DIY mechanic tool needed

[William_Wallace]

I do my own work…sometimes if it’s not winter. Just did inner, outer tie rod, struts, rear shocks, caliper, rotors, brakes, stabilizer, new Lca with ball joint already pressed in.

But got stopped dead in my track by wheel bearings already bought one tool that didn’t work, tried a lot of heat, air hammer and sledge and slide hammer. Wheel bearing laughed at those attempts.

Recommend me a tool something beefy is ok. Budget is $300. I was going to go to harbor freight that a frame/body straighting kit works by hand pump hydraulic and it has a10 ton short throw ram that is small enough to sneak between the knuckle and hub May work that was suggested to me thing looks like like giant grease gun that has hose with looks of attachments to push or pull heavy objects small distances

On hand I have 30 gal compressor and air Cromwell impact tried reversing wheel stud trick with bolt and nuts that did fail to

 

[Setec Astronomy]

What kind of vehicle?

 

[GearHead_1]

Well, depending upon the type of vehicle, in most cases I`d say pull the steering knuckle off and find someone to press it out. That said, are you sure there is no circlip in the knuckle securing the bearing?

 

[GearHead_1]

Then again, if you`re bound on spending $300, you can buy a 20-ton press that you can use for light-duty stuff that would be an addition to any shop.

 

[William_Wallace]

It would be use on multi vehicle Ford Edge SUV’s and f150 trucks thanks for the help. On the edge front cv axels rusted into. Some just mentioned just buy pre assembled new knuckles and just worry about separating the cv and knuckle and a lot of heat and air hammer should work

I’m still open to specific hub tools.

 

[William_Wallace]

Then again, if you`re bound on spending $300, you can buy a 20-ton press that you can use for light-duty stuff that would be an addition to any shop.

Lol yea I can make some room for a nice press

 

[Oneheadlite]

Just to clarify - you`ve gotten the CV out of the hub and are trying to pull the hub from the bearing, yes?

Not familiar with the cars you`re working on, but I`ve done a great many wheel bearings.

If the axle is out of the way:
My preferred method is to use a bridge setup that presses against the bearing housing to pull the hub out of the bearing. Sometimes bearing housing shape doesn`t allow (don`t have sufficient area to press against - side note: Never press on brake caliper mounting ears! Seen a lot of guys do a lot of damage trying to do press work...) ; in those cases we just do the good old fashioned slide hammer approach. Most slide hammer kits you buy have really light duty slides (3lbs) - if you can, find something heavy to add (old brake rotor/etc) to increase your impact to help pop it out.

Google: Hub Grappler - in that image you`ll see the bridge setup I`m referring to. That`s the kit we use at our shop. In the DIY realm, I`d call around and see what your local parts stores rent out and look at "renting" a wheel bearing tool. Usually you "purchase" the tool, then they give you your money back when you return it.

If the axle is refusing to come out of the hub, let me know and I can try to explain what I`ve done for that. Short version: Snap on has a forcing screw you use in the slide hammer adapter you bolt to the hub. Apply force with that, then shock the axle with strikes on the end of the forcing screw with a brass hammer. Also, penetrating oil and time are your friends...

Let me know what step you`re at and I`d love to help.

 

[William_Wallace]

Just to clarify - you`ve gotten the CV out of the hub and are trying to pull the hub from the bearing, yes?

Not familiar with the cars you`re working on, but I`ve done a great many wheel bearings.

If the axle is out of the way:
My preferred method is to use a bridge setup that presses against the bearing housing to pull the hub out of the bearing. Sometimes bearing housing shape doesn`t allow (don`t have sufficient area to press against - side note: Never press on brake caliper mounting ears! Seen a lot of guys do a lot of damage trying to do press work...) ; in those cases we just do the good old fashioned slide hammer approach. Most slide hammer kits you buy have really light duty slides (3lbs) - if you can, find something heavy to add (old brake rotor/etc) to increase your impact to help pop it out.

Google: Hub Grappler - in that image you`ll see the bridge setup I`m referring to. That`s the kit we use at our shop. In the DIY realm, I`d call around and see what your local parts stores rent out and look at "renting" a wheel bearing tool. Usually you "purchase" the tool, then they give you your money back when you return it.

