PAJ Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 (edited) Damn damn damn... While using my favorite persuader to bang the axle out of the Rt rear spindle on my 99' OBW I glanced off a smidge and hit a lug which came loose and of course broke the Aluminum ABS tone wheel behind it into 3 pieces. Naturally right after that the axle literally fell off of the spindle. There doesn't seem to be any easy way to replace the tone wheel with the one I took off of the original hub that I dissected. Any ideas other than smacking the hub out and then having it pressed back in at a shop or going back to the yard and pulling off another assembly? I was going to try and saw it in two and just bolt it on the spindle. Any comments or alternate schemes??? Tankz. Edited November 12, 2013 by PAJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 Tone wheel has to be bolted to the hub before its pressed into the bearing, unfortunately. The ring is slightly magnetic (it is steel/iron) so any cuts through the ring will make an odd magnetic field and distort the reading from the wheel sensor. Removing the hub will destroy the wheel bearing in the process. No real way around that. Cheapest way would be to get a junkyard knuckle and bolt it on. If you think that bearing might have been on the verge of going bad you could yank the hub out of that one and replace the bearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RallyKeith Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 Tone wheel has to be bolted to the hub before its pressed into the bearing, unfortunately. The ring is slightly magnetic (it is steel/iron) so any cuts through the ring will make an odd magnetic field and distort the reading from the wheel sensor. Removing the hub will destroy the wheel bearing in the process. No real way around that. Cheapest way would be to get a junkyard knuckle and bolt it on. If you think that bearing might have been on the verge of going bad you could yank the hub out of that one and replace the bearing. Sorry, but the tone wheel being magnetic in any way shape or form is completely false. The ABS sensors are inductive proximity sensors and they purely sense the presence or lack of metal, hence why it's notched the way it is. Just cut the tone wheel in two relatively adjacent low spots. I've done it on three different cars now with absolutely no issues. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 It's not magnetic in a sense that it will stick to your refrigerator door, but just enough to hold small iron filings. The speed sensor is a simple magnetic pickup, which requires a ferrous (iron) material to pass by the end of the sensor in order to induce a change in the magnetic field and create a current. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 i would attempt what rally keith said - just try to fab it together and roll. i've looked at them before and thought i would try the same thing if it ever happened to me - fasten the bits together with some kind of bracket or something. i had one to replace one time i think, because i remember considering this, but i think the wheel bearing ended up being bad so had to do the whole thing anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 (edited) I've cut them in half and bolted them on before. It has worked for me, just make sure you get it properly centered. Then I filled the gaps with JB weld, and it worked fine... I, too, was worried about a distorted magnetic field. Because instead of being a ring it's now two semi-circles. But it amazingly worked. Figured I had nothing to lose by trying. Edited November 13, 2013 by 987687 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAJ Posted November 13, 2013 Author Share Posted November 13, 2013 Excellent advice dudes. I found that my replacement was already cracked in a fortuitious spot so the hatchet job was half done before I started. Dab a little Pig Putty behind the joints and let it harden overnight....... I'll bolt the beast back together this evening and see how she flies. Stay tuned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAJ Posted November 14, 2013 Author Share Posted November 14, 2013 Jumpin Jehosephat! Now when I put the axle back into the rear it won't lock into the snap ring! It's still in the groove but I wonder if it got damaged somehow. I'm going to see how it'll work with it like that. what's the worst that can happen??? Ponderous man ponderous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 You mean the axle won't snap far enough into the rear diff? Sometimes you kinda have to use a bit of force to persuade the axle to snap back into the diff. Don't run it with the axle half out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Y Don't run it with the axle half out. indeed! definitely get it seated, probably just being stubborn, are you able to push evenly and straight on with everything lined up square? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 They are cast but have been able to gentaly weld them back togther if cracked have a pile of good ones here i save those Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAJ Posted November 16, 2013 Author Share Posted November 16, 2013 thanks for the advice. I'll let ya know how it works out when I get the damn axle to lock back in place. (see my "axle follies" post) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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