On-The-Fly Hub Separator Madness

[gestiva]

ahhh.... thats how u get to the bearings.. "i feel dumb"
bought new bearing set for my front.. and couldnt figure out how to put them in..
but now i do..

[sam.1956]

It's also "fun" removing the outer bearing from the hub section, once you press the hub out of the rotor. I clamped a bearing splitter around the base of the bearing (making sure not to tighten it so much that it scrapes the shaft of the hub itself), then straddled the splitter across 2 wood 4x4 sections and pounded the inside face of the hub shaft with a plastic deadblow hammer. This got the end of the hub down flush with the top of the bearing. Then I took a brass (or was it copper?) tube & carefully tapped it the rest of the way to release it from the bearing. All this because I don't have the correct size bearing and seal removal / seating disks/tools. <sighhhh> Maybe Harbor Freight will be having a good sale soon...

[quaddawg]

That's neat...

but... all you need is a slide hammer to take it apart... and the axle nut will pull it all back together.... at least that is how I did it before I knew any better... lol...

[sam.1956]

LOL! We cobbled the thing together with stuff we could scrounge. I wish I had a slide hammer. It'd come in handy for lots-o stuff. Maybe next payday, as things are "tight" this one. I really was hesitant to use the axle nut to pull the thing together, being paranoid that it would somehow damage threads. I really wish I could find a set of axles that used a conventional castellated axle nut & cotter pin, instead of this damn thing that you have to beat into submission with a "cape chisel". HAAAA!

[sam.1956]

Payday this week left that burning sensation in my pocket. Harbor Freight had a 12 ton press for a very reasonable price. Even worse... it all fit in the back of my Festiva. So yeah the press followed me home. Thus I now do have a way to both press the hubs apart and press them back together, w/o having to tote stuff to a shop or do another Rube Goldberg getup. Tried it out tonite... works great in both modes (splitting and joining the hub).

[Safety Guy]

Sam, I just went "window shopping" at HF and found your press:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=33497

I also found another 12 ton press, a bit cheaper:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=1667

Do you think this one would work as well?

And now, another one, this is a 6 ton, just under $100:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=4711

Do you think the 6 tonner would work? Are there other small car jobs that may require 12 tons that would recommend getting the bigger unit?

Finally, here is a 1 ton table top "arbor press" unit:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3552

Somehow I think this one is much too small. Am I right?

Now for a "large bearing separator:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3979

Would this be useful?


I never thought I'd be considering a large press, but I need to do front bearings and maybe one of these will be the answer.

Thanks,

Karl

[sam.1956]

Just avoid that little 1 ton press. The 6 ton would probably work, but the frame looks a bit flimsy to me. The only thing I didn't really like about the A-frame 12 ton press is that you can't do stuff like loop chains over the top of it. V8Festiva and I used a chain looped over the top in the "hub separator" mode. Pics can explain better than my ramblings so I'll prob. post some pics of the thing in action soon, as I'll be back over there tomorrow nite finishing up my other front hub/rotor.

I have that exact same bearing splitter & used it with the new press to get the bearing off the hub section once the hub is separated from the rotor. Still have to drive out the races the old fashioned way (so far).

The 12 ton press that I bought today came in 3 boxes and easily fit into the back of the Festiva (I don't have the rear seat in the car). It all bolts together in about 15 minutes.

[Seth]

i used these dandy tools. did both front bearings on my 91.


what i did was took the whole hub apart from everything to get the axle out easily then put everything back together so it was just the hub open for some pounding.

i put this right up against the hub. ball end in the hole. fit perfectly to the point were it wouldnt go in anymore.


i dont know if it was safe or not so i put some safetly glasses on over my glasses but then i hit it with one of these.



popped right out with a few hits.

did all the bearing replacement and and put it back together

put the axle back through then i tightened the nut as tight as i could on the axle with the impact gun at 140 psi. then i loosened it and tightend it to specs as in the haynes manual with my torque wrench.

i dont know if i did wrong. but it worked. considering i dotn have all the tools i needed. and my bearing were worrible.

theyre fine. but i lost the seperater on the one side and caused one of the bearings to go bad again. so i need to pick one up. im not worried about it right now. its parked. im gonna rebuild the b3. gas prices arent getting cheaper.

[sam.1956]

Yessiree, necessity fosters creativity. Very clever solution actually. We have half a dozen cars to do between us, so being the lazy guy I am, I decided to go with the press thingy.

[stefan]

awesome... i love it

[m715]

I think you should bring up some rust free backing plates with you! I wouldn't know how to act with a couple sets of them to work with! Seriously, it is nice to see NC stuff that hasn't been subjected to all the salt. Sounds like that press is going to see a great deal of use...... very soon. Looking forward to seeing you and yours!

Michael

[ertc]

buena idea amigo asdfsadfsafsa