88 Front Hub Assembly. The results are in. An Autopsy.
Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 1:46 am
My old one? A broken piece of crap. Got the new one from Rodney Dickman today, and I hope it lasts,
as the word here seems to be that they fail. I drove with it on, and my car runs quieter than I had even imagined it would.
No vibrations, loud noises, or other things that go bump in the night. It took me all of 20 minutes to install it.
Here's a pic of the old hub in the vise:
The back end is just a cap. I clamped it too hard in the vise as you will see.
Okay, so the next thing that has to come off after the cap is this sleeve or collar or whatever you want to call it.
It has bits of it pressed into a groove cut into the spindle to keep it from slipping off.
The bottom part of the thing is flanged and holds two halves of thing that I guess press down on a steel ring.
I use a hacksaw to cut the top half off:
After more filing and prying, I got the bottom half of the collar thing off. See flange.
See one half of the thingy things:
Twenty minutes and a lot of hammering later, I have everything apart, except for the metal ring that holds it all together,
the top race ring, I have no idea what this is called, but the bitch never came off all the way.
I got carried away with the hammer and squashed the end of the spindle, but
I have a solution for those of you who want to deal with this crap later and not mess it up.
Can you now see why my bearings made so much damn noise?
The ball bearings and plastic holder things. They're broken because I broke them getting them out.
Both ends of the outer race look fine. Any marks are from my noggling it up with a screwdriver or hammer.
Another shot of the chewed up spindle. There are about 5 such marks, spaced the same as where the ball bearings were. I have no clue how it got like this.
HOW TO GET IT APART THE RIGHT WAY:
USE A HARMONIC BALANCER PULLER!!!!!!.
The end of the spindle has a divot for it, and you will be able to pull the big steel ring off after you cut off the top half of the other thing. I suppose you would have to have a machine shop resurface the spindle and/or outer race if they're disfigured like mine. Good luck finding new seals.
as the word here seems to be that they fail. I drove with it on, and my car runs quieter than I had even imagined it would.
No vibrations, loud noises, or other things that go bump in the night. It took me all of 20 minutes to install it.
Here's a pic of the old hub in the vise:
The back end is just a cap. I clamped it too hard in the vise as you will see.
Okay, so the next thing that has to come off after the cap is this sleeve or collar or whatever you want to call it.
It has bits of it pressed into a groove cut into the spindle to keep it from slipping off.
The bottom part of the thing is flanged and holds two halves of thing that I guess press down on a steel ring.
I use a hacksaw to cut the top half off:
After more filing and prying, I got the bottom half of the collar thing off. See flange.
See one half of the thingy things:
Twenty minutes and a lot of hammering later, I have everything apart, except for the metal ring that holds it all together,
the top race ring, I have no idea what this is called, but the bitch never came off all the way.
I got carried away with the hammer and squashed the end of the spindle, but
I have a solution for those of you who want to deal with this crap later and not mess it up.
Can you now see why my bearings made so much damn noise?
The ball bearings and plastic holder things. They're broken because I broke them getting them out.
Both ends of the outer race look fine. Any marks are from my noggling it up with a screwdriver or hammer.
Another shot of the chewed up spindle. There are about 5 such marks, spaced the same as where the ball bearings were. I have no clue how it got like this.
HOW TO GET IT APART THE RIGHT WAY:
USE A HARMONIC BALANCER PULLER!!!!!!.
The end of the spindle has a divot for it, and you will be able to pull the big steel ring off after you cut off the top half of the other thing. I suppose you would have to have a machine shop resurface the spindle and/or outer race if they're disfigured like mine. Good luck finding new seals.