removing rear axles

S

steven

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How do you remove the axles from the rear end while it is out of the car. I have tried to remove the nuts at the end without major clamps/hold downs etc. Using long bars means restraining the other end and the diff flange. Any wise ideas?
 
Impact Wrench

Air wrench or electric will get that big baby loose. The axle has more than enough inertia to make it work.

You will need a very beefy puller to remove the axles.

Rick
 
Shock Value

steven said:
How do you remove the axles from the rear end while it is out of the car. I have tried to remove the nuts at the end without major clamps/hold downs etc. Using long bars means restraining the other end and the diff flange. Any wise ideas?
Click to expand...

Pretty much what Rick says:

Any decent impact wrench will spin off those fine thread nuts. Always, always, always protect those axle threads with a safety nut or thread chaser when using a hefty puller on the hubs. ITYS ! Putting the same nuts on backwards, leaving a "drift" space works well. I use a large 2-jaw or 4-jaw puller and, once it is firmly stressing the hub, we give it a "drift" on the center to jar it loose. DO NOT over stress the hub or threads. Patience . . . . .
 
Dan Walters' hub puller for Tigers works quite well. It's been described in Tiger Tales and is a further development on the Chuck Earle/Dale Akuszewski efforts describe in the CAT shop notes.

Earle used a 1/4" x 6" square steel plate. Dale used a 1/2" plate. Both drilled holes in their plates matching the hub's bolt pattern. I think their technique required removing the hub's existing lug bolts.

As I recall, Dan's version used thicker steel and left the existing lug bolts in place by using high quality coupling nuts. (Chuck's might have as well - don't remember.)

Dale added that he used a criss-cross tightening pattern and the hub popped off at 40 ft lbs. Chuck used 50 ft lbs and rapped the center of the plate with a small sledge to break it loose.
 
"... in the CAT shop notes."


Sorry to hijack this thread.

Hey Buck, did CAT publish the shop note yet?
I remember you talking about them on the forum last year but don't remember an announcement about them being done.

Now back to the axle discussion.

John
 
CAT has Shop Notes for sale now.

I have not worked on the new revision in quite a while. No telling when the various distractions will let up enough for me to get back to it. I'm enjoying being able to "back off" from day to day CAT affairs.

My current distraction is packing the truck for Monterey. One of the race Tigers headed north this morning. We'll follow in a few days. Figuring out the jetting on the Tiger race motor will be one of the first tasks up there.

Back on the thread: Has anyone ever tried the "other" hub removal tip in the Shop Notes? The items used were a sleeping bag and a 15ft. length of chain, if I recall correctly. I'm not fooling!

bt
at the beach
 
pulling chain

I tried the chain thing and nothing budged. Maybe the chain was not heavy enough. :eek:

Rick

PS I have a beefy puller that works.
 
I tried the chain method, I think it moved about 1mm. I was also using a 20 foot chain. Bugger it, the loose end reared up and hit my left knee. Now on serious pain killers.
 
Too easy -
006-1.jpg


http://www.sunbeamalpine.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13968

Willing to send the tool out. Slide hammer would be expensive, but willing too.
 
This thread convinces me I need to leave the rear in the car when I rebuild it, at least long enough to get the axles out. Duke, how much does your puller weigh?
 
I liked Rick's

I thought it was a hub puller? My car has excessive end play and clearly makes a knock that doesn't go away till the radio is on 10, If I had headers I'd never hear it:cool:
 
Two Step

the_tool_man said:
This thread convinces me I need to leave the rear in the car when I rebuild it, at least long enough to get the axles out. Duke, how much does your puller weigh?
Click to expand...

Or maybe 3 steps?

The nut removed with an impact wrench? In Car or removed.

Hub puller? In Car or removed.

Axle Puller, Slide hammer! In car works but if the whole differential has been removed from car? It will have to be anchored to something real sturdy or heavy!
 
To add to the knowledge base, I just took apart an axle where one side had never been apart and it had about 40K miles on it. (The other side had a hub removed at some point).

Axle nut came off easily with my cordless impact.

The hub came off with a simple 2-jaw puller. I was prepared to abort the mission and make a better tool before I put too much pull on the hub, but it popped off with very little. My puller has a cone shaped attachment that pilots into the center bore of the axle shaft, which does a nice job of keeping everything centered as compared to the "flat foot" kind.

The axle and bearing I removed with a slide hammer. The studs had already been popped out, so I used the hub adapter and some 3/8" bolts. It was sitting on jackstands, and being held slightly with an engine hoist so that it wouldn't hit the ground if it fell off the jackstands. A couple of hits and it was out.

Your mileage may vary.
 
Hub puller

I bought a regular old hub puller at the local auto parts store, like you would use on the front of a 4 wheel drive, the slots it in picked up three of the studs, it cost about $20 and the hubs popped right off using an electric impact gun on the center threaded rod.
Bob K.
B9471705
 
One more "tool tip". As I was putting the tools away, I realized that my puller has the same threads as the slide hammer, so I could have used the hub adapter from the slide hammer (left side) with the hub puller center (right side) and then I would have been pulling on the lug holes rather than the edge of the hub.

The puller on the right is part of a kit that also has a hub puller, but I don't think the slots are wide enough to fit a 7/16 bolt...?

attachment.php
 
Right... the cheapo thing that I bought that worked great looked like the thing on the left of your photo, with the center threaded part from the right thing. It does have a tapered point to center it. Bolt the left thing to three wheel studs, screw the center thing into the dimple in the axle with your impact gun, hub pops right off. I only backed the axle nut off a couple spins in case the hub came flying off, which it didn't.
Bob K.
B9471705
 
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