Unitized Hub Bearing Assembly Removal - Lessons Learned

[rbattelle]

As it says in the other thread, I paid only $166 for the new bearing.



Brods, an excellent point. Yes, I still think this design is, fundamentally, a good one. It's only serious flaw is the total lack of grease applied to the unit on assembly at the plant. If the bearings slid apart from the knuckle with no effort, I think the arrangement would be particularly convenient. the other change I would make is a grease fitting, but as others have pointed out it's possible to introduce fresh grease via the ABS sensor hole.



One thing I didn't point out is that I used almost an entire can of PB Blaster on the bearing. Notice there is not a single trace of the penetrating fluid anywhere on the portion that fits inside the knuckle.



Several people have reported success with the power steering method, but like I said I'm pretty uncomfortable with it. I mean, if necessary do you really want to put 50000 lb of compressive load on anything under the truck (if that's what it takes)? I don't.



Necessity is the mother of invention, and I've been working on some designs for a tool that will pull these bearings without risking anything by applying all the pulling force to the knuckle itself. I've got some ideas and I'm going to build something over the winter in anticipation of doing the same work on the passenger side in the spring. It would be nice to make something capable of 50 or 60 tons pulling force, but I don't know whether that's going to be possible (or practical). Rest assured it'll be massively "overbuilt". Stay tuned, I guess.



Ryan

 

[Matt S]

It would be nice to make something capable of 50 or 60 tons pulling force, but I don't know whether that's going to be possible (or practical). Rest assured it'll be massively "overbuilt". Stay tuned, I guess.

Maybe you could wrap a chain on it and have one of the pulling trucks take a try at it. :--)



On second thought, it might take your axle instead of the bearing.

 

[Glock Guru]

Look on the bright side, you will be faster at it the next time.



-Troy

 

[DerekW]

Maybe you could wrap a chain on it and have one of the pulling trucks take a try at it. :--)



On second thought, it might take your axle instead of the bearing.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA Thats the funniest thing I've heard in a while. can you say lack of common sense. hahhahhahahha I can't stop cracking up over this one. wait til I work on a dodge or a ford with unit bearings again and tell the guys to hook up a chain and I'll go get my truck. hahhahaha gosh I can't stop laughing but serious man this is freaking insane and will do some serious damage. not a good idea. I would not reccomend this to anyone and if you do attemp this please please please make sure you upload the video of yal doing it. It will be your last time considering that idea and when others see they will decide not a good Idea. but don't get me wrong you guys could start a comedy video series of yal working on your trucks. and when I say you guys I mean all members of TDR. I think it would be great and I would sponsor part of it. I am sure others may be willing to sponsor the video series also just to see what you can tear up.

 

[Kry226]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA Thats the funniest thing I've heard in a while. can you say lack of common sense. hahhahhahahha I can't stop cracking up over this one. wait til I work on a dodge or a ford with unit bearings again and tell the guys to hook up a chain and I'll go get my truck. hahhahaha gosh I can't stop laughing but serious man this is freaking insane and will do some serious damage. not a good idea. I would not reccomend this to anyone and if you do attemp this please please please make sure you upload the video of yal doing it. It will be your last time considering that idea and when others see they will decide not a good Idea. but don't get me wrong you guys could start a comedy video series of yal working on your trucks. and when I say you guys I mean all members of TDR. I think it would be great and I would sponsor part of it. I am sure others may be willing to sponsor the video series also just to see what you can tear up.

Hey dude, I am pretty sure he was kidding.



Ryan, have you got that bearing puller built yet? I know it's only a matter of time for my truck.

 

[steved]

I have used a "chain method" before... in a pinch you can slide the ends of a short piece of chain over two of the studs, then using a heavy bar (I used a shale bar), you can yank the bearing with considerable force... sorta like a HD slide hammer. I would only recommend this as a last resort because you might damage the studs.



I built a puller to pull the inner portion of the bearing from the knuckle. This requires splitting the bearing in half which is not a big deal. The puller looks like nothing more than a "box" made of angle iron that will straddle the four bearing mounting bolt holes... a thick pieces of plate is added to the top and four holes are drilling into the plate in the mounting hole locations... you then thread into the mounting bolt holes from the OUTSIDE and pull using those holes. You are then pulling against the knuckle using the mounting bolt holes with very little chance of damage to the knuckle or bearing. I have pulled several bearings using this... I have yet to have one even make turning the wrench hard during the pull.



steved

 

[daveshoe]

I have used a "chain method" before... in a pinch you can slide the ends of a short piece of chain over two of the studs, then using a heavy bar (I used a shale bar), you can yank the bearing with considerable force... sorta like a HD slide hammer. I would only recommend this as a last resort because you might damage the studs.



