'06 Front Bearing/Hub Removal!?!?!

[THorn]

One down, one to go. Truck is still on the lift and the driver side hub is absolutely refusing to come out. I have seen a thread that recommends using the power steering to get the hub pressed out. Does this work with the AAM axles also? Do you push on the lossened bolt?



I have also seen where a puller has been used, but i am not sure what you pull/push against.



Any pictures or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[THorn]

And for anyone who is interested, i am replacing BOTH universals in the front axle. I broke a cap on both sides Saturday night in 4 wheel drive (in the whole 10 feet i drove). Sad thing is i wasnt even playing, just backing up into some sand/beach. Truck has 70,000 miles on it. Gotta love midwest winters with salt!

 

[scootergmc]

https://www.turbodieselregister.com...bearing-assembly-removal-lessons-learned.html



https://www.turbodieselregister.com...386-hub-removal-lessons-learned-pictures.html

 

[THorn]

Thanks Scooter!

 

[scootergmc]

No problem. Good luck w/ the hub. Try to keep the swearing to a minimum!

 

[THorn]

I got the swearing out of the way on the passenger side last night...



Hopefully a night soaked in Kroil does wonders... . Maybe ill walk in and it will be laying on the floor! Yeah, right... ...

 

[wcjp]

On my friends 03' the 1/2" socket extension wasn't anywhere near strong. I had a spare piece of 1" thick steel that was about 6" long. We used this on a loosened bolt of the unit bearing to the inner knuckle (just above the axle shaft Ujoint). This is a two man operation. One at the wheel with the other placing steel in proper location. Once the steering is holding the bolt-steel-inner knuckle in place stand clear for safety. We nudged the unit bearing out a little at a time. Every time the unit bearing moved, remove steel, loosen bolt a little more, reapply steel. I recommend a longer bolt of proper strength for more thread engagement of the unit bearing. Friend tried for two days to remove the unit bearing. Once I showed up and we figured out the socket extension was too weak but the steel was more than strong enough it took maybe 20minutes per side. 20minutes was taking our time to be safe. Could be done significantly faster. Use antiseize on new unit bearing metal to metal surfaces. Next time unit bearing removal will require no tools. I have too tear apart my Jeep front end at least once a year. USE ANTISEIZE!!!

 

[THorn]

Well the job is done, thankfully. I haven't driven the truck yet, but i foresee no issues. Next time there will be a Dynatrac kit waiting for installation!

Talking to the guys here at the shop (Cummin's users) they have a clever solution, which of course i wish iwould have found out before... . One of the guys has two small "porta-power" hydraulic cylinders, that are driven by a hand pump/lever. After removing two bolts from the hub, they loose the remaining two (diagonal to each other) and put the porta-powers in place, similar to the extension used with the power steering. Pumping each one at the same time pops the hub out. I can see where this would work better because you are putting force on both sides of the hub at once, which should help it from binding.

If i do it again, i will take pictures! Thanks for all the input!