a slap of a hammer?

The welding thing works, I do it on heavy equipment races up to 6" diameter or so.

You ought to see the slide hammer I built to remove an idler spindle from a TD25 bulldozer, 8' long and 350-400 lbs, took three people to operate it but it did the job (along with "lots" of heat)

to make the new race easier to install, put it in the freezer for a few hours prior to putting it in. itll shrink up the tiniest bit, but it usually makes it alittle bit easier.

I used a BFH to drive out the old races. I made a tool to set in the races from aluminum. I turned them down in a lathe to just under the neck diameter and drilled a hole for a 3/8” threaded rod. Set the bearing races in place run the rod through the neck and through the pieces of machined aluminum and put a nut and washer on both ends. Tighten the nuts to forces the races in and your done.

A lot of the trouble with beating out a race is that the item you are beating it out of isn't braced enough so each blow of the hammer moves the said item instead of the race. Prop the frame up against a solid object so it can't move at all.

The Milkman wrote:

A lot of the trouble with beating out a race is that the item you are beating it out of isn't braced enough so each blow of the hammer moves the said item instead of the race. Prop the frame up against a solid object so it can't move at all.

So I should prop the frame up against my head
I'm getting ready to do this myself ( sometime this Summer ) so I'm interested in it myself.

Removal: Brass (yes, brass) punch is best, mild steel is ok. Drive bottom inner race out first as it is easier (sit on bike to reduce vibration/movement). Equally space your blows around the radius - ie. 1 hit 'north', 1 hit south, east west and so on. This helps prevent binding.

Upper: Dirty filthy smelly old mechanic trick - 1/2" Threaded rod and 3 1/2" nuts + two washers. Place a 1/2" drive socket on top of the neck (diameter of socket must be larger than neck opening). Place one nut and washer on rod. Drop into socket with majority of length of rod facing down. Now place socket inside neck that is as close as possible to the diameter of the race. Install 2 nuts and a washer on lower end of threaded rod, jam the two nuts together. Tighten upper nut until the race is pinched against the upper socket. It'll be cake to punch it out from here as a. you can see it, b. less concern about binding.

Install: Always put a layer of grease on any bearing race prior to install. If you must hit a new race, always use a brass punch.

the welding trick does work well if you have access, ive used it for years to pull cylinder liners out of rigs. id weld four beads opposite of each other down the length of the cylinder, turn it upside down and most times it would fall out. also as stated before, put a little grease around the race after youve pulled it out from under the ice cream and pop it in.youd be amazed how much easier a couple of hours in the freezer makes the race installation. and i second using the brass punch. only takes one little oops with a hardened steel punch to ruin a new race.