might have put unfair pressure on the bearing cases: ok on the old bearings, but I really want to avoid damaging either the new bearings or the new shaft.
 
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TernVI

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How long is the shaft?
I would probably think about pressing the shaft through the bearings in a big vice. Use something like an old socket as a spacer.
Or just put the shaft in a vice, not tightened up, so the bearing sits on top the jaws and tap the shaft through the bearing with a hammer and punch.

Never had much luck with those pullers. Some people use things like jubilee clips and allsorts to hold the claws in the right places.
I've concocted pullers out of toolmakers' clamps and bits of studding, or bits of angle iron before now.

Grinding off the old bearings is a good call sometimes.
 

anoccasionalyachtsman

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Your washer is likely to be a mild steel, and will just bend. I'd go grinder, use a thin cutting disc to go most of the way through and then it'll split with one whack on a cold chisel.
 

Caraway

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My three-legged puller has an alternative saddle with two legs for stuf that needs a straight pull.

But. Am I wrong? If you don't need the shaft just whizz it in half with an angle grinder and lift the spacer off the cut end.
 

ghostlymoron

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I bought a three leg puller at a Sunday market thinking it would come in useful sometime. After several years, a need arise and I smugly got it out for dismantling the clutch on my BSA. I wound away and the thread in the body pulled straight out! For some applications it pays to buy reasonable quality.
 

NealB

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How long is the shaft?

It's about 3 inches / 75mm

Or just put the shaft in a vice, not tightened up, so the bearing sits on top the jaws and tap the shaft through the bearing with a hammer and punch.

I'll probably give that one a try tomorrow.

Grinding off the old bearings is a good call sometimes.

Yes, that might well have been a good call!
 

NealB

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I'd go grinder, use a thin cutting disc to go most of the way through and then it'll split with one whack on a cold chisel.

If you don't need the shaft just whizz it in half with an angle grinder and lift the spacer off the cut end.

Please 'scuse my profound ignorance/ stupidity, but am I right in thinking that the 'it' that you both refer to is the remains of the bearing that is now right at the end of the shaft (see pic below)?

If so, those suggestions make sense (yes, even to me).


Celtic Spirit old raw water pump shaft.JPG
 

Daverw

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Thanks pvb.

Damaging the shaft wouldn't matter: I've got a new one, ready to fit, in the service kit.

The spacer is the only bit I plan to re-use.

I've got a washer that just fits over the shaft, and, tomorrow, I'll try using that to pull the first bearing off the shaft.

My real worry is using the puller to fit the new bearings onto the new shaft: the puller and shaft just don't 'want' to stay centred and in-line with each other.

I may play safe and ask a local engineer to fit them with a hydraulic press.
When you come to refit put the shaft in your freezer and the bearing will slip on easily.
 

anoccasionalyachtsman

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Please 'scuse my profound ignorance/ stupidity, but am I right in thinking that the 'it' that you both refer to is the remains of the bearing that is now right at the end of the shaft (see pic below)?

If so, those suggestions make sense (yes, even to me).


View attachment 115523
My it is the inner bearing race, but I think @Caraway's it is the shaft itself.

Having seen the pic though, my cut in the bearing race would be angled (45 degrees or more from the centreline) so to protect the spacer. You don't need it to go the whole axial length of the race because they're very brittle and the chisel will split the rest.
 
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RichardS

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Thanks ...... I've read the suggestion to put the shaft in freezer over night, and the bearings in a warm oven for about twenty minutes.
A bearing which takes a hydraulic press to remove can sometimes be pushed on by hand using this technique. When it happens like that you wonder why you had such a problem getting it off. :unsure:

The tool you need for pulling off bearings is a bearing puller which applies a force distributed evenly across the entire bearing including the inner race. A three-legged puller is not really the right tool, as you have found because all the force is exerted on the outer race. I have a large bearing puller and a small one for different shaft sizes which I use when the press is not suitable.

Richard
 
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Caraway

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My it is the inner bearing race, but I think @Caraway's it is the shaft itself.

Having seen the pic though, my cut in the bearing race would be angled (45 degrees or more from the centreline) so to protect the spacer. You don't need it to go the whole axial length of the race because they're very brittle and the chisel will split the rest.
Yes. I didn't know if he had managed to shift one bearing or both. To protect the spacer even more he could cut into the bearing track and shaft from the end of the shaft rather then from the top of the track. Like you say once it is mainly cut a good crack with a cold chisel will shatter the track. Wear safety goggles!
 
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