F@ck my life!

[Avatard]

I was gonna heat it, see if it slides off...but I gotta say, I'm not too thrilled with heating something as important as the hub. I'm kinda freaked out, in fact, that the only thing that really even keeps the wheels on the car, by design, is the press fit of the bearings.

[OTB]

Originally Posted by Avatard

I was gonna heat it, see if it slides off...but I gotta say, I'm not too thrilled with heating something as important as the hub. I'm kinda freaked out, in fact, that the only thing that really even keeps the wheels on the car, by design, is the press fit of the bearings.

Don't heat the hub....go buy a 1# chunk of dry ice from the local Safeway (ours has a DI bin). Break off a chunk (same some for the other side), put it in a plastic bag and rap it with a piece of wood. Put the crushed DI in a small plastic sandwich bag and set it in the bearing housing for about 20 seconds.

Tap it with a drift and it will fall right off.

Reverse the process to put the new one in; chill the bearing, don't heat the hub; keeps from damaging the dirt shields on shielded bearings.

[Avatard]

Originally Posted by OTB

Don't heat the hub....go buy a 1# chunk of dry ice from the local Safeway (ours has a DI bin). Break off a chunk (same some for the other side), put it in a plastic bag and rap it with a piece of wood. Put the crushed DI in a small plastic sandwich bag and set it in the bearing housing for about 20 seconds.

Tap it with a drift and it will fall right off.

Reverse the process to put the new one in; chill the bearing, don't heat the hub; keeps from damaging the dirt shields on shielded bearings.

Well, the bearing (3/4 of it anyway) is already off (so I need not worry about hurting the plastic ball retainers). I actually bought a fancy FWD bearing press tool, with a bunch of different mandrels to remove and replace the bearing. Only one side of the inner race remains, stuck on the neck of the hub, and my intention was to heat the race (not actually the hub, which if anything, like you suggested, I was inclined to chill).

I just don't know what's worse, the cold applied to the hub, or the collateral heat from heating the race to get it off. Bottom line; temperature does shit to metal no matter what.



Not thrilled with the fact that a press fit is all that holds the wheels on the car...but I guess that's the deal.

I hate FWD cars. What a colossal bad idea.