[chandler]

2001 24 valve 5.9 3500 flatbed 4wd. Discovered the front right u-joint is sloppy to took it to a shop for repair. They never did get the hub removed. After they banged on it a while, I told them to sew it up. It drives ok, but I know it is just a short time before the joint breaks. Any practical suggestions as to how you guys remove these hubs?

 

[Rollin Coal]

yeah, we cheated at the dealer, loosen the bolts but leave them in , only sticking out like 1/2"-3/4", put a socket on it w/ a bunch of extensions, with the wheel turned, wedge the extension up against the frame or somewhere. start the truck and turn the wheel, use the powersteering to break the hub free. do so carefully, and you'll have to do it on a few bolts. again, go easy, you dont want to break the hub.

 

[chandler]

Thanks for the response. Be patient, as I only was watching as they were disassembling the unit. Do you remove the hub extension, then reinstall the nuts partially? You won't be able to get a socket on the nuts without removing the extension, as they had to use a large open end wrench to get them off. Just for clarification.

 

[Rollin Coal]

are you trying to get the extension off, or the whole hub

this is a single wheel front hub.

the one on the left is the dually adapter (basically a spacer)

which are you trying to get off

 

[chandler]

OK, from what I saw, they removed the wheel and tire, and the disk rotor. Under that they removed 8 nuts with a wrench and removed what I would consider an extension, leaving 8 lug type bolts sticking out. They removed the shaft nut and beat the devil out of the back of the unit, but it didn't budge. It looks like the one your finger is pointing to. Thanks for your response. And to answer your question, I have to get the entire hub off in order to change the universal joint on the 4wd.
Would it help, or be possible to put a sacrificial nut on the 4 bolts sticking out and hit on them directly?

 

[Rollin Coal]

not my finger, stole the pic lol, but, those 4 studs w/ nuts (some years are bolts) are the ones you want to leave loose and put the extension on.

 

[chandler]

Roger that. I'll try it tomorrow evening and let you know. Thanks again.

 

[totalloser]

Penetrating oil is your friend, too. Even cheating. That's a really slick trick by the way.

 

[123buster]

dang i wish i would have found this when i did mine

 

[kelico]

just did the same job.

Well I'm glad this article was here. I was sure that the hub was either welded together or a cast 1 pc unit. but after a lot of penetrating oil and persuasion.. it came apart.

I found a great use for a reverseable welding clamp (so it pushes instead of squeeze) I pushed against the socket on the bolts holding the hub on and against the frame of the truck.. it really helped.

thanks again for the informative post.

cheers.

Kelly