Headset Press Disaster

[drossall]

I've broken a couple of Record vices trying to get bike bits out. Unlikely in this case though.

[MartinC]

Success! 10 minute job with the right approach. Explanation and pics below. Basically a rawlbolt. Thanks again for all the helpful advice suggestions and encouragement. The clarity of thought given by having to explain something to expert people is invaluable too.

The hole in the headset press cup adaptors was 16mm - exactly the same size as a 16mm rawlbolt. Fixing one of these into the top meant I could use the headset press shaft as a drift - the cup adaptors provided precise alignment and support. So with a kettle of hot water, some cloth wrapping the headtube to hold the heat and a lump hammer the cup adaptor drove out with 3 decent blows. Because I was holding the frame by hand by the head tube there was no stress on the frame. I then drove out the bottom cup adaptor just using the heat, hammer and a wooden dowel that fitted exactly (an old homemade wardrobe hanger rail I kept - never throw bits of wood away!).

So frame is fine, headset press is fine, headset cups are fine except for some cosmetic marks from when I tried to twist out the adaptor in the vice.

Pics

Top one driven out with rawlbolt in it.

How it was driven out

Bottom one driven out

Lessons:
Check the cup/cup adaptor fit before using the press.
Rawlbolts are good for blind holes.
Wrapped cloth is good for holding the water heat against the metal.
This forum has some excellent people - thanks again.

[iandusud]

Well done.

[slowster]

Nice work. Thank you for coming back and letting us know how you did it.

[kylecycler]

Well done - glad you managed it!

Apologies for this being a vague and quite possibly stupid question - just thinking out loud but maybe not very cleverly - could you used a rawlbolt to remove and (hopefully) easily re-insert the dust cap in a freehub body, or just hubs in general, without distorting the cap?

RJ the Bike Guy on YouTube uses a blind hole bearing puller - he already had one - but it's fairly expensive to buy for all it will ever be used:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9gIEG1db0s&t=51s

I've tried removing one by levering it out but distorted it and haven't bothered since, but removing it makes it easier to clean out old grease, plus I'd have to remove the dust cap entirely if I ever need to remove the cup (I've got the tool for that) to get at freehub body internals. I've got a freehub that tends to stick every now and then, just once per revolution. I've tried getting lube into it but although that helped, it hasn't fully cured the problem.

Sorry for the thread drift but just wondering if a rawlbolt could be used for another purpose, same principle. Or if anyone does it another way?

[slowster]

Apologies for this being a vague and quite possibly stupid question - just thinking out loud but maybe not very cleverly - could you used a rawlbolt to remove and (hopefully) easily re-insert the dust cap in a freehub body, or just hubs in general, without distorting the cap?
....
Sorry for the thread drift but just wondering if a rawlbolt could be used for another purpose, same principle. Or if anyone does it another way?

List of links in Too Good To Lose to various posts by Brucey on Shimano hubs and freehubs:

viewtopic.php?p=1564606#p1564606

Including this one:

viewtopic.php?p=1082177#p1082177

[kylecycler]

List of links in Too Good To Lose to various posts by Brucey on Shimano hubs and freehubs:

viewtopic.php?p=1564606#p1564606

Including this one:

viewtopic.php?p=1082177#p1082177

Thanks.