To remove a tight bearing you might try to cover the whole bearing with a paper tower and use your air compressor in the center.  To insert them back in a 1/4" socket set usually have a right size socket.

To remove a tight bearing you might try to cover the whole bearing with a paper towel and use your air compressor in the center.  To insert them back in a 1/4" socket set usually have a right size socket.  I've polished the gears by removing the handle, putting toothpaste in the gears, chuck the main shaft in a drill and spin it.

While pacing my super secret underground lair, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new bearings for this reel, I did a dry run of removing the existing bearing from it's perch using my new BFF. When I saw the tools being sold to remove reel bearings on the 'Ali' site, I recalled having saved a tool similar to that which came with a drapery restring kit and scavenged from the miscellaneous drawer on one of my rollaway chests.

 

 

It worked perfectly after slightly altering the shape of the hook. 

 

I thought about chucking something up in a drill or a Dremel to 'polish' the bore where the bearing rests, but honestly, after removing the bearing fairly easily (compared to the first time) I think I'm good to go moving forward. I did find a parts reel that I could get if I wanted to have that around for spares as parts for this exact version are getting very scarce. I will wait and see how this next phase goes before committing more resources to this resurrection.

Simple bearing pulled can be made by breaking a Bobby pin at the bend bend it to 90*. I go a step further and grind it to an edge. Not so sharp as to be dangerous though.