Well didn’t use a press I made a tool out of stuff in my garage as shown in the picture. I froze the bearing in the freezer over night lightly sanded cleaned and lubed the bore. Then pulled the bearing out of the freezer and lubed it a bit and proceeded to slowly tighten my nuts in a criss cross pattern also tightening the 1/2 middle piece of all tread I have centered in the hub with a heavy backing plate the fits snugly in the back side of the hub keeping it pretty centered. It wasn’t always a smooth press in though it made some torquing sounds and some light pops when the bearing at times would kinda jump inward towards the hub. I tighten it up and got it flush with a few light taps with a flat chisel and a hammer on the outer race of the bearing just to make sure it was seated. The bearing seems fine no more or less play then the other and new one I haven’t installed yet. Was just curious if the torquing sounds and light popping would be normal for the way I installed it? Or not normal and maybe shouldn’t put the other one in that way? Thanks in advance for any and all insight Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

It’s probably ok, but bearings should be pressed in straight.

I can’t tell from picture, but force should only be applied to the outer race.

Looks like it should be good to me, but in reality, you only need that center all thread to pull it in. Take off the four corner studs and the bearing cover and you basically have the bearing puller set that I have although the plates are stouter than what you have. I'm guessing the popping is because even going slow, tightening on the corner studs is still going to rock the bearing a little so it's going to pop each time the counter force straightens it out. Like @Superhawk966 said, most important thing is not to put pressure on the inner race and it looks like you are good on that from what I can see. Second important thing is to get a straight pull so you don't cock the bearing and jam it in the hub.

The second bearing pressed in smooth even and easy, I had frozen both bearings and put a heat gun in the hubs till it was hot. Then lubed everything up which makes me think with all that either the first bearing was a bit big or the first hub was undersized a bit or a combination of the two and would have given a press a hard time even. Either way I’ll be rolling those wheels down the road soon. Thanks for the opinions all

I mostly applied the pressure with the 1/2 center all thread, but just lightly kept even pressure on all four corners. It seemed to make sense at the time to do a pattern of pressure in the center and even pressure on the corners.

Cool!

P.S. I kept the stock grease in them instead of cleaning it out and using a premium grease like swepco 101 so they wouldn’t explode