[TR] Wow! My hubs are really stuck!

[Michael Lang]

I have now tried all sorts of things to get the hubs off of my TR3 axles.

The first thing I tried was the tool recommended in Randall's email
below. I had no luck on either hub. I used slices of 3/4 steel water
pipe to make the collars. I hammered on the driver tool until the
collars swelled almost enough to get stuck in the gap between the hub
and shaft. Using this technique, I didn't do any damage to the hubs or
axles so that was positive, but they wouldn't pop loose.

The next thing that I tried was making a ring out of 3/4 inch steel
plate to support the thin surface of the hub when it's in the press. I
put it in the press and pushed to it's limit which is 10 tons.  I even
heated the hub with the torch but still no luck.

The last thing that I tried was my local machine shop. They have a shop
limit of 10 tons for safety reasons, so they are no better off than I am.

The only other thing that I can think of, is to retrofit my press with a
20 ton bottle jack and push harder. It's an old press frame that was
originally a 20 ton press but the ram got replaced with a smaller one.

Does anyone have any other suggestions that I should try? So far, I
don't think I have done any damage to either the hubs or axles.

Thanks,

Mike

Randall wrote:
> Michael :
>
> The rear hubs are typically so tight that the hub is not strong enough to be
> simply pressed off, without distorting the face of the hub.  You need to
> bolt something heavy that supports the face, similar to the way the original
> Churchill tool did. 
>
> Or, Ken describes an intriguing alternative here
> http://192.94.170.51/start/phorum/read.php?1,15880,15982#msg-15982
> that might be worth a try.  Haven't had occasion to try it myself yet, but I
> will when the time comes.
>
> Randall