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Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 2nd, 2015, 5:16 am
by s147881
KVO- thanks for the offer but I with my son I do have plenty of help. I will try another heating cycle today along the key way. Thanks

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 3rd, 2015, 1:55 pm
by s147881
Two more heating cycles and the hydraulic jack gave up. Keeps loosing pressure. Not a problem as I have a screw jack that will work. I need to do some machining on the top as it has some lettering cast into it. The screw jack will maintain pressure during complete heating cycle. Emptied 2nd acetylene cylinder-50.00 gone!

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 3rd, 2015, 4:35 pm
by KimVanOrder
I'm assuming you have some machining capabilities. You may as well make a hub puller with a Very fine thread screw in it. The fine thread will give you the most pulling power and be sure to use a long nut or double or triple nut so you will not strip the threads. So anti-sieze compond on the thread also just to be sure. Then crank it up and put the heat to it.

Good luck..

KVO

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 6th, 2015, 8:16 am
by Shorthaul
I'm not an expert on AA WHEEL wheel removal but I don't think all that much heat is helping because you don't want all of the heat transferring to the axle because it will expand along with the hub. Also I would use the old wheel to transfer the hole pattern to a piece of steel at least 1/2" thick. That wheel is too thin and it may flex. Just my thoughts.

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 9th, 2015, 5:13 pm
by s147881
I tried two more heating cycles today and the hub did not come loose. I upgraded my gas and was able to get entire end of hub Red Hot! Still would not come loose. Sunday I am going to try one more time before cutting the hub off. My friend said I should heat everything red hot and then pour cold water on the hub to shrink it and make it pop off. Anyone done this before? I have two replacement hubs so I am not to worried about damage to the hub at this point.

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 10th, 2015, 11:49 am
by Chris Haynes
s147881 wrote:My friend said I should heat everything red hot and then pour cold water on the hub to shrink it and make it pop off..
Not only will this damage the hub it will also damage the axle. Heating and quenching hardens the metal and makes it brittle.

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 10th, 2015, 3:23 pm
by dyoungs
Your to the point that you might be cutting the hub off with the torch..... That is what I had to do...

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 10th, 2015, 5:22 pm
by dyoungs
Sorry, I forgot to add the part that it is easier to find a new hub,(but I think I saw that you had another one) vs the whole trouble of having to rig the rear end apart to replace the axel and all that fun.......... :roll: :roll: :roll:

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 10th, 2015, 6:12 pm
by s147881
I heated one more time and no luck. I moved to demolition phase. I was able to cut and break the cast brake drum off. Removed all the rear stud nuts and removed drum pieces. Put nuts back on. Found emergency brake gone from inside. Not sure why? Using cutting torch cut end of hub back 2.5 inches along the key way. Could see separation on both sides of key. Put puller back on and it still would not budge. Re-heated hub red hot and beat back side with hammer. Still would not come off. I will be cutting thru the bearing holder next to allow me to cut down thru hub. I am thinking of using a cutting wheel above the key. I will not be able to get all the way to the back without hitting the axle were the cage bearings ride. Any ideas?

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 10th, 2015, 6:53 pm
by 1crosscut
You can use a cutting torch to cut the hub right down to the axle without any damage to the axle if you are careful.
The trick to cutting something that is stuck to a shaft or axle is concentrate your torch heat only on a small area of the piece your cutting off and when that small area is hot enough trigger the oxygen and cut only a small amount. Cool it with water and then start the process all over again.
The idea is to not allow your axle to ever get hot enough that the torch will cut it when you trigger the oxygen burning the hub away.
Cut along one side of the axle skimming away material from the side. (flame parallel to the axle not at the axle)
Once you get one side cut to the axle do the same on the other side.
Patience.... don't get the axle itself too hot when cutting the hub.
As long as your axle itself isn't as hot enough to burn away your torch flame can play across it while cutting the hub away.
A torch doesn't actually cut steel it causes the metal to burn after it is pre-heated to a point where when the pure oxygen is added causing it to burn away.

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 14th, 2015, 6:54 pm
by s147881
Last night I finally got the hub off with no damage to the axle. I used a cutting torch to remove hub material from above key way - back about 3 inches. I was able to pry the key up out of its grove, bend it in a right angle and tap it out with a hammer. I then cut up the hub with a cut off wheel all the way back and across the bearing holder. Then using a chisel I hammered it into the cut to separate the hub. Still would not move - so I put the rose bud on it and heated it to red hot. Then hitting the back side with two pound hammer the hub finally let loose. Thanks everyone for all the suggestions - that was the single most difficult thing I have ever done.

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 14th, 2015, 11:11 pm
by spectria
s147881 wrote:Last night I finally got the hub off with no damage to the axle. I used a cutting torch to remove hub material from above key way - back about 3 inches. I was able to pry the key up out of its grove, bend it in a right angle and tap it out with a hammer. I then cut up the hub with a cut off wheel all the way back and across the bearing holder. Then using a chisel I hammered it into the cut to separate the hub. Still would not move - so I put the rose bud on it and heated it to red hot. Then hitting the back side with two pound hammer the hub finally let loose. Thanks everyone for all the suggestions - that was the single most difficult thing I have ever done.
Pictures would have been great :wink:

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 15th, 2015, 6:05 am
by 1crosscut
Well done!!!!

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 15th, 2015, 6:38 am
by s147881
I will get some pictures tonight and get them posted

Re: Hub puller woes

Posted: May 15th, 2015, 10:08 am
by s147881
Here are a couple of photos
photo (7).JPG
photo (7).JPG (146.6 KiB) Viewed 6792 times
photo (6).JPG
photo (6).JPG (156.75 KiB) Viewed 6792 times