OK. Seen as no one has posted any pictures of the '06 Superduty hubs yet, I've taken some to share here.
Here's the hub with the brake caliper, bracket and rotor already removed.
This is the auto hub. Just remove the three torx head screws with a T27 size tool, crack the seal with either a tap with a chisel or lever against a wheel stud with a pry bar. Then gently wiggle it out, don't force it.
This is the circlip that has to be removed......
Normal sized pliers won't do at all! You'll need the bigger ones, they're 320mm long and have 3mm tips. When you get them, grind the ends of the tips so that they are flat when they are about 25mm apart. This helps to get a better grip. I'd also suggest countersinking the backside of the circlip holes so the pliers grip even easier next time you have to remove them.
Even then, they'll open the circlip fine but it's still virtually impossible to pull the circlip out. So I loosened the four nuts on the hub studs. They are flanged so you can then hit it with an impact socket and crack the hub out a little. No need to damage any studs. I then knocked some wood behind the uni-joint and pushed the hub out of the knuckle a few mm and held it there with the chisels and then removed the wood. Also be careful not to damage the heat shield, it's sandwiched between the hub and knuckle.This gets the axle trying to pull out of the hub so when you open the circlip, it should help getting it out of it's groove. Much easier!
They hub should come out easy enough now.
There's a normal sealed ball bearing instead of a needle bearing. Should be much more reliable, and easy enough to replace by removing the other circlip.
With the hub out, the massive knuckle seal is revealed.
The inner side of it is completely protected by this metal shield. The workshop manual says to just pound it out with a drift....... But this would destroy it well and truly. And with all the rubber in the seal, it just seemed to bounce right back at you, doing nothing but denting the metal shield.
This is the pathetic axle tube seal. No protection whatsoever. I doubt it would keep water out at all.
So I made my own knuckle seal puller. Consists of a peice of 3" angle, 12" long, with a 2.5" hole in the centre, 0.5" holes an inch from the ends. And a flat bar 1.5" wide by 3/8" thick, 12" long, same holes at the ends. And two bits of threaded rod to pull them together. Set one rod under the steering arm, not over as in the photo.
This put some real force on it and pulled it out a treat.
I'm yet to get the seal off the axle shaft, but it looks like I'll need to pull it using a bearing separator under the metal flange. I'll update this when I get to it.
Turns out the metal shield was two pieces, and the inner part has dished from pushing the knuckle seal out. I don't think it will affect the function of the seal, but it won't protect as well and I'll try to flatten it out again before re-installing. I think the seal itself is ok and could be reused, but I'll still replace it. [I'll try to pull the other side out without punching on it first and hopefully it won't dish so much. Let you know tomorrow....]
I should add, I won't be re-assembling this for quite some time, but I will update this when I can.
RCV Supertourer 6.0 V8 TDi.
