no need for a welder, unless the old bearing is really screwed up.
first off, is the old bearing still intact? inner races still there?
assuming its all in one piece,,,here is the "poor mans press" setup.
the hub needs removed first, get a cheap 3/4" bolt a couple of inches long (3/4 shaft, not head)
support, or cradle the knuckle assembly and from the back side drop the bolt in the splines, it should only contact the hub, not the inner race. Get some ear protection and start smacking the bolt with a medium sized hammer. at only about .002" per smack it will take a couple of minutes. the bearing is trash anyways, so don't worry about scratching it.
with the hub out, remove the snap ring then flip it over. my custom made bearing removal setup is a length of 1" threaded rod, preferable fine thread, some really big washers and nuts, a plumbing pipe reducer that is the size of the inner race on one end, and at least 1" I.D. on the other end, and stamped steel idler pulley from a Vulcan V6 with a notch ground to clear the back of the steering knuckle. the pipe reducer goes against the wheel facing inner race, the notched pulley goes against the back of the knuckle to accept the bearing. 1" rod thru the center, adequate washers and grease, start cranking. with a lot of pressure, if it still isn't moving, start tapping the knuckle with a medium sized ball pein hammer. taps, or robust taps yes, wallop no. some,(considerable) customizing of tools and procedures may be necessary. I have used 3/4 rod to do this, but it didn't work very well, 1" fine thread yields much more leverage and pressure.
for re-installing I took an old hub and cut the wheel ****** off to make a big flat disk. that butted against the outer knuckle, with the pulley arranged to contact only the outer race of the new bearing. VERY IMPORTANT TO ONLY TOUCH OUTER RACE AS NEW BEARING IS PRESSED INTO KNUCKLE. the pulley only goes 75% of the distance needed, I added the old bearing to the stack to finish pushing the new bearing in. when its all the way in, leave the old bearing on top of the new and give it a few whacks to fully seat it.
now for the hub, VERY IMPORTANT TO ONLY TOUCH THE INNER RACE WHEN PULLING THE HUB IN.
set the hub in the bearing, run the rod thru, arrange washers, pipe adapter, or whatever you're using to put tension in the back side inner race,start cranking.
any assortment of strong washers, really big sockets, do-dads, bars, heavy plates with holes in it, etc, will work. instead of the pipe adapter I use a crank shaft front sleeve from a 429/460 V8.
I've replaced numerous bearings over the past 15 years using this method and none have failed. Sure, it's easier to pay a shop to do it, but what fun is that?
Perry
