Removal of drive shaft inner hub.

[jakesmig]

Hi folks,
I'm trying to change a leaky seal on the diff output shaft and am having difficulty removing the drive shaft hub.
Nuts loose and the puller is on tight but the hub isn't budging even with a hit with a hammer.
Is the solution a bigger hammer or what?

Rgds,

John.

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[Andrew S]

I believe I am correct when I say that the flange and shaft come out as one from the diff housing. Where you have the 4 bolts, it all comes away there so with the 4 bolts undo, the shaft and flange will just come away and you will see the seal in the housing. Undo the bolts and gently tap upwards on the flange and it will come off.

Anyone, please correct me if I am wrong.

Don't use a large hammer !

[jakesmig]

Andrew,
Thanks for that, took off assembly, but it doesn't just pull apart.
The OM Manual advises you to "remove nyloc nut and plain washer from shaft. Withdraw driving flange, key and oil seal housing", implying they should pull off the shaft without undue force.
I'm not adverse to applying force, I've a 12T press which i'll use if needed, all I need is an indication that it is not unusual for these flanges to 'stick' and subsequently need a fair amount of force to shift them.

John.

[stagmuffin]

on average it takes about 10 tons of direct pressure to separate these two buggers the book is lovely is it not !! you will need special saver tools to separate them I made a disc which bolts to the hub face and a long nut /thread protector to save the shaft threaded end or these get bent and buggered .look in my profile albums you will see the tools set up on a shaft assy.
steve

[jakesmig]

Thanks Steve, thought it may come to this. Nothing seems simple on these things.

John.

[Staggard]

A Spanish mechanic put mine on his press for me, when he was swinging on the bar, ( not a small lad either) with me saying "let's try a bit of heat " but no he goes to get a long piece of tube to give him a bit more leverage It didn't half go bang when the flange broke in to two halves, but true to his word he did get it off

[Bob Heritage]

]A Spanish mechanic put mine on his press for me, when he was swinging on the bar,[/B] ( not a small lad either) with me saying "let's try a bit of heat " but no he goes to get a long piece of tube to give him a bit more leverage It didn't half go bang when the flange broke in to two halves, but true to his word he did get it off

Bet that made your eyes water

[jakesmig]

Heating it to any worthwhile degree would damage the case hardening on the shaft which, may lead to future failure so wouldn't go there.
Tried for 3 hours using 12 ton press, got nowhere, although didn't crank up the press fully. Off to a local Engineering shop to let them do it, rather they risked their fingers than me.
Yet another flaw in the pile of c**** that goes into making a BL car.

[richardthestag]

In Land Rover circles 12 tonnes is a tickle. to press bushes out often have to resort to 20! Get some load on the part and hit it with a hammer.

I needed a 15 tonne fly press to pop the rear axle a-frame ball joint into place on my Range Rover. Thankfully my neighbour has a man cave full of such stuff.

[Marco Polo]

I've separated a few inner hubs by applying force from a 3 jaw puller and then dropping the whole assembly on to the floor, rough, I know but it needs a decent shock to separate the taper. Just make sure that you don't have any thing precious or expensive nearby, it does separate with a bit of a bang!
Good luck,
Raoul

[Staggard]

Heating it to any worthwhile degree would damage the case hardening on the shaft which, may lead to future failure so wouldn't go there.
Tried for 3 hours using 12 ton press, got nowhere, although didn't crank up the press fully. Off to a local Engineering shop to let them do it, rather they risked their fingers than me.
Yet another flaw in the pile of c**** that goes into making a BL car.

You better make sure the engineering shop dont put any heat on it then. We used to do them like that all the time back in the 70's my boss told me to do it I allway thought he didn't know what he was doing, never had one come back though perhaps that's why

[stagmuffin]

I've separated a few inner hubs by applying force from a 3 jaw puller and then dropping the whole assembly on to the floor, rough, I know but it needs a decent shock to separate the taper. Just make sure that you don't have any thing precious or expensive nearby, it does separate with a bit of a bang!
Good luck,
Raoul

jeez now im getting worried about flying ! wish you said nowt .........................lol

[jakesmig]

You better make sure the engineering shop dont put any heat on it then. We used to do them like that all the time back in the 70's my boss told me to do it I allway thought he didn't know what he was doing, never had one come back though perhaps that's why

40 odd years ago we had an old hay cutter we used with a T20 Fergie to cut Ragwort in our fields, but because it wasn't cutting a dense crop it shook itself to bits. As a cheap replacement we built a 'flail' cutter, by welding an A frame onto an old rear axle which had the input facing down, and onto the flange we bolted a circular steel sheet which had triangular hay cutter blades attached. As it was towed along the blade turned, cutting whatever it hit, lethal but brilliant. Downside was weight of blade used to gradually loosen the flange on the nut, which we eventually welded on to the shaft. this affected the hardening and the shaft sheared and the blade took off spectacularly, hence my remark regarding adding heat.
Mark 2 cutter utilised chains instead which worked much better.

[Staggard]

40 odd years ago we had an old hay cutter we used with a T20 Fergie to cut Ragwort in our fields, but because it wasn't cutting a dense crop it shook itself to bits. As a cheap replacement we built a 'flail' cutter, by welding an A frame onto an old rear axle which had the input facing down, and onto the flange we bolted a circular steel sheet which had triangular hay cutter blades attached. As it was towed along the blade turned, cutting whatever it hit, lethal but brilliant. Downside was weight of blade used to gradually loosen the flange on the nut, which we eventually welded on to the shaft. this affected the hardening and the shaft sheared and the blade took off spectacularly, hence my remark regarding adding heat.
Mark 2 cutter utilised chains instead which worked much better.

AH yes sir but there's heat and there's HEAT

[Stagsongas]

I've just completed exactly that job, part of a larger rear end job that I'll write up later.

I have a 15 Tonne press (the alleged upper limit) but above 12 T the bench girder begins to flex. I left it max'd out all night, it had no effect. I didn't use heat as I wanted to avoid annealing anything. The firm that did my rear driveshafts were very kind and pressed them apart for me - but they had to use over 20T. Tapers, especially acute angle tapers can be very tough to break the joint and they go with a hell of a BANG!

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My output shaft oils seals were so crisp and brittle you could snap bits off them, and thankfully the Brother's parts I'd bought when I first got the car where not only the correct size but better made. I think the old seals where the originals. One of the diff. output bearings was noisy so I replaced both - £49 the pair from my bearing supplier, and equal if not better quality to the orginals, but it seems bearings are now attracting some kind of 'old imperial size' tax.

We finally got a day out in the car yesterday although we had it a year now (more on that later) but I can say the rear end was transformed, much quieter. I can't say I thought it was noisy in the first place, but never having driven a Stag before this one, how would I know?

Into the bargain, and as result of the rest of the work done, I now have a reinforced quill housing, the diff rear cover gasket has been replaced, my pin has now been jiggled, all new shaft joints including the sliding parts have been fitted and the Stag Twitch has gone, for now at least. Let's see if the diff. oil leaks have gone with it....!

Regards

Steve