Can't get my free hub off??! (1 Viewer)

[Gappy]

So I'm doing my first knuckle rebuild. Finished the drivers side, went fine. Down to the free hub on the pass side, it is being stubborn. I have done plenty of beating with my brass hammer and it is not moving. I don't want to rap on the cone washers for fear of distorting them. I gave it all a good soaking in PB Blaster. Is there a trick I'm missing?

 

[cruiser88]

So I'm doing my first knuckle rebuild. Finished the drivers side, went fine. Down to the free hub on the pass side, it is being stubborn. I have done plenty of beating with my brass hammer and it is not moving. I don't want to rap on the cone washers for fear of distorting them. I gave it all a good soaking in PB Blaster. Is there a trick I'm missing?

rap on those cone washers

 

[YODA 88 62]

knock the SH!T out of it.

 

[Gappy]

rap on those cone washers

Hit the cone washers with steel or brass or does it matter? Can you tell I'm paranoid of breaking something.

 

[cruiser88]

Hit the cone washers with steel or brass or does it matter? Can you tell I'm paranoid of breaking something.

try brass first then go with steel.just use your judgement, just dont wam on the hub to much.that cone washer will come

 

[Gappy]

try brass first then go with steel.just use your judgement, just dont wam on the hub to much.that cone washer will come

Thanks 88.....you cover a lot of ground on "Mud"!!
Mud rocks!!

 

[84CRUISER]

2 tricks. Hit the side of the hub right next to the cone washer. basically you are egging the tapered hole. they will straighten when you reinstall them. Put the nuts on a thread or two first. sometimes they come of like bullets. That would hurt right in the eye. also you can hit the stud they are on directly inward, just the vibration will knock em loose. Be carefull not to damage threads. I will use an nut threaded down flush with the stud. give er hell.

 

[brokenparts]

Brass swift...wack away.

 

[Mark W]

Got some less than good suggestions included here.

Don't swing a hammer at the studs and don't try to beat on the cone washers.

Use a drift (I prefer steel over brass for this application). Set the drift on the end of the stud, in line with it. Rap the drift sharply with a hammer. You can hit it pretty hard without any risk of damage. A small hammer at higher speed works better for this than a heavy one swung slower. You are trying to minutely compress the stud and then have it rebound back. This stretching along with the attendant vibrations works much better than the vibrations along which are induced by hitting the hub with a hammer.


Mark...

 

[agent orange]

I have good luck with sticking a screwdriver into the gap in the conewasher and twisting it to spread the washer out. I can get a little more room to work with often by spinning the cone washer on the stud. Of course, mine arent rusty.

 

[Mark W]

I've seen a "cone washer tool" made from an old screwdriver. Use a small one and grind half of the tip away. Then you can tap the screwdriver tip into the split in the conewasher. Be careful not to snap the tip off. This will often spread the cone washer out and force it upward in the countersunk hole that it rests in. As soon as it comes upward at allit wil be loose and easy to remove.

Tapping usually works better, but sometimes you have to try every approach you can come up with.


Mark...

 

[oldblue]

Toyota's answer.

 

[cruiser88]

Got some less than good suggestions included here.

Don't swing a hammer at the studs and don't try to beat on the cone washers.

Use a drift (I prefer steel over brass for this application). Set the drift on the end of the stud, in line with it. Rap the drift sharply with a hammer. You can hit it pretty hard without any risk of damage. A small hammer at higher speed works better for this than a heavy one swung slower. You are trying to minutely compress the stud and then have it rebound back. This stretching along with the attendant vibrations works much better than the vibrations along which are induced by hitting the hub with a hammer.


Mark...

i hope that what i said ,wap those cones washerswith brass to start

 

[lovetoski]

Use a drift.... This stretching along with the attendant vibrations works much better than the vibrations along which are induced by hitting the hub with a hammer....

And be patient. It took me 20 minutes of "tapping" for all of the cone washers to come loose. I tapped the end of the stud. Some of them only moved the smallest fraction of an inch...old school engineers would say they moved an RCH. Once they moved a scotch, I used the "cone washer removal tool" (the reground screwdriver Mark refers to).

 

[Gappy]

Got some less than good suggestions included here.

Don't swing a hammer at the studs and don't try to beat on the cone washers.

Use a drift (I prefer steel over brass for this application). Set the drift on the end of the stud, in line with it. Rap the drift sharply with a hammer. You can hit it pretty hard without any risk of damage. A small hammer at higher speed works better for this than a heavy one swung slower. You are trying to minutely compress the stud and then have it rebound back. This stretching along with the attendant vibrations works much better than the vibrations along which are induced by hitting the hub with a hammer.


Mark...

I have the FSM and tried this but I think I did not stay with it long enough. I makes more sense with your explaination.

 

[84CRUISER]

Hell, dont tell the 10 year master tech what not to do. Work smarter not harder. Some people think they know everything including my wife. Hit em.

 

[Gappy]

2 tricks. Hit the side of the hub right next to the cone washer. basically you are egging the tapered hole. they will straighten when you reinstall them. Put the nuts on a thread or two first. sometimes they come of like bullets. That would hurt right in the eye. also you can hit the stud they are on directly inward, just the vibration will knock em loose. Be carefull not to damage threads. I will use an nut threaded down flush with the stud. give er hell.

Your trick did the trick!
I put my brass hammer next to the studs on the edge of the hub and wacked the brass hammer with a hammer hammer. Basically using my brass hammer as a big drift.
Thanks for the input.

 

[84CRUISER]

Glad it worked buddy. Wish I had a nickel for every cone washer I knocked out.

 

[jvazquez53]

Had the same problem... used a BIG hammer, chisel, WD-40, and tapped the crap out of the cone washers, and for the 54mm nuts, a BIG channel lock pilers.

Forgot the Rum and coke!!

Jose

 

[Stumpalama]

Had the same problem... used a BIG hammer, chisel, WD-40, and tapped the crap out of the cone washers, and for the 54mm nuts, a BIG channel lock pilers.

Forgot the Rum and coke!!

Jose

Uuuummmmm, might want to get yourself a hub socket... how do you calibrate channel lock torque settings?