Nedoerr, it is possible, granted, I would think that you would do more damage from hitting potholes, especially if you are running a wider tire and/or a rim that does not have the factory offset (or has a spacer between the rim and the hub). I have used a hammer to take off rotors and can't say that I have ever needed to replace a hub shortly thereafter. Granted, I tend to also throw in some rust dissolver fluid and to strike my way around the rotor to ensure whatever play I create can be used to get more movement with the next strike. The big question becomes how hard did you hit it. This is very subjective and it is possible that if you have bad roads around where you live, you didn't do the hubs any good by beating the rotors off. I would think that if you hit the rotor hard enough to have caused damage, you would have had some play in the hub when you put the wheel back on and would have probably noticed that.

 

 

Two maybe a coincidence, three is a pattern.

 

 

I would suggest it's almost impossible to damage the hub in the normal course of rotor removal. Think how incredibly hard the forces are on the hub when a 2 ton car careering at 70mph hits a hard bump or pothole. There is no way you come close in rotor removal
At 80k plus you were probably just in need of replacement.

 

BritCars, when it comes to bearings, that is not quite the case. Bearings are really only meant to see forces in 1 direction (either in line with the shaft or perpendicular to the shaft). Taking stresses the other way (even small) can be damaging. In the case of wheel bearings, they do a little bit to make the bearing have characteristics of both (hence the sloped race inside the bearing). So, a wheel bearing/hub will have say 90% of its strength in the up/down direction so it can handle the weight of the car and hitting potholes and whatnot, but only 10% for sideways motions (ie, the stress of making the car turn, something brushing the side of the wheel/rim). So, it is much easier to hurt a hub hitting it from the side than to hit bumps in the road. I do agree that it would take some pretty good hits to hurt a hub, especially when trying to remove a rotor, but the more play you have in a bearing from wear, the easier it becomes.

The other thing to consider is that the tire flexes as you hit holes and whatnot. This helps to distribute the force over time. So, the shock is not as bad. Where , if you are taking a no bounce hammer and striking the rotor, there is no give. The shock of the hit is sent straight to the hub/bearing.

 

Yes, that's probably fair. But I can only imagine that when driving in real world conditions with the suspension bouncing up and down, bumping over a road and turning corners that the lateral forces and bumps are pretty severe too. Many mechanics remove rotors with a good blow from a hammer, so I'd expect to see more caution if that could cause harm

So I guess your point is right that it's possible to harm them. It just seems very unlikely and certainly not an issue I've come across in the past