If the axle is refusing to come out of the hub, let me know and I can try to explain what I`ve done for that. Short version: Snap on has a forcing screw you use in the slide hammer adapter you bolt to the hub. Apply force with that, then shock the axle with strikes on the end of the forcing screw with a brass hammer. Also, penetrating oil and time are your friends...

Let me know what step you`re at and I`d love to help.

great info hub grappler is something I would purchase and I have 2 of the 4 hub with cv axels rust welded in good heat and air hammer couldn’t get it to push out.thanks a ton the hub grappler look beefy to hold up for years I can usually get hubs off by the reverse stud trick but not here too much rust.

 

[William_Wallace]

I already had a multi day battle with the inner tie rods the was an excessive amount of red thread locker and I had to do keep repeated high heat to them. All the special tools failed I ended up grinding a slot in them and used air hammer to lefty Lucy them off little by little and kept them hot once off I realized it was caked very bad with red thread locker.

 

[Sizzle Chest]

The old heat wrench! Oxy/Acetylene torch. Rose bud end. Heat it up and slide hammer that sucker off!

 

[William_Wallace]

The old heat wrench! Oxy/Acetylene torch. Rose bud end. Heat it up and slide hammer that sucker off!

I put it on my list and hope Santa bring me a big boy torch because I’m over here with a propane torch!

 

[William_Wallace]

So this what I got give me your opinion. The hub grappler looked alittle better but was $500-$600 this was $300 I have done wheel bearings in over a decade where I did them also have cv axels I’m replacing I’ll attach that tool below too it was $50 if they don’t work I’ll ship them back.

next question which bearings?….Timken or Moog or other?

 

[The Guz]

Both have a good reputation. I have moog on my Grand Prix that I swapped out myself and they have done well over the years.

 

[Lonnie]

Wheel bearing come in variety of prices and corresponding quality build and materials that reflect those prices. Attempting to save a lot of money on bearings by buying something that is "cost-effective" or "budget friendly" is a recipe for disaster. This is one of those cases where "you get what you pay for." I would still buy USA-made bearing if possible, BUT Japan, Germany, and Sweden (think SKF) make high-quality bearings with corresponding higher prices. You`ve put in all this work to get to this point. Don`t skimp on the bearing cost.

Since you`ve mentions F150 trucks as one of the vehicles you will/are working on, do you know if anyone makes a heavy-duty bearing, like Moog, that you can upgrade from over the OEM bearings?? And is there a special synthetic bearing grease that can be used to pack these bearings with??
(Spending more of someone else`s money again, are we Captain Obvious??)

William_Wallace:
Is applying Red Thread Locker (LocTite, I assume) to rod end threads standard operating procedure for mechanics or the OEM assembly line??
I was under the assumption that the Red LocTite was for more PERMANENT thread assemblies and as you have found out, requires a lot of heat to loosen and undo. I think Permatex makes a similar thread-locker in Orange that is high-strength, but more "removable-friendly".

 

[William_Wallace]

@lonnie thanks homeslice I went skf for up front that we’re well price and included a new hub. Rear I went with timken we. The red locklite on the inner tie rods was very labor intense to get the part off. I don’t have a real torch just propane so I kept the heat on cut the inner tie off about an inch from the inner tie rod ball joint so that I had a better chance heating it then grinded in a slot about 3/8 deep. Put my air hammer and chisel in the grind slot to spin it off took hours when it did come off big chunk of red locktite on female threads

Cv half axel I went cardone

Axel seals in trans I went motorcraft

 

[William_Wallace]

I bought a moog and timken rear wheel bearings both made in China.

timkin is smoother by feel but is subpar in corrosion resistant coating

moog was a little less smooth had excessive grease causing a grease churn when rotating it which would probably resolve itself great corrosion coating

both are are top notch

skf up front is just as smooth timken and moog but had even higher quality corrosion coating.

maybe I’ll get a 4th different one up front and run them! And change title to the Noob that ran 4 different bearings and cost himself money