How do you remove a bearing from a shaft?

In any kind of construction machinery, the bearing is highly used.

But people hardly know the correct way to mount or remove the bearing because of which it may result in several problems.

In most cases, it is seen that when people try to disassemble the shaft the interior ring as well as the motor shaft get stuck together and damage the bearing.

Hence, it is always better to use a pullerwhen you need to remove the bearing from a shaft.

In this article, we have come up with some best processes of removing the bearing from a shaft.

How hurdle it is to remove a bearing from a shaft?

Removing the bearing from a shaft has remained a huge hurdle for many years.

Several methods were used over time but all those methods require countless hours of prolonged downtime, damage of the shaft.

The following are the most common methods that people mostly use for removing the bearing from a shaft:

• Hammer and drift methods: These are the most common and traditional methods that people highly use. In this method, tools like a hammer are used for pounding down the burr that is created by the setscrews at the time of installation. But in this process, several scratches and hollows are bound to happen on the shaft.

• Bearing puller method: This is the most typical process in which you require a bearing puller. But in this method, you will need sufficient space for effectively removing the bearing from the shaft. But similar to the hammer and drift process it is observed that several scratches and hollows fall on the shaft. However, this method is quicker and less effortless than that of the hammer and drift method. 

• Destructive method: This method is used when neither the hammer and drift method nor the bearing puller method is used. In simple words, you can say that this method is used when nothing works. This method is used as an ultimate effort for taking out a bearing from the shaft. In this method, several types of instruments are used such as hand-grinders, acetylene torches, and big-sized hammers. But the biggest disadvantage of this method is that in this method huge force is used on the objects which ultimately resulted in unnecessary damage to the shaft. Apart from that, it is observed that most of the time people also get injured while using this method.  

Best Ways to remove a bearing from a shaft

The following are some best ways that you can implement for removing the bearing from a shaft:

1. Removing the cylinder shaft

The first thing that you need to do is to remove the cylinder of the shaft for which you can adapt the following two methods:

• Cold disassembly: Generally whenever it is required to remove a small bearing people use to give a simple punch so that the bearing can be easily removed from the shaft. But a mechanical puller can be used to remove the bearing very easily. In this process, the mechanical puller acts on either the adjacent or the interior ring and in case it consists of a groove in between the shoulder of the shaft and bearing of the housing bore then the process of disassembly becomes a lot easier. For a small-sized bearing, a mechanical puller is fine but in case the bearing is large or medium, you will require a hydraulic puller.
• Thermal disassembly: If you need to remove the interior ring of the bearing then it is always better to use this method. It comprises two heading tools such as heating rings as well as adjustable induction heaters. The heating ring is used for installing and removing the interior ring that has similar diameter whereas the induction heaters are used when the interior ring consist of different diameter. With the help of heaters, the interior ring is heated very quickly but the good thing is that the shaft do not gets heated in this process. When you need to disassemble the interior ring you can use a special fixed induction heater.

2. Removing the conical shaft

Once you have removed the cylinder of the shaft you need to remove the conical shaft with the help of a mechanical or hydraulic puller. In some kind of puller, there is the spring-operated arm which not only simplifies the process of removing but also helps to avoid destruct the journal. You can take away the bearing through the external ring in case the puller jaw is of no use for the interior ring.

3. Disassembling the bearing on the sleeve of the adapter

If the bearing is small and is very tight then it is necessary to use tools like hammer for striking a small steel block. But before you do this it is important to loose-up the adapter sleeve locknut many times. If the stepped shaft bearing is tightly fitted then it is highly necessary to remove the bearing for which you need you have to tap the end face of the sleeve locknut.

4. Disassembling the bearing on the unloading sleeve

If you need to remove the bearing when it is unloaded then it is very essential to first remove the locking device, for example, lock nut, end plate, etc. for any kind of bearings that is small or medium you must use some essential tools such as lock nut, wrench of both types, i.e., hook as well as impact for disassembling the bearing. If the bearing is medium-sized or large then it may need to loosen up of the locknut before you remove the bearing with the help of a hydraulic nut. Apart from that, it is always advisable to install a stop so that it becomes easier to prevent the withdrawal sleeve as well as a hydraulic nut.

This is how you can easily remove a bearing from a shaft. If you apply the above-mentioned process it will certainly minimize the effort that people use to provide while trying to remove the bearing from the shaft.