search ever so briefly because my ADHD flaired up so I'm gonna have to ask......

Basically rebuilding the underside of my T-100. I have the axles out and need to replace the bearings and seals. I see in the FSM that it calls for grinding and chiseling off the bearing retainer. What is the best approach to this? Small cutoff wheel at a slight angle or what? I don't want to scar up the axle. Just want to know if anyone has done this and what works best. The other thing is pressing out the axle from the brake back plate. The FSM says use SST 09521-25011.........yeah ahhh right......think I'm gonna make a SST out of pipe and weld on a plate unless there is another way. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Been a long time since I've posted........thanks in advance.

Use a grinding disc. You do not need to grind all the way through. If you grind through half of it and begin hitting it with a sharp chisel it will eventually crack and fall off.

If you pry the dust cover out of the bearing, you will be able to tear out the ball retaining cage. This is some soft metal like bronze so it's pretty easy. Then you can move all the balls to one side, tilt the axle and remove balls, allowing you to remove the backing plate. You will have to grind the inner race and hit it. The inner race is a little thicker than the retainer, so you have to grind more, but as with the retainer, you can break through a quarter inch thickness with a chisel.

how did you press on the new bearing retainer? I'm figuring a piece of pipe and a floor press

Your idea is exactly what I used as a drift. (steel pipe) I simply set the flange end of the axle on a block of wood and hammered the bearing then retainer on. The pipe I used was too long to fit under my shop press.

If you have ABS don't forget to review the FSM to determine the depth to which you must press on the ABS rotor.

no abs so no worry there. thanks for the info, just thought I'd ask. Gonna get on that tomorrow. after I get all that done I'm moving to the front end. 230K hard miles on it and since Katrina very little time spent on maintenance....