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Whats next?
Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2025 10:44 pm
by 1925 Touring
I was removing my front hub bearing cups, the large one came out alright, but I had quite the time removing the outer cup. It had a good amount of small pits in spots. I ended up using a hub puller that I temporarily dissassembled to make fit in the hole to pull it out. I heated the hub up and quenched with water to help release it. It finally came free, and came out pretty straight, but it cracked the threads in the process. The old race is now a looser fit, I haven't tested the new race for fitment yet, since it hasn't arrived. Is something like this useable as is, repairable or should I find a different hub?
Thanks.
Re: Whats next?
Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2025 11:30 pm
by DHort
In the future I suggest you try another method or punch them out from the other side.
I would get a new hub. There are a lot of available hubs out there.
Re: Whats next?
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 6:24 am
by Jerry VanOoteghem
You'll need to source another hub. In the future, put the torch away.
Re: Whats next?
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 8:48 am
by John.Zibell
Lang's has both used and new front hubs for wood wheels listed as available.
Re: Whats next?
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 9:17 am
by Mark Nunn
When you don't plan to reuse the old cup, run a bead with a mig welder on the face of the race. It will cause the cup to shrink. You don't heat the hub.
Re: Whats next?
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 4:23 pm
by 1925 Touring
DHort wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2025 11:30 pm
In the future I suggest you try another method or punch them out from the other side.
I would get a new hub. There are a lot of available hubs out there.
I did try to get to the bearing with a punch. I could get to one side, but not the other, due to the way my hub was machined, even with the slot cut.
Thanks all for the imput. I will source a new hub and not heat it to remove the cups. Lesson learned the hard way.
Re: Whats next?
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 8:27 pm
by DHort
Looks like a couple of people are selling hubs in the classified. You are in luck.
Re: Whats next?
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 9:01 pm
by dobro1956
When you heated the hub, it expanded outward and inward. Then when you quenched it with water it will shrink more than it was before you started. Since it is a double-sided surface similar to a pipe, the outside diameter gets smaller, and the inside diameter gets bigger due to the wall thickness shrinking from two different directions. That is why the old race is now loose. The new race will also be loose, maybe not as loose as the old one but still too loose to work. And since it is cracked the old hub is now unusable. The best way to remove a stuck race is weld a quick bead around the inside of it. when it cools it will usually fall out. The weld bead when it cools shrinks, also causing the race to shrink with it. The weld bead will not get the hub hot enough to hurt it as long as you let it cool naturally.
Re: Whats next?
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 9:13 pm
by Mark Chaffin
I agree with the above comment. Run a bead on the center of the race and it will fall right out. Works every time without risking damage to the very thin walls of a front hub. When driving the races out, you will likely crack the hub where it is threaded 98% of the time. Every time.
Re: Whats next?
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:15 pm
by 1925 Touring
dobro1956 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 9:01 pm
When you heated the hub, it expanded outward and inward. Then when you quenched it with water it will shrink more than it was before you started. Since it is a double-sided surface similar to a pipe, the outside diameter gets smaller, and the inside diameter gets bigger due to the wall thickness shrinking from two different directions. That is why the old race is now loose. The new race will also be loose, maybe not as loose as the old one but still too loose to work. And since it is cracked the old hub is now unusable. The best way to remove a stuck race is weld a quick bead around the inside of it. when it cools it will usually fall out. The weld bead when it cools shrinks, also causing the race to shrink with it. The weld bead will not get the hub hot enough to hurt it as long as you let it cool naturally.
Thank you for the explanation. It makes more sense to me on what happened. I definitely won't heat them anymore!