Tom, Steve, and others,
There seems to be a broader issue here that Tom points to with his
well-detailed accounts of his experience. Steve's request for a summary in
United is understandable also, but my view is that the problem of hub and axle
removal is not as simple nor as responsive to a single solution as such older
advice (factory manual, CAT shopnotes, etc.) would lead one to believe.
As Tom notes, his hub/axle had no rust. Neither did the set I dealt
with. Yet it resisted a good shop puller with plenty of heat and hammer
blows and a body shop press afterwards. When the driveline shop gave it back
to us (we admitted defeat and gave it to them), the taper itself on the axle
(not the threads) was somewhat mushroomed and an area had been sheared off
straight.
Maybe they just weren't nice to it, but several people I talked to in
Monterey had had similar if less drastic experiences. My gut feeling now is
that some hubs or axles will come out using the standard solutions, but some
will not, and the differentiating factor has NOT been determined.
Tom had a heck of a time getting his axles out. I wasn't around when
they finally gave up doing it on the car here and pulled the axle out, but my
impression was that it was no problem. Getting the hub off the axle then
totaled both pieces. Tom has a pretty rusty car. My friend's car here
(Nevada) is very dry. Neither Tom nor I noted any rust at the interfaces that
resisted so much.
No consistency, and the repeatable experience that scientific method
requires seems of dubious universality. I'd like to see a definitive article
in United as well, but there's something going on here that hasn't quite been
deduced. I'd like to hear some others' experience.
Chris Hill
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