I am kind of at my wits end, so I thought I would reach out to this community for suggestions.
I bought a D bearing Mod44 a few months ago.
It originally came with the Mid sized rings installed that gave it a bit of an H shape.
I was able to remove those and try the biggest ones that came with it. I didn’t like those so I installed the smallest ones.
It makes it a fun little organic shape that I don’t mind, but I want to go back to the mid sized rims.
The Problem is… that with the small rims and my old arthritic hands I cannot even begin to get them off!
I have tried for hours and hours. I tried freezing, hoping the aluminum would shrink more than the Delrin. No luck.
All I have managed to do is give the current setup at horrible pulsing vibe, that makes it no fun to play.
I have even considered building a jig for my shop press, but that seems extreme.
I have watched all vids and searched the internet for ideas, but no luck. The videos are almost like a slap in the face now. ‘Just do this and they pop right off!’
I had the same problem!!! I tried for half a day to get em off. When my hands were seized up and sore I finally gave up in frustration. My wife saw my plight and asked if I wanted her to try to get them off. I scoffed and said “sure” in a sarcastic tone.
She proceeded to pop them off in about 30 seconds!
Now I’m careful to use the thinner o rings if it seems super tight. I also started putting a little bit of Vaseline on the inside of the rims where they contact the o ring before installation and it seems to really help them come.
Unfortunately this doesn’t really help you unless your wife is into pottery and has strong hands from clay manipulation……
My advice is to hand it to someone who doesn’t care about damaging it and ask them! Also might try to get some penetrating oil in there and see if that helps.
This doesn’t help you much at the moment but when you do get the rims off, swap the O rings out on your yoyo. The second set of O-rings included is actually slightly smaller than the ones originally installed. I wished I had realized that sooner because I ended up giving my mod44 some damage swapping rims with the original O-rings, the smaller set that’s included is so much nicer but it does add a tiny amount of vibe which is probably why the thicker set was installed.
Dropping some thin lube into the gap of the rim and waiting a bit for it to seep in helped me remove them originally.
After dropping in lube I pressed down on the rims with the hub against a metal pole (that was covered with a rag, but the rag ended up getting holes torn in it from this lol).
I ended up with dings in the hub, but I got the rims off and now with the small O-rings I feel like I have the yoyo I originally wanted. The dings don’t bother me much. I absolutely don’t recommend this method but it’s there as a last resort for you if nothing else works.
I prefer the smaller O-Rings, they make the shells a lot easier to get off. On my C bearing Mod44, I have the full size o-rings and the shells can be a pain to get off. What I do is run the half under hot water for a minute or two and they’ll come right off.
I feel like i was sent the wrong rims, because they come down below the outter edge of the aluminum body. Making it impossible to push on the edge like their video instructed.
All of the shells are backwards compatible with either hub set. Some are easier to get off than others. Just push your thumbs inside the hub whilst pulling with your other fingers on the rim and it should peel away and pop off. It’s tricky at first but once you remove them a couple of times it’ll become second nature.
