My one and a bit year old 2011 Stumpjumper seems to have some play in the linkage bearings.

To ask a potentially stupid question does anyone know what tools I need to knock the old ones out and the new ones in? I’d rather not risk damaging the linkage so screw drivers and blocks of wood aren’t currently on the list.

I suppose a more sensible question is where can I get a decent drift and tool to install the new bearings?

If you want to risk voiding the lifetime frame warranty you can do them yourself. You can use a combination of sockets threaded bar and g clamp to ease most of them out, the rear pivots on my older stumpy are blind which makes them trickier you can make a tool – there are some good videos on u tube relating to this.
My old 2007 stumpjumper had new bearings annually which cost me £60 fitted at my local specialised shop, when it developed a crack last year I was offered a brand new stumpjumper evo frame as a replacement, so I’m glad I didn’t do my own and risk question marks over the warranty.

have a chat with your spesh dealer about the the costs.
1st off check that its not the shock bushing, cheaper to replace.
2nd a bearing kit will be £40-50, to be fair to spesh that is not bad value. their bearings are good quality and to buy top end bearings to make up a set yourself for the same money for thould take some doing.
the A/horst link/the ones nearest the drop outs-bearings need pulling out NOT pushing through. These can be a mare. and the proper puller makes a difference. Even then they can leave the outer race stuck in the seat stay.
If that happens at the dealers its their problem.
I’m not trying to put you off put but if you are not totally confident then maybe you should practice on a cheaper frame.
if the dealer only wants £15-£20 to fit a set, then……..
Cheers
Paul

Thanks All – that’s my mind made up – LBS it is.

Its not the shock bush as the shock is just back from Mojo with new parts fitted and being a 2011 frame it only has a bush on one end as the other end bolts straight into the linkage.

I guess 12 to 15 months use in the wet UK weather conditions is acceptable for a set of frame bearings.

I would be guessing at £100 ish fitted as it takes a little while

Difficult ones to do are the Horst Link, worth taking in a shop just for those.
Mind I’d take the shock off and see where the play is 1st Main pivots are easy to do yourself.

My lbs charged £90 for my enduro which i was happy to pay as i didn’t fancy bodging the tricky ones.

Cost me £37 for the bearings on my FSR. Socket set plus bench vice allowed me to change most of them.

I had a couple that were very stuck (I think they’d been in place for 5 years). I used a dremel to cut through the race so they could be removed.

In my case, happy to save the £60+ in labour charges, I wouldn’t have been surprised if my LBS would refuse to replace the stuck ones…

Did mine myself – bought bearings and bodged the old ones out with a hammer and screwdriver

Had to get the lbs to remove the Horst link ones (which they did for a tenner)

It was a mare putting them all back in again and I had to leave out a washer on both pivots – they should really have been done properly but it’s an old frame and I’m not the original owner.

I’d definitely consider the lbs for the full job next time – they wanted 120 for the work. I’d sourced the bearings myself and it still came to 30 quid for the cheaper ones and 40 for the better quality ones. You can mix and match quality – put as good as you can afford in the pivot link. The bottom bracket and Horst link ones don’t need full complement ones tho.

If its your frame and its got a warranty then pay for the work doing. If not then do it yourself 🙂

I replaced the main pivot bearings on my enduro with a combination of 3/8″ sized sockets and and a nut/bolt/washer style puller . Worked a treat

Soaking the horst link bearings in boiling water for a few minutes will make them much easier to remove, especially if they do their party trick of collapsing and leaving just the outer race behind.