Is there any trick to getting out a front wheel bearing that is stuck to the steering knuckle other than heat.
Sort of. Mine was expanded by rust and married to the knuckle, never to be separated by lawyers nor mere mortals.
I used a ball joint tool, the kind that has a fork on the bottom and a jaw on top to push on the stud and a bolt to apply pressure to pop all 3 tapers without damaging the boots or the studs (use your favorite method) so you can remove the entire knuckle. Now you can exceed mere mortals by pressing the stupid thing out on a hydraulic press.
I tried the big hammer on the back of the flange approach but it just laughed at me. Heat, too, which I think it liked because it was winter. Maybe somebody here has a trickier trick, I resorted to brute force.
i had one welded to the spindle from friction years ago.
I got it off by using a dremmel tool with a small cut-off wheel cut 3/4 through the inner ring on two sides and then split the ring with a cold chisel and hammer. AS you cut the wheel will become smaller in diameter and the smaller diameter can get closer to the back edge of the bearing ring.
I think I may have stacked two cut-off wheels on the arbor to get a wider cut. If you mar up the spindle slightly it can be cleaned up with a file, but try your best not to mar the spindle.
Yosemite
A shop with a good size hydraulic press and the proper fixtures should be willing to press this out for very few dollars. They do this all the time.
Or, a regular 30 tom hydraulic press from Harbor Freight Tools will do all but the toughest bearings. I know this might initiate a debate about HF tools, but I think much of the debate will be about the press at its absolute limits, and I doubt you’ll need to push the press to it limits. Most bearings will come out with even a 10 ton press.
Get a full face shield when you do this, just in case anything shatters. I get the willies when I see someone operate a press without a face shield. Stuff happens. “Shatter” can also be spelled “shrapnel”. It’s rare, but it does happen.
A slide hammer with a hub adapter should be able to pull a rusty hub and bearing out, it isn’t pressed in.
This vehicle has a sealed hub, secured to the knuckle with 3 bolts
I sprayed some penetrating oil on it, and haven’t got back to it yet. I have the 3 bolts out it’s just that the inch or so of hub appears to be stuck inside the knuckle. I may have to press it out after all, heat doesn’t seem to help.
One guy’s solution:
Thanks for the video. I knocked out a wheel stud and used a pully puller without the arms. I put the base behind the hub cranked it out and it popped loose immediately.
You da man! Happy motoring.
A tip of the hat to you. And sincere thanks for letting us know.
I just knew some clever mechanic had come up with a quicker fix somewhere.
I love YouTube, it has saved me a lot of extra work a number of times over the last few years.