I used a hub puller (many part stores loan them for free). It ensures the axle remain where it should.

The axle came right out with the hub. It is absolutely stuck in the hub. I'm not sure if I have screwed the pooch here, or I have possible recovery?

put hub in vise or hold on some surface..put nut back on axle so it'* a little higher than the end of the axle.

Whack nut to free axle from hub..have friend catch alxle so it doesn't hit ground and get hurt

Edit.. duh..nut'* on axle and it shouldn't fall out..DOH

How does this sound. Put the hub back in the housing. put the nut on the end as you said, and pound hell out of it till it moves. The hub/spindle is still attached to the knuckle, moving it to a vise is not an alternative, unless I take off the boot and figure some way to detach it. Nuts or no?

edit: I think the hub is really fried on the spindle. In all the posts i searched, nobody had this much trouble with breaking it from the axle.

Use a conventional puller, like you would use for the harmonic balancer, to push the axle through the hub. You can do this on a bench or in a vise.

You're hardly screwed, nothing terribly unusual has happened to you. You may end up loosing a fair amount of transmission fluid without the axle in place so be sure to check that once done.

Cheers,

You mean like this.....

5-ton puller or a gear puller?...




This what I'm dealing with. The hub is away from the housing but so is the axle. It'* still connected to the knuckle(?) or whatever. I have to get that spindle pushed through and out of the hub? then put the new one on and get it bolted down.

Yeah..that'll work

And yes..it'* happened to all of us before.

FYI for other newbies and mechanically challenged. Advance has a hub puller kit. It has 2 fittings. One to unstick the axle, one to pull the hub. As a bonus they also include that one time $15 34MM socket for the spindle nut. It'* a loaner kit with a deposit of $100. You can even break it and still get your money back.

This continues my tentative relationship with Advance. This is the same store that told me the stores don't carry them for loan when I started this project. It'* all who you ask.

We'll see how it works on the spindle tomorrow.

I've found that a good relationship with the local parts people is key. They will help out and go out of their way once you've established a friendship.

At this point I can call..tell them I need $1,000 worth of special order parts (usually require payment in full) and ask them to make it happen...that afternoon the parts will be ready and waiting for my ever thinning credit card.

Good thought. i think the issue is inherent to the Advance in my area. Always new faces, and we could use a little more training for checking the computer inventory. She didn't have any "wheel bearing hubs" or 'wheel hubs". On my third suggestion she did have a "hub bearing". Different at Auto Zone which is much further away, where the counter guys can talk the talk.

Stopped raining, so back to the "hub bearing".