Pulling front hub problem

[rickdavis81]

Attempting to pull my front drum/hub to service the bearings and brakes. I’ve pulled the inner and outer nuts and lock ring. The outer bearing won’t pull out and the drum/hub won’t slide off the spindle. Any suggestions?

 

[Menaces Nemesis]

If you're sure the drum spins freely and isn't hanging up on the shoes (in which case you'd want to back the shoes off) try putting something down inside the spline cap, like a nut or two, so the nut(s) would hit the end of the spindle shaft before the cap flange contacted the drum, then use the cap and cap bolts to gently pull the drum away from the shaft. A light tap or two on the drum with a hammer might help to shock the components loose while you've got them tensioned with the spline cap. Or, if you have lockouts, put a couple lugs on backwards (taper pointing outward) and try gripping onto them with the arms of a gear puller, with the puller shaft centered on the hub spindle end.

 

[rickdavis81]

If the drum spins freely and you're sure it's not hanging up on the brake shoes, put the wheel back on loosely with 2 or 3 lugs, and carefully use the wheel like a slide hammer.

I’ll try that. Just pulled the passenger side and it came apart like it should.

 

[Menaces Nemesis]

Check my post again if that doesn't work, I added a few more ideas.

 

[rickdavis81]

Tried putting a spacer under the cap and using the bolts to tension it and beat on it. Tried putting the heat to it. She ain’t budging

 

[Menaces Nemesis]

Wow! that seems odd. If you've tried the spaced-out cap with all 6 bolts torqued to 75'lbs+ and it's not moving, maybe try tapping the bearing, where the nut makes contact, with a punch to see if that will loosen it up. I've seen on other vehicles where the brake shoes wore a trough into the drum, not allowing the drum to be pulled off without first adjusting the shoes inward to free the drum. Not sure if the back edge of the shoes and drum spacing would allow such a condition on these trucks or not. Beyond that, making some kind of big-a$$ slide-hammer or puller that utilizes the studs and lugs would be my next move.

 

[fleetmech]

That hub should wiggle and the outer bearing should pop out, regardless of any brake wear. With that being said, at this point I would make sure those shoes are in all the way just in case. While it doesn't look anywhere near bad enough in the picture, it almost sounds like the inner race spun and welded itself to the spindle. Either that, or its something unknowably odd, like the last person in there noticed a worn spindle and staked, welded, or compounded the bearing in to compensate. That would be incredibly unlikely however...

You might try using a brass punch (and maybe escalating to a chisel, sledge or air hammer) to work on the inner race surface and break free whatever is holding it to the spindle. It could just be a burr or ridge in the spindle.

 

[gringeltaube]

That hub should wiggle and the outer bearing should pop out, regardless of any brake wear.

That, yes! But in order to help it "wiggling" enough... take a 12# hammer (and a big punch or equivalent) and give it some good blows to the hub flange; the area in between the studs. Recommend covering the studs with pieces of pipe or something, just in case it's a little too windy that day...

 

[rickdavis81]

Ended up setting up an h beam puller and it came off. Looks like at some point some one cut a bearing off the spindle and got into the spindle a bit. Left a raised burr to drag on. I was told it just had all new bearings. I’m glad I tore into it to replace all the brake hydraulic parts. Instead of 1.5 tubes of grease per hub they used 1 tube for the entire truck. Thanks for the assistance.