I'm in the middle (ok, 25% of the way through) replacing the rear wheel bearings on my '87. I figured I'd be done by now, but I've spent the last 3 1/2 hours fighting to remove the hub from the bearing.

I removed the stub axle, and every instructional walkthrough I've read barely even mentions removing the hub. The Arnnworx write-up shows a slide hammer being used to remove it. I have been pounding on the damn thing with a 12 lb slide hammer for hours, and all I've done is made sure that I can't just put it back and keep running the old bearings.

I've tried heat, penetrating oil, everything I can think of. As far as I can tell, I'm the only one who's ever run into this problem since I can't find any mention of it online. I'm hoping someone here has overcome this issue and can give me a pointer or two. At this point, I'm concerned about damaging the circlip groove in the trailing arm with all the pounding.

 

Keep at it with the slide hammer ... did you apply heat with MAPP gas ?
It gives out more heat than regular propane and should help !

I had one side that needed more convincing than the other when i rebuilt the late aluminum arms i installed in my race car.

Correction : Did you already remove the stub axle with the slide hammer ?
Then you need to use the Arnnworx tool to remove the bearing from the spindle,it comes out like butter with the tool.At worse you can fabricate your own tool with plumbing supplies,there's a writeup somewhere in the forums,possibly on Pelican in the 911 section !

Cheers
Phil

 

Clark's garage says to use a hammer and drift/punch from the inside (center of the car) to drive the hub out...not a slide hammer.
A real hammer will always be better than a slide hammer if you can fit it.

 

It should, but I have been beating the everloving crap out of it with the slide hammer and all I've done is ruined the bearing. If I could reach the circlip with the hub in place, I could probably pull the whole thing out in one go.

It's odd, since my 944 generally hasn't had serious problems with stuck bolts and corrosion.

I do have the Arnnworx tool, but I don't think it can be used to remove the hub from the bearing.

 

Try a regular hammer from the inside of the car.

 

Yes, the stub axle is out. I'm trying to remove the hub with a slide hammer but it is just not budging from the inner bearing race.

This photo from the Arnnworx how-to is basically where I'm at:

 

Cotter pin and nut are removed?

 

When you are pulling the hub out of the double row bearing, you are pulling the outer inner race with the hub. Pretty easy with a worn out bearing. Very difficult with a good/newish bearing.

Energy is mass times velocity squared. Slide the weight faster and it will come off.

 

Sounds like it is time to go to a shop with a 20 ton press..Be done in 5 minutes, and a lot less sweat.

 

Sorry, I had to look at the pic again. If you have a buddy with a "hub tamer" assembly it should have enough moxie to take the whole thing out..It works with a screw instead of a sliding weight. They work great on most front wheel drive cars with double row bearings. The application is a bit different, but the principles are the same. Unfortunately, AZ doesn't rent that tool..So you might have to go to an equipment rental place.

 

Wham wham wham ... As hard as you can....Bruce

 

Got it out, finally. The sealed bearing came apart and the inner race came with it, which I had to remove from the hub.

Just surprised I didn't see any mention of destroying the bearing to remove the hub in any of the instructions I read!

 

Yeah it's definitely normal for the inner race to come out with the hub. This type of tool works well for getting that piece of the race off the hub, but you need a fairly big one. Sounds like you already removed it though?

 

Lowes and Home Depot sell a twenty dollar pyrometer if you want to heat things up semi-accurately. 250f seems to be the magic number.

No love for that giant circlip....

Definitely new axle nuts if your car is the non cotter style. I double nutted with the old nut outboard.

 

Yep, new axle nuts for sure. Cheap insurance. The circlip, remarkably, went on the first time. Maybe the car was trying to make up for how hard it was to remove the hub...