Well I decided to wait for heavy tools before tackling the hub job. Here's how it's going so far . . . .is that puller plate really supposed to be curved like that?





Is that a gap forming?



Will an air chissel take care of that? How hard are the dust sheilds to replace?



Geez, I was hoping that at least the hub would separate or something.

 

And to answer my own question, yes! That was a gap, and YES!, the air chissel did get it loosened up a little without destroying the dust shield. And then I walked the hub out of the knuckle with an impact on the puller. All in all, it took about 5 minutes worth of work, and 15 minutes worth of kroil soaking (with pressure on the puller). Tools are the key!! (hopefully that puller isn't permanently bent... on to the next side . . .











Nice and rusty!:

 

And now I'm done with the driver's side. It was a little easier, knowing what to do. I put the puller on it, and then cranked down with the impact. Then, I put more pressure with the breaker bar and 30" extension. After that, I turned the wheel lock to lock - which made some popping noises. Then I put the air chissel (hammer with chissel bit) on it and ruined the dust shield (it'll still work). Then I decided to try giving it some persuation... Two thumps with a 3lb mallet and it popped out about 1/4 inch. Then it was a matter of walking it out with the impact gun again. This one was stuck more than the passenger side. Leasons learned . . . Impact gun, breaker bar with extension, and a mallet to smack the knuckle when there is A LOT of pressure on the puller. I got the puller off of ebay for about $70 -- not having to spend all day beating on it: PRICELESS. It wasn't too bad, because I got the right tools ahead of time. The power steering method DID NOT WORK for me. This puller is permanently bent now, and it's almost a 1/2" thick steel plate. I would have broken something important had I kept cranking on it with the steering / extension on the housing method.

And now it's on to the ball joints next . . . (have another tool for that)...

 

Does anyone have a press to bend my puller back to straight? I'll let you use it on your hubs if you bend it back for me!

 

Just to chime in (and to be the only one to do so! LOL) My drivers side came off with just a couple of taps with a hammer! The passengers side on the other hand......EHHHH lets just say it's still not out and wont be till I absolutly need to replace it! LMAO!!!

 

I'm telling ya, you just need to get the big puller that I used. Crank that baby down and give the steering a few turns then give the knuckle a few good thumps with a mallet, or stick an air chissel in the gap and mix and match from there. The right tools make jobs a lot easier. I am surprised that my bearings didn't separate on me, with the amount of force that I used.

Do I get an honorary medal or something for reply to my own post so many times before anyone else did?

 

HAHAHAHA!!! Well, Thats why I didn't push it on the drivers side! At around $250 each for the hubs, I didn't feel comfy beating the crap out of it just to do preventitive U joint replacement! But, I might just save up some cash and replace it all!

 

How about applying a little heat with a torch to the knuckle? I need to do my u-joints, and the friendly local Dodge dealer wants $800 for the privilege. That, plus the hubs if they kill one, or both.

Did you put any anti-seize on the hub when reinstalling? I guess it's OK to apply that much force pushing the axle into the carrier to lever the hub out of the knuckle.

 

I soaked my drivers side with anti-seize! Too much is never enough! Plus I WOULD NOT recomment heat! Thats if you don't mind replacing the hubs after! Good luck!

 

I don't like the heating method either. I really only spent about 5 minutes on each side, and they were REALLY stuck in there. I tried the power steering method, and that just wasn't going to work. I tried beating them a little, then I tried the air hammer. None of that worked until I put that big puller on them. Once there was TONS of pressure on them ( the axle shaft has a collar that gets pressed againse the housing while you're pushing on it), then it was easy to use a few thumps with a hammer or the air hammer to break them loose. I haven't put them back together, because I'm replacing the ujoints and ball joints while I'm in there. My tie rods are good, but I'll probably throw brake pads on it while it's apart.

Anti-seize will be used HEAVILY on reassembly. I am an anti-seize freak now If I take it apart, it gets anti-seize on every mating surface, bolt, and nut.

 

Yea, heating the bearings is probably not a good idea. How could Dodge/AAM be so cheap as not to put a little anti-seize on the assembly themselves. Amazing.

What's the "Power Steering Method" of hub removal?

 

Instead of heat has anyone tried spraying the hubs with R-134 {make sure you wear gloves and dont get any on your hands or you might end up removing a few fingers also}.

 

i used i slide hammer, about 3 to 5 slides and it was off, offcourse it was my 95 half ton. my 03 2WD came out pretty east with the slide hammer.

TIP, grease the axle shaft up and the mating surfaces for the next time you have to do it.

i did 5-6 on my old truck, i am a pro now.

 

You did better than I. I used a puller, 30min of soaking with Kroil, Air hammer, 5# sledge then... the hub bearing cam apart. This happend on both sides Then it took use another 1/2hr per side to remove the remainder of the hub from the knuckle with a 10# sledge!

Oh well, I should have my manual hubs kit here next week.

 

You back the bolts out a little then use a sacrificial socket and extension I also used a cold chisel between the extension and the axle housing. Go from the bolt to something solid on the axle then use the power steering to press the bolt had to crank pretty hard then it popped then the next bolt and so on backing the bolts out a little more each time around till you get the assembly out. I tried a puller on mine with a 1/4" plate and it just bent didnt want to destroy the bearing so used the power steering method the only way I was getting mine out