Defeating the Dreaded E36 Rear Wheel Bearing With Stuff Around the Apartment

Love hokey solutions to keep from buying expensive specialty tools? Me too. 

I grabbed a full M3 rear suspension to throw on my 325is track car. Before they go anywhere near the car they get new bushings and bearings. 

Problem: The proper tools to pull the hub and bearing out  are pricey. I know, I know. Buy the right tools and you'll be glad you had them later. But late-night beer-fed Ed does not agree. After watching a couple sketchy videos of people Macgyvering their own bearings out, I walked around my apartment collecting weapons to use in the fight.

I managed to do it all for the price of six bolts and a PVC coupler. 

First, press the hub off with three bolts the same size as the lug bolts. My jack stands had tops with curves that perfectly fit under the hub and worked great to press against. Half a bearing splitter spread out the force on the other side.

Voila.

Next, the rest of that wheel bearing has to come out. I used half the bearing splitter again with a rod threaded into it at 90 degrees. A 4-inch PVC coupler from Lowes was cut to hold that half-splitter in the perfect spot so the rod was centered and there was still room to pull the bearing at least part of the way out. On the back side a 1 7/8-inch socket would press on the back of the bearing. It happened to be the same size as the bearing race on the back. Then add a sacrificial washer and a nut to crank on.

Added some super refined spacers once the bearing touched the half splitter.

It's a bouncing baby bearing.

100% Pure MacberkeleyingGyverness

And proud of it! My dad used to do stuff like this all the time (and still does). When I was home this past Christmas he was converting a 944 wiper motor to work on the 1962 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II that he rents out for weddings.

In reply to Ed Higginbotham :

LOL, that 944 wiper motor probably dates back to about 1962.  ;-)

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Possibly, but I'll tell you in their natural form they don't even kind of work the same way. 

There’s a Lamborghini Jalpa running around with Porsche 944 window motors.

they were a direct fit and were an upgrade over the existing ones.

Don’t discount the parts in upgrade possibilities of cars built from the late 70’s to now.