Removing hub

[jfh28]

Hi all.......had to do some heavy duty plowing today with deep heavy snow and ice and with all the back and forth and turning the bolts on one wheel came loose which of course I didn't notice until it was to late. Several bolts stripped out and in the process looks like they damaged the threads inside the wheel hub as I can't get new bolts to thread in to mount the wheel back in.........so a call to Terry planned for tomorrow morning. In the mean time I'm trying to remove the tapered wheel hub from the wheel motor.....I've removed the locking pin and wheel motor nut but can't get the hub to budge........what am I missing? I don't want to just whack away at it until I'm sure that's the right thing to do.....haha. Any help appreciated.

Thanks
Jack

 

[woodlandfarms]

Gear Puller. don't bother calling Terry. Just take to a local machine shop, they can fix it quick and simple, many choices in repairs. But you will need a gear puller probably. You can bang on it a bit if you don't have a puller but it is better if you do. Some tool stores will loan you one

 

[MossRoad]

What woodlandfarms said.

Gear puller. AutoZone will loan out tools for free. Although a gear puller is a nice tool to own and not that expensive.

 

[J_J]

Apply some heat and tap with lead or brass hammer.

Or

Apply CO2 to freeze the hub and then tap.

Try impact hammer.

 

[ponytug]

I've done this, and it is going to be a big gear puller, a good dose of PB blaster, and heat, unless you got lucky and the accident knocked it hard enough to loosen it. If you have any thought that you are going to ever use either the hub or the motor again, don't wail on either part: it is too easy to make the hub out of round or the damage the motor.

I've never tried freezing one off, so I can't comment.

That castle nut wedges the hub on, but then subsequent uses and water get a solid layer of metal to metal bonding cemented together with rust around any narrow crack. This is one of those "tough nuts".

When you put it back together, make sure that both surfaces are spotlessly clean and free of rust, or pitting. You want a really good metal to metal mating.

Good luck.

All the best,

Peter

 

[SpringHollow]

I do not know if it is a good idea or not but I have sometimes put never seize on one surface, making sure it was a very thin smooth layer.

Ken

 

[Leejohn]

Hub puller and it well need shock along with the puller. Impact wrech should give you enough shock.

 

[ponytug]

Terry advised against it. I don't quite recall the logic, but I think it was along the lines of the design assumed friction of steel on steel and lubricants enable distortional forces as the hub and castle nut are tightened. Could just be misremembering on my part.

All the best,

Peter

I do not know if it is a good idea or not but I have sometimes put never seize on one surface, making sure it was a very thin smooth layer.

Ken

 

[stray]

You have several options here. The easiest one would be to carefully re tap the old holes and use new lug bolts (maybe longer or maybe same length will be ok.) you can do this without removing the hub.
If you do need to remove the hubs then JJ has said it right. Heat it if the pullers won’t put enough pressure on it to get it off. Power- trac puts these on with lock tight and then makes sure they tighten them very well. Terry advised me to do the same when reinstalling my hub.
Now if the threads are not suitable just put new threaded hoses in the middle or to the side of the old ones. Any machine shop should be able to do you a good job.

Another but I don’t like would be to put nuts behind but that may not work anyway.
Use studs with lug nuts is another. rather than lug bolts.

 

[jfh28]

Thanks all for the suggestions.......I used them all. I did use a gear puller as was suggested.....because it was the rear wheel hub with sprockets the jaws need to open to at least 8" to get around them......or at least 6" if you can get it to attach in the gap between the hub and the sprockets......so it does need to be a good sized puller. The only auto supply store around here didn't have a puller that big to loan so I went and rented one at an equip rental shop. I soaked everything with PB blaster and let it sit.

I did talk with Terry and he said to cinch up the puller as tight as I could get it and then hit the center nut on it......he did warn me that they are a bear to get off. I did ask about damaging the motor with the blows and he said it shouldn't harm it........so I went ahead and it didn't budge. That's when I took the next suggestion and applied heat to the hub and sprocket and after a few more blows it popped off.

I had explained to Terry what had happened and his first suggestion was to get it tapped to fix the damaged threads and if that didn't work to get them drilled out and install helicoils in them. The other option would be to buy a new hub/sproket from them....cost around $98. After spending the morning searching around I was able to find a shop that refurbishes midget racers that was willing to take it on. The next problem was finding new wheel bolts....turns out that is a very rare size around here 7/16 - 20 x 3/4 with a camphored head and it was not to be found. Since we have another snow storm due this weekend I needed to get this done before then so back to the shop I went. We decided to install threaded studs on the hub and then attach the wheel with lug nuts on the outside....which will make putting the wheel on way easier.

I got the repaired hub back this evening so I'm out to try to reinstall everything.......I'll post pic's of the new hub design when I finish.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice.........you guys are great!
Jack