Utahboatnut
Senior Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2009
- Messages
- 785
Re: Are my wheels ok?
You don't need new hubs unless the ones you have are damaged, other than a bit of surface rust they look fine in the photo. As I mentioned the hardest part is getting the old bearing cups or races(whichever you want to call them) out and the new ones back into the hub. You can drive the old ones out with a punch or large brass drift pin just be careful not to scar up the inside of the hub too much. Once they are both out(note the direction of the taper BEFORE you take them out) then you need to drive the new ones back in. This is the trickiest part, if you can get a race driver it is pretty easy otherwise it is tough to seat them all the way without damageing them. Slow and steady is the key here light taps to seat them down and try to keep them level if they get on an angle it can make the job way harder. If you cant get a race driver some people use the old race they take out, cut it with a hack saw and use that to drive the new ones in (you have to cut it so it doesn't get stuck in there because it will and then its real tough to get it back out. To start the race into the hub use a block of wood to drive it in until it is flush with the hub then you need some means to finish driving it in until its fully seated. Some times you can find a big socket that will work but it's O.D. HAS to be just smaller than the O.D. of the race. Using soft hammer blows keep going around keeping it as level as possible until its fully seated then repeat on other race and other hub. I always leave the wheel attached to the hub it makes it much more stable to work on. Read up on how to properly pack the bearing itself and how to preload them with the big nut that holds the whole assembly togather, then you back it off to about finger tight. You don't want to tighten the big nut too much or your new bearing job will be for not. Read all you can on packing and tightening correctly.
You don't need new hubs unless the ones you have are damaged, other than a bit of surface rust they look fine in the photo. As I mentioned the hardest part is getting the old bearing cups or races(whichever you want to call them) out and the new ones back into the hub. You can drive the old ones out with a punch or large brass drift pin just be careful not to scar up the inside of the hub too much. Once they are both out(note the direction of the taper BEFORE you take them out) then you need to drive the new ones back in. This is the trickiest part, if you can get a race driver it is pretty easy otherwise it is tough to seat them all the way without damageing them. Slow and steady is the key here light taps to seat them down and try to keep them level if they get on an angle it can make the job way harder. If you cant get a race driver some people use the old race they take out, cut it with a hack saw and use that to drive the new ones in (you have to cut it so it doesn't get stuck in there because it will and then its real tough to get it back out. To start the race into the hub use a block of wood to drive it in until it is flush with the hub then you need some means to finish driving it in until its fully seated. Some times you can find a big socket that will work but it's O.D. HAS to be just smaller than the O.D. of the race. Using soft hammer blows keep going around keeping it as level as possible until its fully seated then repeat on other race and other hub. I always leave the wheel attached to the hub it makes it much more stable to work on. Read up on how to properly pack the bearing itself and how to preload them with the big nut that holds the whole assembly togather, then you back it off to about finger tight. You don't want to tighten the big nut too much or your new bearing job will be for not. Read all you can on packing and tightening correctly.
