I had mine pressed out at a local NAPA machine shop. They had ruined
one hub of a friends car, luckily he had a spare. They did fine on the
other two of his as well as both of mine. I told them to be very careful.
They took the time to look over it approached the job like true
professionals. However, I now have access to one of the original Churchill
Tools. They work very nice. No more hail marry's that the machine shop
won't bend them.
Shawn
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Original Text
From: "Robert M. Lang" <LANG@ISIS.mit.edu>, on 10/7/98 3:25 PM:
Hi,
Do not use a universal press for this job. You will ruin the hub.
Do not use a standard wheel puller. You will ruin the hub.
What you need is the correct Churchill tool - these are very hard to come
by. There is also an option that I read about in the Len Renkenburger book
"Six Tech" whereby our hero uses a four-legged wheel puller and a thick
steel plate to pull against.
The problem for the standard methods of separation is that the back side of
the hub flange is not parallel to the front side. If you support the flange
by the back side and apply force, it will bend.
Bent flanges are useless.
In the Len method, you put the plate on the wheel flange and then connect
the 4-legged thingie to the studs and tighten everything down good and
snug. This way, when you tighten the "big bolt" down, you're pulling on the
entire surface of the flange.
Also note: another problem with takin' these things apart is that the
puller needs to push against the end of the axle stub. Take the nut off and
put it back on again _backwards_ so the center of the puller is pushing
against the nut and not the shaft itself. If you skip this step, you're
going to ruin your axle stub.
Bob's recommendation - send the hub intact to Apple Hydraulics, TRF, Dave's
Something-or-other in NC or to a local shoppe that specializes in British
cars and let them have at it.
This is not a job for the light hearted.
I've bent a couple of flanges, I know what I'm talking about. And those
things really stick together!!! I've seen > 20 tons of force used to
unsucessfully try to take them apart. More than 20 tons is plenty of force
to ruin the flange!!
Good luck, and talk to me off-line if you need pointers.
rml
TR6's
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