I discovered that I have a bad wheel bearing on the rotor side of my rear wheel. I ordered All Balls kit for all the rear bearings plus a bearing removal tool for a blind side bearing. The kit has the collet and 2 lb. slide hammer. So far neither bearing has budged. Not sure what I'm not doing right but i"m about to give it up to my dealer. I rarely get my azz kicked working on my bikes but I'm at a wall with this.

Heat it up.

Use a heat gun not a torch!

I used a long piece of aluminum stock as a punch and hit it from the other side (through the bearing on the other side). I put the wheel on a few 4x4 blocks to hold it off the bench so it would not bang or scratch itself too much and to protect the brake disc on that side. This allows you to get WAY more force actually going into the bearing than a slide hammer. Get yourself a BFH and start whacking. You need a punch skinny enough that you can work it at a bit of an angle, and work your way around the bearing. I think I used a 1/2" piece if I remember right. One smack at 12 oclock, then 6, then 3, then 9 etc. Once one side is out, you can use whatever you have available to knock out the other one. Big piece of stock, or a big ass socket or whatever. That one came out in 4 or 5 good hits for me.

No heat required with this method (for my wheel anyway YMMV). Before you start all this, throw your new bearings in the freezer. By the time your done smashing things and cleaning up, they will be nice and chilly. Makes install drastically easier.

Good luck and if you get too mad just walk away! My wife gave me the best advice of my life once, she said "DON'T WRENCH ANGRY". Words to live by.

Let us know if you have more problems with it.

That is my method also. Make or adapt something to be a very long drift, place the wheel on a couple of lengths of timber, and go at it from the other side. It will take a good hit or three to start it moving.
Work around the bearing so as to drift it out parallel. I adapted one of my dad's 20" screwdrivers from the 30's and reshaped the blade to suit! Never did ask and later claimed it as my own.

To fit the new bearings use a large socket that sits ONLY against the outer race and tap it squarely home.

For some extra advice, have a look at https://www.vstrom.info/Smf/index.php/topic,4250.0.html.

I just went through replacing all 5 bearings. Both of the above methods mentioned do work. Using the long punch or drift pin from the other side was a tad more difficult because of the spacer in between the bearings which the axle runs through. It is tight in there and therefore kinda tough to get it moved sideways enough for the punch to have enough bearing to find. But I used that method for one wheel while waiting for my Motion Pro 20mm tool to arrive in the mail. (Sheesh, I wish shops would stock this thing.) https://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-Be.../dp/B000WJJ4GK Once I got the bearing removal tool, I found an old unused tire iron and cut off the "wrench" end of it, leaving me with an 18" rod with a wedge point on one end. A monster flat bladed screw driver would work too. That pounds into the tool and then everything pounds through, bringing the bearing with it. The bearing came out easier with the tool than with the punch.

Oh, and when installing the new bearings make SURE you put them in the freezer for about an hour first. You can also heat the wheel hub to get it to expand slightly. My install tool was a socket big enough to fit the outer rim of the bearing but small enough to not get stuck in the wheel hub. From my collection, a 1-5/16 socket fit the wheel bearings and a 1-7/8 fit the carrier bearing.

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Well guys, thanks for the responses! I am going to go find a long punch maybe at Harbor Freight. I thought about getting the Motion Pro tool but felt like the blind side removal tool might be a better way to go. In this case I was wrong!
I'll follow up with my results!

Yep, driver from the other side is the only method that works every time.

The expanding blind hole slide hammer thingy can work on smaller bearings, and has its uses in other situations, but most wheel bearings will shrug it off.

I've heard good things about that Motion Pro wedge style tool, but I haven't tried it personally. Don't see the point when a nice big punch works well enough.


Also, the aluminum set of bearing/seal drivers at Harbor Freight is quite nice if you'd like a proper tool. But banging on sockets works fine too.

A while back I came across a tip of using a large bolt that had a slot cut into the end, then wedging with a screw driver to grip the bearing, for removing wheel bearings. I used this method with success to remove bearings from a scooter wheel. Tools for installing the bearing, https://www.stromtrooper.com/mainten...ring-tool.html
If anyone want to read how to make the 2$ bolt puller, https://www.instructables.com/id/2-M...earing-Puller/

Properly sized blind bearing puller inserted into the bearing and expanded to make tight using wrenches.

Lay wheel flat rotor side up on a folded towel and quickly jerk the slide hammer up with a lot of force. Like enough force to pick the wheel up. Repeat as needed. Sometimes it takes 4 or 5 pulls to dislodge and/or break the bearing loose. Once it breaks free its much easier to remove it the rest of the way.

When using a slide hammer make sure hands and fingers will not get pinched. Its best right before you go for the gold to slowly slide the hammer up the shaft to verity all fingers and or parts of hands are free and clear of pinch points