There was a thread on this the other day, but my mail server was acting up
and I am not sure my comments made the list. Sorry to bomb everybody again.
Ralph Jannelli needed advice on removing the rear hubs on a Spit. I can
tell you from personal experience that without the Churchill tool, (and
assuming it doesn't come off with a regular gear puller or hydraulic press
at a machine shop) you'll likely be successful using a combination of heat
(tons of it - get that sucker cherry red glowing hot), a super duty gear
puller (perferably a top quality one such as Snap-On), and a yoke or collar
arrangement to keep the arms of the gear puller from slipping off of the
hub.
Couple of points - you'll probably mushroom out the end of the axle shaft a
little from all the pressure exerted through the nut on the top of the gear
puller. You might try using a nut on the end of the shaft to minimize this.
I used a thread chaser on mine after I got the hub off. The second thing
is that with all of the heat, you'll probably warp or bend the hub. You
should anticipate that in a worst case scenario you'll need to buy
remanufactured ones for approx. $40 each from Kipping in the UK. It's cheap
insurance if you ask me. Third, all of the seals and bearings will of
course be ruined too, plus the grease in the trunnion may catch fire so keep
some baking soda handy. Good luck.
Ross D. Vincenti
64 Spitfire 4 (undergoing surgery)
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