Replacing bearing cups??

[HardcoreZ28]

Ok so my air compressor for the shop that I JUST rebuilt ate the front crank bearing up in 2 weeks time. I had a feeling they were Taiwan Trash bearings when I installed them since the cages fell off both and spilled the rollers everywhere. Never saw a new bearing come apart like that before! Anyway I had to rip the whole compressor back down last night and I'm getting new bearings today...good ones.

The question is on replacing the bearing cups. They have some light pitting in them but are not easy to access for removal and reinstallation. Can't get to them from the backside to drive them out. On a compressor that only sees a couple hundred RPM's how crucial is it to replace these? I have neither a puller nor a reinstall tool for these. Only thing I can think of is to cut them in half with a dremel possibly to get them out and try to use a large socket or something to drive the new ones in. Opinions?

[91chevywt]

I was always told that any nick or scrape no matter how bad means replace it since it'll tear up a new bearing. So i've never reused a bad one. But if youre gonna give it a shot i'd just say make sure its as smooth as possible with no raised areas. Worse that can happen is you have to take it apart again and actually replace them.

[WildBillyT]

If I were you, I'd to replace the races if accessibility is not too tedious.

Maybe throw the new ones in the freezer overnight to make them a little easier to drive with a socket?

[HardcoreZ28]

Was able to change them out. Guy at the bearing shop gave me a solid tip. He said if you run a weld bead all the way around the face of the race it'll loosen it up....sure as heck did. They came right out after that. Also picked up a cheap installer for the races too. Thrashed until 1:30 and got it all back together and working. And found a valve hung up in the primary cylinder...that was causing my lack of air volume and pressure.