Rear hub woes...

[Colin Wilks]

I got some stuff from Tracy Tools a while ago and picked up one of these dies for not a lot as it was deemed refundant stock by the chap I asked. I would be happy to lend to someone local, so it's worth asking on here if there's anyone near you who has one.

[GrahamW]

Hi All

i have now tried all of the above and no joy.
I was quite cuffed that i got a really good hit with a sledge, it rang like a church bell, but no joy :-(
i have tried heat and the same again, it is solid.
When i originally took off the drive shaft nut, it wasn't tight, which raised a few alarm bells in my mind.
i have a feeling that the key has rolled and fused the hub and shaft together.
I guess the only option left is to break out the angle grinder and order a new hub and driveshaft :-(
This is turning into one very expensive brake rebuild !!!

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Have you tried welding the puller onto the hub?

It does work, when all else has failed.

Get a good strong weld around it. Do the centre bolt up really tight and then hit that with the sledge hammer.

An outer hub is easily replaced, as is the puller (although I always cut mine back off and reface it for the next time).

[GrahamW]

Thanks, i dont have a welder here, but i have got use of a portable mig at work which i could liberate next week and give it a shot.

Does Daisy do mobile work ???  

[AustinWood]

Carefully cutting the hub with an angle grinder along the keyway should loosen the hub without damaging the half-shaft.
Many years ago I was foraging in a scrap yard for a Ruby half shaft. The hub would not budge. One of the workmen cut the hub along the keyway with oxy-acetalene. He was accurate and the hub came off with no 1/2 shaft damage.

[Bob Kneale]

It sounds like you have a similar problem to one I experienced in 2012 when I first acquired my RP saloon. It turned out to be an out of spec Woodruffe  key that was too tall.As a result,once it was really tightened up with (excessive torque) it became impossible to shift and I am sorry to tell you I had to resort to removing the hub top parallel to the top of the key whereupon it separated without difficulty. Although it cost me a new hub, the axle shaft was retrieved unharmed. Ever since then, I've always checked the height of hub keys and have found more than one that required reducing in height. It's the THICKNESS of the Woodruffe key that's critical. Too thick and the tapered shaft can fracture;too thin and the keyway in both shaft and hub wears and the key itself fractures with the associated rotation and loss of traction.
Don't use anything higher than about 150lb/ft or about the maximum achieveable from an ordinary torque wrench. It's quite tight enough!
Try Ruriadh's suggestion of welding the puller onto the hub first, but i think you'll still be faced with the prospect of having to get a new hub outer.
Let us know how you get on and good luck!!!