I use a soft punch to drive out wheel bearing races. You need a fairly long one, as you must reach through the hub to catch the back side of the race, it sticks out from the bore. Use a fairly large hammer (I usually use a 2lb sledge) -- gravity works better than my puny arm muscles.

Just tap firmly all around the rim of the race -- as leatherman said, it will only come out straight on, if it cocks in the bore, the force required to move is is more than you can generate with a hammer.

The reason for a soft punch (readily available at hardware stores or autoparts stores) is that bearing races are VERY hard, and hence fairly brittle. A sharp, hardened punch will cause very high stress at the impact point, and you risk cracking or fracturing the race, and then it will tend to gouge the hub, making drive the new one in difficult, to say the least. Also, if you slip, a soft punch won't gouge the hub, either. The soft punch won't bounce off the rim as easity, either.

Since I slipped off the race many, many times learning to do this, I stay with a soft punch! I don't replace wheel bearings often enough to stay in practice!

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!