Steering Head Cup Removal

[Tedzosbsa]

Hi All,

I wanted to replace my old cups n' cones with shiny new Timkin's on my '49 A7, however, the cups have a smaller inner diameter than the neck tube so there is no way I can get any purchase on them to drift them out.  Also there's about a 1/8" length of threading on the inside of the cup... does anyone know if this is for a removal tool?  I've never heard of a bsa bearing cup removal tool, that'd be a new one for me.

I've read that the most common means of getting out pesky cups is welding a bead to it (which I'm not comfortable doing as I'll probably do more damage than remedying) or cutting and chiseling the pieces free... either way not ideal.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Tedzo

[chaterlea25]

HI Tedzo,
Yes the frame bearing cup is threaded to take an extractor
A steel plug with a suitable thread cut in it can be screwed into the cup and then the lot drifted out

HTH
John

[Tedzosbsa]

Thanks a lot John,

I'll rig something up.

Tedzo

[BSA_54A10]

What also works is grinding a step in the corner of a pin punch or chisel so it can sit on the side of the steering stem

[Greybeard]

I removed my bearing cups by MIG welding a short piece of steel scrap across the races, (no need to go near the outer bearing edge or frame) and then drifting out from the other end. The heat from welding must have helped.

[Jules]

More info. on "grinding the step on the pin punch/chisel" please Trevor, I cant picture how that works  , cheers

[shuswapkev]

 i spent an hour cutting down some steel...turning nice tight threads in it...tightned it into my bearing cup..a couple of swats with a hammer...(after a bunch of heat)   and broke all the threads out of the race... flipped the frame..threaded it into the other cup..a few whacks and knocked the tool out of the beraing..and all the threads off my tool...
soooooooo...ran a bead around the cup with my mig ..rolled the frame over and it fell out.. same with the other...

[Topdad]

Been reading this with interest,seems like everything with these bikes each one is different , some fall out others need major "surgery" to remove them. Does anyone know if the ridgid/plunger and the s/w arm model are different?  I converted my s/w to taper rollers from george prew and my old cups came out with just a single tap with a drift ,appears I was very lucky and ignorant of any damage I could have caused with my jump in and see attitude back then, regards BobH.

[BSA_54A10]

More info. on "grinding the step on the pin punch/chisel" please Trevor, I cant picture how that works  , cheers

If I can find what I have done with it i will post some pickies.
In the meantime here is the logic.
If you try to knock them out with a punch or chisel, the corner fouls on the inside of the tube before it contacts the botom of the cup.
So with a pin punch or old round chisel you grind the end flat then grind a slice out of the edge so you have a step or notch as deep as the overhang of the cup ( about 1.5 mm ).