Removing front wheel hub assembly
 

I need to remove my front wheel hub assembly tonight to replace a backing plate for my brake duct setup. So far, removing that wheel hub assembly is the hardest thing I've ever done to a car. That includes removing the entire drivetrain from my Vette. Problem was, that damn wheel hub just wouldn't separate from the mount. It took a ridiculous amount of effort and I even broke tools attempting it. I'm confident I'm probably making it harder than it should be.

There has to be an easier way. What do you guys do and what do you suggest?

This photo makes it look so easy, but it seemed as if my hubs were literally welded to the surfaces.

http://image.superstreetonline.com/f...-rotor-removal

I'm betting you drove the car during winter... Rust is a bitch.

Including jacking up the car, removing the wheels, and removing the brakes, the front hubs took me about 15 minutes each side max.

It's about as easy as it gets. Once you remove the 4x 14mm bolts in the back, just tap the side of the hub with a hammer.

-alex

pb blaster and a rubber mallet is your friend.

Yes, car is driven during the winter.

Tapping lightly on the back of the aluminum portion of the hub did absolutely nothing last time. I would have had to really hit it hard to get it to budge. I'm worried doing that would damage the wheel bearings.

Are you guys suggesting really putting my arm into it and hitting the hub hard from the back? A friend suggested back the screws out about 1/8" or so and hitting those with a hammer. At least if that got it to move, I'd have a surface to pry on from the front.

Interesting that they come off so easy for everyone else. Lovely Iowa winters. I can't even get a brake rotor off without using a bolt on the face of the rotor from the back side and forcing it off. Rubber mallets, ballpeen hammers, and 4lb dead blow hammers had no affect. :popcorn:

Side. Hammer the side of the hub.

Didn't work last time either. Just ended up chipping/denting the sides of the hub. Didn't even budge a millimeter. In fact, I stopped hitting it there because it was actually starting to deform the threaded bolt hole.

Backing the screws out a little from the back of the hub and whacking those with a hammer did the trick. It was stubborn as hell and didn't want to come out, but it slowly walked out. Going to spend some time cleaning the parts and coating the surfaces in anti-seize before putting it back together again.

For those of you lucky folks that don't have to endure an Iowa winter...here's what it does. Keep in mind I had this apart when I installed the ducting for Sebring in January. I had these parts so clean you could eat off them. So this is 4 months on the car, and maybe 1-1.5 months of a winter.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps9lzptvzi.jpg

:bonk: