The bearing itself slides on and off easy enough. The lock retainer is the piece that is pressed. I cut my retainer off with a die grinder almost all the way through, then, I use a chisel and crack it in half. I have a press now, but back in the mid 80's I didnt. I used a thick 2.5 inch pipe that was cut off square and just slipped it over the axle and hammered the retainer on by sliding the pipe up and down. I never had a problem. I dont recomend cutting the retainer off with a torch. Some do it, but you could cut the axle easy or get it to hot and it could get brittle on you.