Rear Hub Stuck....

[R13]

In the process of replacing wheel studs (with much longer studs, hence the need to remove the hubs).

The 4 14mm bolts are out, the Axle nuts are off, and I can slide the axle shaft in/out by hand. In theory, I've done the hard part(s), however, the hub will not separate from the knuckle.

The manual seems to imply that it should basically fall into my hands, or come off with minimal encouragement.

Any tricks?

 

[pgilliam1]

I haven't had to take my hubs off yet, but I had to replace an axle and to get the axle nut off I had to soak it in PB Blaster for 2 days and coax it with an impact several times. I would soak it down with PB Blaster and tap it with a hammer in several points to see if it will break loose.

 

[ralph cerbone]

You need a hub puller, it is a 5lb. Slide hammer with hub adapter threaded on to it . The adapter is configured to your lug nut pattern ,you bolt it on and a couple of slides of the hammer weight and the hub will come out . Make sure you spray the hub with penetrating oil((wd40 or whatever) Ihave my own but I sure you can rent one from an auto store.
You can also revert to using your wheel as a weight. You install the wheel and threa the lug nuts back on but not tight ,about 3 turns loose . VERY CAREFULLY now you push the wheel in and pull it out hard using it as a puller, you have t o be carefully not to damage the lug threads or the wheel. If it doesn't pop after a few tries go get a hub puller (Idont advocate this procedure but I have done it when a puller wasn't available)

 

[R13]

Yeah (@pgilliam) it's currently marinating in PB blaster, and I've tapped with with a mallet/drift a few different ways, but I don't want to hit it too hard and break it...or worse, miss and break something more expensive.

Thanks for the suggestions Ralph. I'll see if I can find a hub puller locally. Probably something useful to have, or maybe something I can rent&return from a chain store. If not, I may try the wheel trick with one of my OEM 16's, or maybe see if the junk MR2 wheel I have will fit well enough to try that...it's got the right bolt pattern, but may not clear the suspension.

 

[R13]

Oooooookay.

So it looks like it may be a convenient time to do wheel bearings as well.

I procured a slide-hammer puller, and proceeded to go to work.

The right rear is still thoroughly stuck....hasn't budged.

The left rear budged, but in the wrong way. it pulled the outer hub assembly and outer wheel bearing race out of the inner hub assembly. The inner hub assembly is still stuck tight in spite of being battered with a large hammer to see if I could get it to twist some and break free.

Looks like I'll be spending some quality time with a cut-off tool....

Business as usuall.

 

[ralph cerbone]

Frustrating ,I know, patience is important!!! Good luck

 

[R13]

Like I said, business as usual. This car was a basket case when I bought it, so I had some Idea what I'm getting into. It's pretty much a given that any repair or replacement that I'm doing for the first time on the car will be more difficult than it should.

Some pics:

I think I'm going to cut it into quarters hopefully without scarring the knuckle much, and then hopefully it will come out.

Any quality hub/bearing assys out there aside from the Honda/Acura Part?

 

[R13]

Ok, I finally got the bearing assemblies to separate from the knuckles.

Fortunately, I managed to do so without breaking anything else, but it involved doing things that make me really nervous around aluminum suspension pieces: hit stuff with a large hammer, and use an air chisel. I suppose it's nice that I did not end up having to cutting anything.

I just beat on the bolt "ears" of the bearing assemblies in a radial direction until they rotated some and positioned the ears over a place on the knuckle such that a gap existed into which I could jam a chisel blade to use as a wedge to drive the two pieces apart.

I got away with minimal scarring of the knuckle, although I'm pretty sure the bearing assemblies are a write-off. Oh well, new ones in the mail.

 

[R13]

All done.

So, the short story is this:

-Once you've un-done the axle nut and removed the four bolts, the rear bearing and hub assembly should come out by hand, or if not by hand, with very little coercion

-If for some reason it doesn't, STOP. Your best options are now as follows:

1) Tap one or more of the "ears" (lobes with the bolt holes in them) on the bearing assembly in the radial direction with a hammer and drift. Be sure not to miss. Hopefully this will break it loose and you can wiggle/pry it out.

2) Put everything back together or resign yourself to not driving it for a week, go ahead and order new wheel bearings, and go to town with a slide hammer. Basically, once you bring the slide hammer into play....you're doing the bearings whether you like it or not.

3) Put everything back together and drive to your local NSX Tech and leave a case of beer for the PITA they're about to now deal with in your stead.

Fortunately, I don't think many cars on here will have quite the levels of corrosion that mine does.

This is what came off:

This is what went back on: (The Hub is the original, just sand blasted and painted. The bearing assembly and studs are new.)

Finished product:

The fronts were a cinch. Un-did 4 nuts, wiggled hub/bearing assys out by hand, replaced studs, ballgame.

 

[ralph cerbone]

Good job , things don't always come apart the way the manual says. What you encountered is not uncommon, one or both of the outer bearing races were frozen in the hub.

 

[R13]

Good job , things don't always come apart the way the manual says. What you encountered is not uncommon, one or both of the outer bearing races were frozen in the hub.

Both were.

My main frustration was detaching the bearing assembly from the knuckle. Once free, I was able to take the pieces to where I had some help and after pressing the hubs out of the bearings we had to torch the outer races to get them off before blasting the hubs and pressing them into the new bearing assemblies.