Labor cost for pressing axle bearings??

[Big_John]

What is everyone paying to have axle bearings pressed on?

I'm trying to justify the cost of a Harbor Fright hydraulic press. I don't use a press that often, and before I retired, I had access to a press at work.

The press is $170, about $184 by the time I pay sales tax. Doing the press work is easy, I'm not worried about that. If it was $25 to press the bearings on, I wouldn't bother buying one. At let's say. $100, then the press is a good buy.

 

[Justin Plant]

As with any other shop tool, you'll find more uses than wheel bearings.
He who dies with the most tools, wins.
Wait til it goes on sale and get one. : )

 

[live4theking]

I don't know about pressing bearings, but I was told by the owner of a local parts store that several of the local independent mechanics have bumped their rates to $125 an hour.

I was quoted $1200 to change the rack and pinion on my 2007 Chrysler T&C.

 

[volksworld]

half the battle is finding a machine shop that still has a clue how to do this and won't screw up the seal surface on the axle hacking the retaining ring off....being able to do it correctly yourself...priceless

 

[Just Carbs]

And then getting them to understand they are the one that did the dirty.

 

[Lefty71]

I rolled the dice and bought that unit about three-four years ago.... It paid for itself pretty quick... not for hobby stuff, but repairs on modern cars (many bad Ford/Lincoln FWD/AWD wheel bearings) that I would have had to pay a shop big bucks to repair. It has come in handy many times.

 

[david hill]

What is everyone paying to have axle bearings pressed on?

I'm trying to justify the cost of a Harbor Fright hydraulic press. I don't use a press that often, and before I retired, I had access to a press at work.

The press is $170, about $184 by the time I pay sales tax. Doing the press work is easy, I'm not worried about that. If it was $25 to press the bearings on, I wouldn't bother buying one. At let's say. $100, then the press is a good buy.

Indianapolis area the cost of pressing axle bearings each will run you anywhere from 75 to $100. Unfortunately the type of pressure you will need to press axle bearings and the car that will go on on top of it requires about 60 to 80 ton capacity. Those hydraulic presses cost upwards of 1200 to 1600.

 

[D Cluley]

$25 is what it just cost me to get LCA bushings pressed in, but it sounds like that's a smaller job. It took 4 tries to find a shop that would do it, and #3 was just down the street from Harbor Freight. If that $175 press had been in stock, I would have just bought one.

 

[WOT440]

What is everyone paying to have axle bearings pressed on?

I'm trying to justify the cost of a Harbor Fright hydraulic press. I don't use a press that often, and before I retired, I had access to a press at work.

The press is $170, about $184 by the time I pay sales tax. Doing the press work is easy, I'm not worried about that. If it was $25 to press the bearings on, I wouldn't bother buying one. At let's say. $100, then the press is a good buy.

On e bay for around $100.00 w/free shipping.

VEVOR Hydraulic Shop Press Floor Shop Equipment 6Ton Jack Stand H Frame Red 7396152422986 | eBay

VEVOR Hydraulic Shop Press 6 Ton with Press Plates H-Frame Benchtop Press Stand | eBay

 

[Big_John]

half the battle is finding a machine shop that still has a clue how to do this and won't screw up the seal surface on the axle hacking the retaining ring off....being able to do it correctly yourself...priceless

And then getting them to understand they are the one that did the dirty.

I used a local shop a few years ago to do some axle bearings and I took the old bearings off myself. I assume that they would still do the work, but I expect it will cost more.

Indianapolis area the cost of pressing axle bearings each will run you anywhere from 75 to $100. Unfortunately the type of pressure you will need to press axle bearings and the car that will go on on top of it requires about 60 to 80 ton capacity. Those hydraulic presses cost upwards of 1200 to 1600.

That's about what I was figuring for cost.

60-80 tons is a big press... It doesn't seem to me that it should take that much to press on the axle bearings. I watched a couple videos on doing this just to see what press they are using and they all seem to be using a much smaller press.

