califcamper

Hi,
I removed my steering knuckle, hammered out the hub and made it this far in my replacement of the front wheel bearing.
Then I hit a major problem. The bearing would not hammer out of the knuckle, I even have a press so went that route, this thing would not budge.
(I definitely took out the snap ring so not an issue there).
Its almost as if its seized or even welded in there.
I ended up chiseling out the bearings and the rubber gasket and the only
thing that is left behind is the metal part against the wall of the knuckle.
Has anyone ever had this problem?
At this point I even used a dremel to cut a diagonal piece of the bearing. I then hammered out that little piece but that was it, and the rest is still
there.
Does it look like I just need a new knuckle at this point?
Killing me, any help appreciated, Thanks

emich

spray penetrating oil heat it good and press it out. To remove the other half from the hub cut it diagonally all the way without touching the hub, hit it with chisel it will crack and remove it

mikey1

no.....if you are using a PROPER press you would not have these issues

obviously you are not....use the proper tools and the job will be alot easier

you shouldn't be using a hammer

ezone

Sometimes the bearing will get stuck/seized over time and it can take a effin scary amount of pressure to get it to break loose.

I've maxed out the press at work, then beat on it, and used heat. I've even left pressure on one for hours.

califcamper

Thanks ezone appreciate the reply, actually do have a 12 ton press, but now I see with your exp that I should have let it sit, unf no good torch here, butane didnt help. At this point its beat up pretty bad and have even cut into the side with the dremel, I am gonna give a machine shop a chance to see if its savable. Appreciate you!

califcamper

thanks got it off the hub
Used butane torch and no help, with penetrating oil. Gonna give a machine shop a try, thanks

Redneck_cdn

Friend runs the local CC machine shop, has had various wheel bearing/hubs that would not budge with the 20 ton shop press, added heat and walked away, 20 min later Kaboom and out it came.

Steel bearings/hubs pressed into aluminium knuckles/carriers are the worse.

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

last time I did a DIY bearing replacement, I ended up separating the bearing races and carefully cut the inner race off the hub. Really, I cut most of the way through and used a cold chisel to split it. I ended up taking it to a machine shop to get it pressed back on (decreased machine shop cost by taking the old bearing off myself) and they said that I did a damn job not screwing up the hub while using a dremel to take the old bearing off.

emich

Another trick to press the new bearing easier is to cool down the hub in freezer

ezone

In the olden days, long before concerns about the Ozone layer and stuff..... You could get stuff really effin cold with a keg of Freon.

gameboo

I created this method of getting the seals of the wheel hub to remove bearings. Maybe this will help future endeavors.

-Rich

mapdog

I took mine to Pep Boys. They pressed out the old and pressed in the new for $40 for both fronts.