Hi,
How to remove the wheel drive flange.
You need to get yourself 2 off 10mm dia x at least 100mm long bolts. Doesn't matter what thread, as long as you have nuts to fit and some washers.(Old 3/8 x 4" set bolts would do)
Grind or file a 60 degree (approx) point on the bolts.
If you look at the hub, find the larger clear hole that is used when you adjust the brake shoes. Diametrically opposite this is one of the tapped holes for the wheel holding bolts. These are the only diametrically opposite holes there are. You use these holes to jack off the wheel drive flange with shaft.
If you then look at the bolt heads of the torx bolts holding the brake back plate, you can see them even with the brake shoes in place, then line up the two opposite holes in the drive flange with 2 of the opposite plate holding bolts.
Put the pointed end of a bolt through a hole in the flange, then a washer, then a nut. Screw the bolt through the nut so that the point enters into the head of the torx bolt. Do the same with the other bolt.
Screw each bolt to about equal pressure, then hold the head of the bolt with a ring spanner, and with another OE spanner turn the nuts anti clock EQALLY on each bolt in turn.
Don't do the easy thing and turn the bolt heads and just hold the nuts, or you will damage the head of the torx bolts that you will need to undo to remove the brake back plate.
This will push the wheel flange out of the bearing."Just like that"
Now the real problem!!!
You will almost certainly find that the outboard inner centre of the wheel bearing will come out on the shaft. This is a real problem, as this has to be taken off the shaft. And, if you hope to reuse, without any damage, and fitted back into the bearing before you can put the wheel flange shaft back into the bearing.
It is a good tight fit, and the only way I know to remove it is with a Sykes Pickavant bearing separator plate. There is a small groove machined into the inner race which will just accept the two halves of the separator, tighten them together into this groove, and use a two legged puller to pull the whole thing off the shaft.
Before you ask, no, I dont think it can be just put back in without removing it from the shaft.
I never had to get round this as my problem was replacement of the bearing.
It is not like your ordinary axial thrust bearing, the races run in grooves and the balls in the plastic cage have to be squeezed together to get them into the groove, then they expand out into the groove. I don't think you can do this with the bearing inner. You will have to see if you can get the bearing back together and judge if any damage to the side sealing plate lips. I would recommend changing the bearing once you have got this far.
The other problem you will now have is, how to get the shaft/wheel flange back in through the bearing
?
Just driving it back in with wood block and hammer idea will merely dislodge and push out the other side of the inner part of the centre of the bearing. So you have to keep the bearing centre in place.
The Vx tool for the job is a mandrel that screws onto the end of the drive shaft, and is threaded so that with a suitable piece of tube and washers etc, it pulls the shaft back in by pushing on the bearing inner on the drive shaft side.
The threaded portion of the shaft doesn't come through the bearing enough to get the nut on to use that to pull it back in before it starts to push the bearing inner out of place.
The ideal way is to buy a new drive flange holding nut, and get a piece of 12mm X 150mm long studding welded to it.
Then with a short piece of 2" water pipe over it, to push on the bearing inner, and a big washer, you pull the shaft back into the bearing.
I used this for the second wheel bearing change that I had to do. Works a treat.
However, if that isn't practical, I did the first bearing change this way.
Get two pieces of stout 1 1/2" angle iron about 15" long, 2 pieces of app 12 mm studding again 12 to 15" long and nuts etc, and piece of 2" water pipe 4" long. Drill holes in angle iron just just over the diameter of the brake back plate apart, so that studding can span the plate.
Arrange all this contraption so that the wheel drive shaft is just entering the bearing, and the 2" tube is lined up over the centre of the bearing on the inner side, all so that by tightening the nuts on the studding equally in turn it pushes the wheel flange shaft through the bearing, the piece of pipe allows it to go right through.
It sounds and looks very heath Robison I know, you will probably need a hand to get it all lined up before you get some weight on the nuts, but it does the job without any hammers and damage to the bearing.
If you decide to change the bearing at the same time (£47.00 from Europarts) PM me and I'll explain removing the bearing hopefully with minimum fuss.
HTH
Roger
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Topic: backing plate help (Read 1034 times)