Hi all,

Last night I replaced the bearings in my Reigns rear hub (Giants own performance tracer). Old bearings came out easily and the non drive side bearing went in a treat. I use my own homemade press which is a threaded rod and a bunch of washers, old berarings, and nuts. Anyway, the drive side bearing wouldn’t go in straight with the first attempt and I ended up jamming it at an angel to the point where the inner race wouldn’t move. Managed to tap it out in the end for a second try. The bearing seemed fine, no roughness/notchyness or play. Got it in fine in the end.

However, I’m worried I’ve damaged the bearings inside. Possible? I know the bearing felt like it did before I installed it but that’s not to say I’ve damaged it. Thoughts? Or tips for next time? I’ve used my homemade press successfully quite a few times now. I’m considering buying the RRP press adapters to help with alignment for next time.

Thanks
Colin

You’d probably feel it if you’ve damaged the bearing – notchiness / roughness. Proper bearing press simply keeps everything axially aligned / harder to go wrong – simply sleeving-out your studding to fit the ID of the bearing would do a similar job

A proper bearing press is a good investment as it helps avoid this misalignment. That said, I pressed bearings in for years with washers and threaded rod and it worked ok. You just need to be careful in the first few mm to make sure that it’s absolutely straight and to immediately back off if it’s not. I’ve now got a range of different diameter rod (and sleeves) so that it sits more snugly into the bearing axle – this helps hugely with alignment and I don’t tend to get wonky bearings any more. When you come to frame bearings, however, I can highly recommend Giant’s own bearing kit, which is awesome (if expensive):
https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-Maestro-Bearing-Service-Tool-Kit-6-1pcs_71453.htm

I would also recommend a smear of lithium grease on the seats which assist with the “onboarding” and will help get the buggers out next time 🙂

Regarding your own bearing, I wouldn’t worry too much. Get out and ride and if the don’t last as long, you can worry about that when the time comes.

Thanks chaps. Doing my frame bearings soon and have already earmarked that kit from Giant.

Yes, I’m using an M12 bar on 6903 bearings that have an ID of 17mm. Will look at investing in better kit.

The Giant kit is remarkable flexible. I’ve used it to do frame bearings on Santa Cruz, Pivot and Intense frames, with only minor additions (it won’t do semi-blind bearings). Certainly, it’s been money well spent for me and I’m very happy with it.