Sorry for starting this thread but I am at my witts end here. I removed the front axle nut and the three 9/16 12.p bolts from the steering knuckle-to-hub. Now will the hub come off? I have been beating the hell out of it and nothing. Once I pull the hub off the manual says that the axle will come out.(meaning the bearing is part of the hub not the knuckle. Or do I need to remove the entire knuckle which means two new ball joints. Sorry again and thanks

 

My truck is a 95, and I had (4) 9/16" 12pts holding mine on...The bolted right to the bearing case...Once they were out, I cut the wheel, and the hub came right off..Then the U-Joint and axle pulled out

 

Mines a 96 I only say 3 but I will go back out and look you said after removing the bolts you cut the wheel?

Nope three bolts and beating the hell out of it, air chissle/hammer and the thing wont budge

 

don't remove the knuckle.
the bearing is held in from the back by the 3 12pt bolts, and the shaft in held in by the big 1-11/16 nut. (plus the rust between the bearing and knuckle cavity.

there's a couple of tricks to try. on the back side, thread in 3 sacrificial bolts in place of the 12pt's. leave about 1/4 short of being seated, but with plenty of thread contact. beat on the heads with a hammer, which forces the bearing out of the cavity. second trick is to use the bolts in the same manner, but instead of beating on them with a hammer, arrange a socket and extension on the heads, and allow the power steering to push on them. third trick is to apply some heat to the knuckle to get it to expand a little.

here's some pics.
http://www.pavementsucks.com/tech/hub.php

 

Thanks a lot. I will have to buy some bolts and try that. By the looks of it you wont be able to ruin the bearing by doing this. I was afraid that by seperating the two that you would be putting oposite forces on the inner-outer races.

 

i attempted to do this **** myself once...and after hours of beating the crap out of it, and being afraid i was going to brake something and be stuck at the hobby shop, i realized i didnt have the tools to do it anyway and have to take it to the auto
shop lol

 

Its rusted in there tight as *&%$#@%^&*. Use plenty of never sieze on the new bearing shell and sand everything down good in the knuckle and use lots of never sieze in there too.
Did I repeat that? yeah.

 

Well the bolt trick worked so thanks again. I got the bearing hub off and inspected the bearing and it looks good. So I started working on the bad u joint and guess what- its good. So I slip the axle back into the hub(which is in the vice) and the slop which I thought was in the u-joint is in the spline to splined(?) part of the hub. It doesnt seem excessive but is a little up and down play normal.

 

no. it should be nice and snug.
how much movement you got ? 1/32 - 1/16 might be ok. any more than that seems wrong.

when everything was bolted in place, with the big axle nut on, did you have movement then ?

what lead you to change u-joints ?

 

I changed the u-joint because I allready had it out. That way I would not have to wonder how much life was left in the old one. I have about 1/32 play.