Due to a health issue, the fuel tank/ pump reassembly is on hold.... so while the windshield guy was here doing his thing, I decided to pull the auto hubs and clean them up and regrease them..
removed big clip, took one out, removed inner c clip... and the center won't come out of the outer part. Youtube vids I am following... guy said it was really hard to get it apart... he finally did, but didn't show how, just alot of prying and beating he said.

Am I missing another clip to remove? Or do I just need to soak them in something overnight? Will light heating them with my heat gun ruin the plastic part in there?
Guessing old cruddy grease has like a stiction type issue holding it in. Kinda like when 2 5galkon buckets get stuck together.

And Yes I know I should buy the conversion kit and manual hubs... but not in the budget right now...

thanks for any help you can give me

 

I assume you're trying to remove the splined part there, my idea, if you think it's grease, spray some penetrating oil, and use something to grip it, like pliers, or spine it onto the shaft and if you can use that to wiggle it free

 

Trying to get the 3 legged center out of the big hub... so far, tried prying with 2 screw drivers,, having it upside down and shock it with hammer. have filled it a few times with Brake kleen and engine degreaser... vids show it after he gets it apart and I don't see any more clips to remove...
in vid he does say I will question my sanity...

 

Can you link vid here, so we can look it over?
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Also, can you push anything in and twist it? Like a spring or something?

 

Here’s a few pics for you.

Once you get the circlip out from the center, it just needs to be lined up to pull out. There are two sets of splines in the outer hub portion, and three sets on the inner portion. Once they line up properly it will just slide out. It will probably come partially, then line up the others, and it will come out.. in stages.

Once it’s out, there is a bearing on the inner end of inner portion - it’s what holds against the circlip and holds it all together. There is also a wave spring in the outer hub part. You can see it in the last pic, if not you will understand / see when you get them separated.


Internal circlip.








Wave spring

 

Here is vid...

I actually got it apart after going nuclear on it...
Heat? No go
Hammer tapping? No go
prying with screwdrivers? No go

Soaked in brake kleenex, engine degreaser, gasoline? No go.... but may have helped in final success.

I got it by using air hammer under the 3 lugs, while holding hub in between my feet.
There is no other clip holding it in.
I don't think I damaged it scratching it up with air hammer, and I figured I would probably end up snapping off a lug, but they held.
if I snapped it off or cracked it, I would have been able to justify to Mrs. We needed new manual hubs


I am going to clean this all up, and repack it with grease and do same at spindle end... then do other side....
These hubs worked, but they seemed to be temperamental going in to or out of 4x4, I had to rock forward or backward, to get then to lock or unlock.
I am chasing down what feels to be a dragging feeling as I put truck in drive and go to pull away.
Possibly these hubs. I Gotta check to see if a caliper or rear shoes are dragging next.

Hopefully, this thread will help someone else, trying to get these hubs apart.

It will get manual hubs when I decide to do the spindle rebuild or need new rotors.

 

That could be why they were hard to get locked and unlocked. There is only supposed to be a thin/ light coating of grease.

 

LOL thanks. In the vid he packed them like overstuffed cream filled cupcakes and had a tower of grease on top...
yes the old dirty grease was pretty packed in there..

I used my high temp waterproof grease I use to grease dirtbike wheel bearings, put a good coating on everything, so not light coating, but definitely not over stuffed cupcake...
I have only had truck 2 weeks, and I am pretty sure as I go over it all, the wheel bearings and spindles will need to come apart again and be redone especially if I decide to put new rotors on it. More worried about calipers, they look rough.

 

You are supposed to use the special automatic hub grease in the hubs and wheel bearing grease in the wheel bearings
Hopefully your automatic hub works when you are done

 

Special automatic hub grease? Never heard of it and I worked at a Ford dealership for several years in the 90’s. Do you know the Ford part number or what it is called so I can look it up?

 

you beat me to it, was gonna ask same question.
I have been using the Maxima blue stuff on everything including the manual hubs on my '17 F250.
That part number would be great to have, as I know these hubs are coming out again at somepoint In the near future as I go through this truck.

 

Well, those automatic hubs came out in 1981 I believe
This is the grease Ford made us use at the dealer back in the day
Charged a tube out on every hub pack for years and years, still have a few tubes
Have fun

 

I did go out and get a tube of the Moly Lithium and will re-do the 2 hub and do 2nd one with it... light coating.

The one question I still have is,
Once I take the hub body out of the hole, the ring it seats against inside, I am able to spin that left and right with a screwdriver.... is that ring supposed to be tight? Or move like that? If I understand it right there is a bigger nut behind it that is tight to hold bearing and stuff in. ( this ring i think is the one that gets replaced with the 3 piece rings when i convert to manual hubs)

 

It's supposed to be loose and spin like that
That grease should work

 

Thank you for the info