I built a puller to pull the inner portion of the bearing from the knuckle. This requires splitting the bearing in half which is not a big deal. The puller looks like nothing more than a "box" made of angle iron that will straddle the four bearing mounting bolt holes... a thick pieces of plate is added to the top and four holes are drilling into the plate in the mounting hole locations... you then thread into the mounting bolt holes from the OUTSIDE and pull using those holes. You are then pulling against the knuckle using the mounting bolt holes with very little chance of damage to the knuckle or bearing. I have pulled several bearings using this... I have yet to have one even make turning the wrench hard during the pull.



steved

Ryan,I built a puller like steved describes. It is built from a thick steel ''round''that slips over the axle end,pushing against it. the puller should easily develop the kind of force needed to take off even an axle that has been on there awhile. I would be glad to bring it down to your shop to do the other side. I used all four holes,plus a puller on my truck,and everything stayed centered up and pulled in a really controlled manner. This puller only costs a few dollars to make. I think I can even locate a cheap steel round so you can make your own.

 

[LEPage]

Hopefully I'll have no worries with ball joints or bearings anytime soon. My truck only has 44. 8k miles on it, and everything was tighter than a mouse's ear last rotation (2k or so).



Greg

Don't bet more than you can afford to loose on it. Mine had just under 50K on it when both were bad! And my experiance was identical to Ryans. Without a oxy/acet torch I would have never got it. I took the old hubs to a machine shop to see if we could rebuild them but it didn't appear to be feaseable. I also put never seez EVERYWHERE two pieces of metal touched when I put it back together.

 

[MickeyMiller]

I removed my hubs last weekend to install the Dynatrac locking hub kit. RBattle laid it out VERY well... . get everything he lists, particularlly the 3/4 inch breaker bar and the OTC1038 7 Ton puller. I tried using a 1/2 inch breaker bar to get the hub nut loose... . have a nice 1/2 inch cube sitting in front of me now! I bought a HFC 3/4 breaker and added some fine washers to tighten the head, it worker fine. My truck has been in Montana and California, neither state uses salt. I put the 3/4 inch breaker on the end of the OTC1038, setting the handle of the breaker in the cup of my 4 Ton jack and just jacked it up until the hub broke free! Sure would have been nice if DC has just put a little anti-seize on the orighinal hub..... BTW, local 4X4 shop wanted $800 to install the Dynatac kit, they recently did a Dodge and it took them 4 hours just to get the hubs off... must have been from a salt state and they obviously don't read TDR! Total project time was 5 hours... including a couple of beer breaks.

 

[rbattelle]

I would be glad to bring it down to your shop to do the other side. I used all four holes,plus a puller on my truck,and everything stayed centered up and pulled in a really controlled manner. This puller only costs a few dollars to make. I think I can even locate a cheap steel round so you can make your own.

I may take you up on this. I haven't built my own tool yet, for a couple reasons.



First, I'm not doing the job until the weather warms up (April? May?).



Second, I'm seriously considering cutting my ball joints on the passenger side since I think one might be bad anyway. I think this would eliminate the need for the puller.



Dave, if you have the opportunity take a picture of your puller. I can imagine Steve's in my mind's eye, but not yours.



Ryan

 

[Jason Hughes]

I love working on cars in So. Cal. I have encountered this problem once and it was a flood victom out of Utah. Other than that they come right apart with a tap of the dead blow. Sorry about that.

 

[jelag]

In one of the above posts Ryan talked about the bearings for 166 I think... was that the complete assembly or just the bearings... if it was the complete assembly who has it other than our DC dealer... . Thanks. .

 

[flattracker]

Rbattelle sorry for your trouble but your reasoning of not taking it to a shop so it would be done right is slightly flawed.

I have removed several sets of these on my own trucks and others I was servicing and have never ruined a bearing.

Rule #1 never ever use a puller, your pulling against a tapered bearing and if you don't pull it apart you have still ruined the bearing.

Rule #2 Never ever use a torch on a steering knuckle, they are made of forged material and you are changing the heat treat and not for the better.

