On my first attempt at removing one of the bearings from the swing arm, (without penetrating oil, heat/cold treatment), the inner parts came out by themselves leaving the outer ring in the swing arm. i believe i will use a proper slide hammer if i ever have to do that again.  

anyway, after getting the stuck part out of the swing arm and inspecting everything i realized that the little plastic bearing holder cracked in three places. 

however i was able to get everything back together with new grease and it seems to be smooth rolling.  so would it be okay to use this bearing even though that retainer is cracked?

I have put them back together a few times like that and never had problems.

thanks Rick, thats sounds great to me. the bearing still felt fine after it was put back into the swingarm so i will use the old one.