Sorry this is so long, but the whole story will answer most questions:

I've been having a heck of a time doing my front wheel bearing w/o a press. Finally gave up on getting the old races out, and took the hub to a friend who pressed them out with a hydraulic press.

So now it's time to put the new races back in. I did the recommended method of placing the races in the freezer, and the hub into the oven. I got the "inboard" races in perfect w/o any issues the first attempt. The "outboard" races however wouldn't go in using this method. I figured the races got too warm and wouldn't fit - back into the freezer to retry again tomorrow.

The next day I tried again, and got them about 50% in. I quickly grabbed the sledge and a punch, and tried tapping them in the rest of the way. I got them in to the point they're flush with the outer lip, but still maybe 1/4" or so from 'fully seated'.

I then took them back to the guy with the press, who was able to get them to about 1/8" to 1/16" from "fully seated" (w/ the press maxed out). However, he said that I got them crooked when I hammered on them, and as such he can't get them in all the way.

His suggestion is to just install them on the car, and see if they work. If they do, great, if not, buy a new set of bearings.

What does Rennlist think is the best course of action? Run them, and see what happens? Buy new bearings & try again? Buy whole new hubs and start over?

Keep in mind, beyond a FEW street miles to sanity check things, the next three times I drive the car will be at an autocross, followed closely by an event at Watkins Glen.

 

I went through this on my 83 and gave up on replacing the races also. They just wouldn't come out. So I figured it was better to have well seated races than a scratched hub.

I would definitely have them properly seated using the correct VW tool and a press before running the hub. I would suspect that running them half seated would lead to the hub warping. Not good!

 

find someone with a bigger press, and preferably the correct tool, or some experience doing it...

I have done the races on both my cars by hand no issues, it just takes a desire to seat the race greater than the races desire to not seat...

I have a 12000 lb press I have never used, I bought it "just in case" and didn't need it for either car...

DO NOT run the car without the races seated, or you could destroy not only the hub, but the spindle and possibly your car... google catastrophic failure and read...