Removing Rear wheel hubs.

I am having problems removing my rear wheel hubs. I had a four foot cheater bar on the wrench turning the hub puller. Needless to say the hub is still on the axle and my wrench is ruined.

I also noticed this little square piece of metal that seems to be part of the wheel hub. Does it do anything else beside align the hub on the axle?

Does applying heat help in removing a wheel hub?

 

Well, this can be a royal PITA. Heat (propane/mapp are probably not enough, at least in my experience) might help. PB Blaster soaking for a day or two. 3/4" drive socket with stout breaker bar and cheater would work better, or an impact wrench. When doing this, leave the axle nut threaded on the end, so when it does pop loose it doesn't fly across the room, damage anything, hurt yourself, etc.

Is the JEEP driveable? You can put the axle nut back on, but ~1/2-3/4 of a turn loose, and drive the jeep to try to bust it loose.

Mine wouldn't come off no matter what I did, so I removed the entire hub/axle shaft assembly and took it to a machine shop.

 

Re: Hub Puller?

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The guys at the 4WD shop showed me how they do it. They have a puller, but just mildly tighten the puller main bolt with an impact wrench - not too much, then remove the impacet wrench, then just take a hammer and tap on the end of that bolt. It goes plink - in your hand. I did this a couple of times, and each time I just had to smile and be amazed how easy it was compared to the attempt with the slide hammer, or just a wrench on the puller. The key was to tap the end of the bolt while it is tight.

 

How did you pull the axle, do I need to open up the differential. I am tempted to replace the axle shaft and wheel hub.

I tried tapping the bolt and nothing. I don't think the hub has ever been removed.
I tried heating it with Mapp gas and also nothing. I've been putting penetrating oil on it for about a week and a half.

 

X2. It slides right out. The axle shaft is splined and just slips in on the differential side. No need to open/mess with the diff in any way. Might be a good idea to replace and repack your bearings (roller/cone) while you are doing this.


You may need a slide hammer to pop the axle shaft loose, but it is nothing compared to the hub. I borrowed a large slide hammer from autozone. I then went to a farm supply to get the correct threaded castle nut for the axle shaft and a fine threaded nut correct for the slide hammer.

I welded the spare castle nut to the metric nut, threaded it on the slide hammer/axle and it popped loose on the first pull. Does that make sense?

I just couldn't find and appropriate sized nut/slide hammer so I made the adapter myself.

 

Its looks to me like, in the pic, that the hub, key way, and axle are not aligned very well at all. As if the axle may have spun under severe load and seriously jammed the key way and all together resulting in the current situation. I've heard of these keyways actually breaking under load. If you can get it all back in line, perhaps it will come apart more easily.

 

You mean there's nothing holding the axle in, other than the splines? And this is on the early axles, like my '56 has? So, in theory, the whole wheel, drum, flange and axle could all come right out, or am I missing something here?

 

There are 6 bolts through the "axle housing flange" (I don't know what you really call it) that hold the backing plate to the axle housing. The backing plate holds the wheel bearing assembly in, and subsequently the entire axle shaft assembly.

You have to remove the drum to get to the bolts that secure the backing plate to axle housing. But, the entire axle, hub, backing plate, bearings can be removed as 1 piece. I hope I am remembering this correctly

 

Ah. Forgot about the 6 bolts through the backing plate and flange. I just assumed there would be something inside the differential that held the axle shafts in.

I've never worked on an axle yet, not looking forward to it either. That's my next mission though. But I'm trying to pick up what I can beforehand. Thanks!

 

I lost the battle. I pulled the axles and took them to the auto center here on post and tried to press the axle out of the hub out with a hydraulic press. It didn't work. My next option is take it to a machine/welding shop and hope they can seperate the axles from the hubs, but I decided to just order new axles, wheelhubs and bearings.
Thanks for all the help.