A while back I noticed that the used wheel bearings we were throwing away at work (Honda dealership) when taken apart had a perfect taper for making dies. After saving a few I found two inner races that fit one inside the other. Then I centered the larger race on the old hub the smaller bearing had come off of and welded it in place I took a die grinder to the inside of the smaller race so it would move freely on the hubs shaft then all that was left was to drill a 2" hole in some sheet metal and put it in a press. The whole thing took about 20 mins. to make and works perfect I havent tried any heavy gauge metal yet but with the hardend bearing surfaces it shoud do some thick gauge.
Excellent lateral thinking! You may need to adjust the pitch of the taper when using heavy gauge steel or add a bit of heat to the metal being worked to ensure it stretches OK. I used to be in the metal stampings business and did a lot with 10-12 ga steel and we'd sometimes get the splitting on a tapered hole in a part we were making.
Man, I save a ton of these races just for pressing bearings in and out. Looks like I have another reason to save them, gonna try that out. Nice tip!
Do you have part numbers for the races you used? Even if they are 10-15 bucks a piece new it would be cheaper then dimple dies. Great idea!
About what year/application is the Honda hub pictured? I'd like to see the race part numbers too. Great innovation of a useful tool.
Great Idea. Save another set and sell them to another HAMBer (like Fink, Fork or myself), I'd rather send $20 to a HAMBer like tony.
The larger bearing is a front off of a Ridgeline the smaller one is the rear off of a Acura MDX/ Honda Pilot which is also what the hub is from. The smaller bearing is also used on newer Accords. I can get the Honda part numbers from work but buying them new wouldnt be cost effective because theyre about $60 apiece. But body shops like ours throw these things away all the time from cars that have been hit in the suspension. Also just about all front wheel drive cars use the style bearings you could get some from your local u pull it yard and start maching stuff up thats what I plan to do for other sizes.
I've got all the guys at work saving them for me now I have one more set of races I can come up with more soon send me a pm with your info and I will help out as many as I can.
Great idea! I've used it a couple times too - was shown to me on a course at Contour Autocraft in the UK. I save regular bearing shells too. The radiused edge is key. Just a word of warning for those that don't own a press and are tempted to use a BFH - the races can shatter and send shrapnel flying around your shop. Take care!
I guess I could I just figured most guys could find the parts to do it fairly easy and it only takes minutes to build. Its not pretty but I cant belive how well it worked.
Great idea. It's a solution to a problem I've been working on for an upcoming phase on my project. Thanks for sharing.
This is awesome! I do the same thing I have a pile of blown up bearings and hubs that I use for dimples and more. Got them from my wifes PT cruiser. Don't drive a PT's on bumpy roads....junk!
I tried it out on some 1/8 in steel today to see if it would work for making gussets and I was suprised at how well it worked now I just need more sizes.
neato hmmm. could a a piece of fine threaded rod with backing plates or warshers be run thru this ? seems that the store bought units use a method of hand cranking/ air impact them down... I have most of this stuff ..but not a press. I have a greenlee hole puncher and this idea will help do the flareing ...
I have a press but I was planning on building a fixture with a bottle jack that I can do larger parts in.
This should be the winner, hands down. This is what hotrodding is all about. Creative self-reliant solutions that produce solid quality results.
I got my hub with races from Tony yesterday (traded some parts), I can't wait to use it. It's really neat to see that Toyota can contribute something useful to society. Thanks again Tony.
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