Simply get yourself a set of spare bearing to knuckle bolts because you will ruin the heads, then simply loosen the bolts where you have a small amount of clearance apply your air hammer to the bolt heads and you can vibrate those bearings right out.

I live in the salt belt and have never seen a set yet I couldn't vibrate out in five minutes and without damaging the bearing the knuckle nor the dust shield.

That 300. 00 plus you spent replacing parts you ruined would of paid for a lot of labor but like they say education doesn't come cheap.

While your in there you can grese those front wheel bearings by removing the

antilock sensor and inserting a grease fitting and greasing with a high quality wheel bearing grease don't over due it just pump slowly as you turn the hub.

These bearings are much larger than a normal wheel bearing and if kept lubed will wear out the truck.

Not meaning to be critical but hope this helps the next guy who attemps this job.

 

[steved]

Rule #1 never ever use a puller, your pulling against a tapered bearing and if you don't pull it apart you have still ruined the bearing.



Rule #2 Never ever use a torch on a steering knuckle, they are made of forged material and you are changing the heat treat and not for the better.

#1, why do you think that bearing is tapered... it is designed for an end load. I have pulled several sets this way and two were pulled at 86k, they are still going at 256k. The others I never got to see because they had over 200k on them when I traded...



#2, your not heating it that much. It doesn't require excessive heating to cause the metal to expand to allow the hub to be pulled.





steved

 

[rbattelle]

I have removed several sets of these on my own trucks and others I was servicing and have never ruined a bearing.

I respect your skill at removing these bearings without damage and without fail - you are obviously a far better mechanic than I am. And a lot stronger. I had to take breaks every couple hours because my arms were tired from all the banging.



Did make a big lovely mushroom head out of a piece of 1/2" 4340 I used as a giant pin punch!



Regarding the heating, since I didn't quench I believe the only possible change in material composition would be toward the ductile end of the scale. Of course, localized heating could have caused some residual stress, but again since I didn't quench I figure it's small. We'll see. I'm not a metallurgist.



Some day when I get my foundry up and running maybe I'll try my hand at re heat-treating it!



It's fairly clear to me that my experience with this was unique. No one else seems to require quite so much effort. But at least I serve as the example of how bad it could be for others. And I learned. Oh, man, did I learn. Next time will be different.





Ryan

 

[bighammer]

Simply get yourself a set of spare bearing to knuckle bolts because you will ruin the heads, then simply loosen the bolts where you have a small amount of clearance apply your air hammer to the bolt heads and you can vibrate those bearings right out.
I live in the salt belt and have never seen a set yet I couldn't vibrate out in five minutes and without damaging the bearing the knuckle nor the dust shield.

I had heard of somebody doing just that, so I bought the needed bolts and gave it a shot. Well the air hammer went all over the place, so I welded some nuts on the bolt heads to keep it centered. I ran the air hammer for a long time, differnt pattens, one bolt, criss cross, etc. and after most of a day of frustration, I put it back together and took it to the dealer. I felt better when they said they had a tough time with it too. They don't all come apart easy.

 

[flattracker]

Steved glad you got away with pulling on the hub but that doesn't change the fact that you should never push or pull thru the rolling element of a roller bearing, if you don't believe me contact SKF or Timken they will tell you the same thing.

 

[jelag]

Has anyone else tried to lube these bearings as suggested by flattracker???

To be honest these seems to be too simple of a task... . just keep them lubed up.....



Jim

 

[LEPage]

Obviously, you haven't any experiance with them. There's no way to lube them even when you have them out.

 

[steved]

Obviously, you haven't any experiance with them. There's no way to lube them even when you have them out.

And obviously YOU have no clue as you can easily split the unit bearing in two pieces and add grease without any problems.



My dad has 256k on his OE bearing units... we split them and greased them at 86k. They had less than a teaspoon of grease in them from factory. I found the only trick is there is a seal that pops out that you got to pinch back in with a screwdriver (very easy to do as long as you notice it).



The main problem with these unit bearings is not the fact the bearings themselves wear out, but the fact the case hardened spindle wears out and then you get play (even though the bearingsa re good).



The bearings are replaceable, but the races are a machined surface within the unit bearing housing.



And to add more insult, those of us with front ABS only need to pull the sensor out and insert a grease needle into the hole the ABS sensor slips into... that is direct into the bearings.



steved