After 95000 miles and various vibrations on the front end, I thought I would change the front hubs. Bit of a pain job but sortied in the end once I made a hub spreader.

The biggest issue is the ally struct corrodes to the cast hub very well, making even a club hammer in effective.

I tried hitting it, I tried heating the ally, I tried coal chisel, all to no avail, so I thought it was time to be more scientific, here is my solution.

My home made spreading service tool, like ball joint splitter only it expands.
2 bits of steel, 16 mm thick x 50 x 200 long - this is the thickest you can get between the upright and hub, any thinner will just bend.
1 hole drilled in each at the end, 12mm dia, use a 10mm HD bolt if pos.
and assortment of drill from 3mm to 13mm, (I used a few screwdrivers but drill would have been better having done it. As they are shorter and allow easyer hammer access

Start with a thin drill and start the squeeze apart. Once the side is under pressure, hit the other side of the hub.
As it moves out change the drill to get a wider spread and move the spreader to a different position.
Penitrating oil also helped once it started to move.

Even with the steel this thick it still bent a little, so I rotated the arms to straighten them each time.
Ideally could be thicker but they would need to be thinned to get them between the strut and leg.

This system worked very well, and they we out in 5 mins once I started with the spreader.

Here are a few pictures

in this picture I was only using the coal chisel as a wedge to stop it rotating back in as I spread the other side.








All cleaned up and greased to try and stop them fussing together again

Not the best paint job but time was getting short and better then nothing

 

Or.....just buy the right tool for the job....


$69 for a very comprehensive slide hammer tool kit, and considering the money you are saving doing the job yourself, and that the tool can be used for many other projects, why would you build a crappy home tool?

 

Given the force required I think a slid hammer may have problems as the ally corrodes to the cast hub very well. but had I been rich like you and doing it again I probably would get one and try, instead of using a crappy very successful home made tool.

 

That slide hammer does jack **** when is put up against a properly rusted in hub... ask me how I know...
If you live in an area where salt is used during winter, after a few good years... you are out of luck.

 

It amazing what a slide hammer can do. You must not have been doing it right, or were using the child's version.

 

If that makes you sleep better at night, sure...

 

That's very innovative Hoylegj.

 

I sleep a lot better knowing how to do things right. Wish I could baby sit all the people like you that don't know what they are doing, but I just don't have the time.