Wizard Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 My rear hub is stuck on my 96 Subaru legacy on both sides. I heard my bearings start to go so I thought I would do the bearings my self. I watched this video by Eric the car guy and followed what he did. https://youtu.be/w7rYxh0XWuA I got to the step where I have to use a slide hammer to get my hub out of the bearing. I pounded for at least an hour with it it budging. I also tried to push on the CV axel with the bolt that comes with the hub tamer. If I have to take the e brakes off I think that will be beyond what I can do/am willing to do. I have a 5 lb side hammer. Is that too light and that's why I can't get them off? That doesn't make sense though because I used the impact driver on the hub tamer bolt against the CV axel and that didn't work. Anybody have any ideas or run into this problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 Are you in the rust belt? If so there’s half your problem. One that I did for a mate years ago we pulled the whole hub/knuckle off the vehicle and used a press on the bearings. The drive shaft *should* slide out of the hub no issues. I was able to remove the hub from the knuckle with a pin punch and small mallet, that was easy. Getting the bearing casing out of the knuckle required a press. Once that was out, fitting it all back together was the easy bit. Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 No Im not in the rust belt. I'm in northern California. The axel moves freely back and forth in the splined part of the hub. Something that I thought of is that I put Forester struts on about 10k or 12k miles back. The Forester struts give about an extra inch or two of lift and makes the suspension really stiff. Do the larger struts possibly have anything to do with this? Something else I haven't tried is removing the long knuckle bolt that usually gets rusted out when cars drive in the rust belt. Then trying to shove the axel out and using the cup and plate press kit I have to remove the hub. That doesn't really make sense though because I would have to have a cup bigger than the hub around the lug nut bolt surface to press it out against. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 the only way I got an axle out of my daughter's Impala hub was a little heat and penetrating fluid - after much force with 3 jaw puller pushing on the axle and an impact tightening it and a big hammer, etc. 20 seconds of propane at 6 and 12 o'clock. didn't car about any rubber as everything was getting replaced anyway. Becareful not to start a fire. car was rust free too. My guess is, there's enough moisture can condense or wick? on the splines over the years to make rust due to limited chance of drying out the tight space? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocei77 Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 The e brake is held on by a u clip on the back side where it goes into the bracket. Loosen all the interfering bolts and the 4 14mm that hold the hub on. Once all that is loose the hammer will knock it loose and it will basically fall off. You will find it extremely hard to press a new bearing on the car. If all this is too much pay someone to replace the whole spindle. O. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 I've had to replace several hubs and axles as the old one would not come out. PB Blaster, Heat, BFH. No luck, even after having the hub off the car I could not beat it out. So when I go to the junk yards in CO, the one thing I always check is to see if the axle move freely inside the hub spline. The long hub bolt can also rust inside the bushings making it almost impossible to get out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 Have you removed the CV shaft from the diff before trying to remove it from the hub centre? If not, do this first and it involves removing that big long bolt for the two lower control rods/arms to pull the whole knuckle assembly away from the diff for the driveshaft to pull out of the diff or slide off the stub axle. This should allow the shaft to slide out of the hub, then you can get to dealing with the knuckle and the bearings (best to remove from the vehicle and deal with it in a press). Cheers Bennie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNY_Dave Posted June 7, 2021 Share Posted June 7, 2021 I had a little hub puller but no slide hammer, so I bought a stout threaded rod with washers and nuts and bought 4 5lb barbell weights to go on the threaded rod. I literally had to be careful I didn't yank the car off the jackstands. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike104 Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 I did this on my 2003 Forester and the only way I could get it off was to cut the long bolt and burn out the rubber bushings in the knuckle. Since I needed it for a daily driver I splurged and bought two new knuckles, long bolt, two rubber bushings as well as a new bearing, hub and seals. Once I got the old stuff out it was a matter of just putting everything back together. I used the Harbor Freight wheel bearing installation tool to put the new bearings in. May not work for you but it's how I did it after watching many videos and expected a PITA time. Even using all new parts it was still a pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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