Sunex 57BS5 Bearing Splitter Separator, 1/2 in to 9 in

This is the two-piece splitter that goes behind a bearing when there is no room for a jaw puller to grab. The two halves clamp around the shaft and the sharpened, angled inner edges bite into the gap under the bearing race or gear hub. Capacity runs from 1/2 in up to 9 in, which covers everything from an input shaft bearing on a manual gearbox to a differential carrier bearing or a large pulley hub.

On the bench you set the splitter under the bearing, run the two clamping screws down evenly until the halves seat tight against the shaft, then bolt a two-leg or three-leg puller, a hydraulic ram, or a slide hammer to the threaded holes in the splitter body. Pulling force goes through the splitter instead of the bearing cage, so the race comes off in one piece and the shaft shoulder is not marked up. The threaded holes work for pushing setups too, which is how most shops handle a press job where the bearing has to come off in the press rather than on the car.

Splitter halves are drop-forged hardened alloy steel with zinc plating; the clamping screws are black oxide. That matters because a stamped splitter flexes under load and lets the bearing walk off crooked, and a flexed splitter is what usually ends with a cut-off wheel and a ruined shaft. Sold as the splitter only, part number 57BS5 - use it with a puller set or press you already have.