 

[Big_John]

On e bay for around $100.00 w/free shipping.

VEVOR Hydraulic Shop Press Floor Shop Equipment 6Ton Jack Stand H Frame Red 7396152422986 | eBay

VEVOR Hydraulic Shop Press 6 Ton with Press Plates H-Frame Benchtop Press Stand | eBay

I looked at those. I bought a similar one for work years ago to supplement the floor model we had. It was a nice size to use in the field as we often had to check load cells at a customer's site.

The only issue with doing axles with it is you have to have a hole in your bench or block it up high enough.

 

[Toolmanmike]

What is everyone paying to have axle bearings pressed on?

I'm trying to justify the cost of a Harbor Fright hydraulic press. I don't use a press that often, and before I retired, I had access to a press at work.

The press is $170, about $184 by the time I pay sales tax. Doing the press work is easy, I'm not worried about that. If it was $25 to press the bearings on, I wouldn't bother buying one. At let's say. $100, then the press is a good buy.

How long does it take? An hour for both? I would say $100+ depending on what the shop rate is.

 

[Lefty71]

Unfortunately the type of pressure you will need to press axle bearings and the car that will go on on top of it requires about 60 to 80 ton capacity. Those hydraulic presses cost upwards of 1200 to 1600.

I've seen some nasty ones, where you needed the bearing clamp to hold for removal. Pretty scary when they go....you wonder about the integrity of the bearing clamp. But I did all mine, axle and diff with that little press from HF. No problems. I doubt tapered axle makes much difference. I always thought, you could split the old race coming off and save that intense pressure, if need be.

 

[Samplingman]

Even though it took about 15 minutes, the shop charged me the full hour, $120, and that was about 5 years ago.

 

[Toolmanmike]

Even though it took about 15 minutes, the shop charged me the full hour, $120, and that was about 5 years ago.

Flat rate off a menu. Just curious, what kind of a shop? Out local welding shop would be cheapest. An independent auto repair next and a Dealer would be the most spendy.

 

[Samplingman]

Flat rate off a menu. Just curious, what kind of a shop? Out local welding shop would be cheapest. An independent auto repair next and a Dealer would be the most spendy.

This was a Ford dealership.

 

[david hill]

I've seen some nasty ones, where you needed the bearing clamp to hold for removal. Pretty scary when they go....you wonder about the integrity of the bearing clamp. But I did all mine, axle and diff with that little press from HF. No problems. I doubt tapered axle makes much difference. I always thought, you could split the old race coming off and save that intense pressure, if need be.

Its not the removal that requires the greatest pressure. You can stress relieve the old inner race and retainer on removal It's the required force to press the tapered bearing and retainer on.

 

[david hill]

I used a local shop a few years ago to do some axle bearings and I took the old bearings off myself. I assume that they would still do the work, but I expect it will cost more.

That's about what I was figuring for cost.

60-80 tons is a big press... It doesn't seem to me that it should take that much to press on the axle bearings. I watched a couple videos on doing this just to see what press they are using and they all seem to be using a much smaller press.

A 60-to-80-ton press seems like a lot on till you start pressing Dana 60-70 series bearings. Of Course, the shop I retired from we pressed on bearings for a wide variety of applications. The extra capacity really helped on those stubborn bearing removals.

 

[Toolmanmike]

A 60-to-80-ton press seems like a lot on till you start pressing Dana 60-70 series bearings. OfCourse the shop I retired from we pressed on bearing for a wide variety of applications. The extra capacity really helped on those stubborn bearing removals.

Yep. If the bearing comes with a retainer, just cut a relief in the old one. It is scrap anyway. I had a shop on my tool route that would cut a relief, split with a chisel and drive the bearings on and off with a piece of exhaust tubing. Heat up the retainer to expand and it will drive on pretty easy.

 

[3175375]

Let us know what you decide, @Big_John and how it works out.
I own 3 Ferd superduty pickups and I suspect that I will have to do some bearing pressing before I expire.