Steering Stem Bearings

[johnod]

I need to replace my steering bearings, all went well till it came time to drive the old ones out.
What do you use to drive the old bearings out and the new ones in?
The Honda tools are $200 that's too much for a tool I'll probably use once.

Thanks

[daves79x]

A sharp-edged 1 inch diameter length of pipe works just fine to drive the races out of the head. You can press the stem out of the lower triple to get that bearing off, or, more crudely, drive the stem down out of the triple with a large block of wood. Either way works just fine.

Dave

[NobleHops]

To get the lower race off without removing the stem from the triple you can also put the stem in a soft-jaw vice and the use a cold chisel to catch the edge of the lower race and drive it off the stem that way.

[barryadam]

I bought an 81-82 fork/triple clamps for my project, and wanted to leave the stem in the lower when removing the bearing. So I cut the lower bearing off of the stem with a Dremel.
I cut about 3/4 of the way through the innner race and it let go with a loud bang.
On examination, it was such a tight fit, it was really straining the inner race. There was so much stress built up in it, it cracked the rest of the way from my cut.
I would never have been able to pry it off with that kind of interference fit. Ymmv.

Barry

[johnod]

Got them out, used a sharp edged pipe as suggested.
Thanks.