In my attempt to remove the auto locking hub on my 2000 F-350 4x4, I found that it would not slide out. I removed the retaing clip and the hub should of be able to come out with a couple wiggles, it seems to have seized inside the hub. I tapped it with a rubber mallet on all sides. Any thoughts as to other alternative methods of removing the hub locker ? Thanks

 

Try some penetrating lubricant, like PB Blaster. Soak them up and let then sit a while.

Don't be gentle with the rubber mallet. Whack them good, on the sided and on the face. You may want to slide a chunk of wood on the face prior to smacking it.

Oh, and swear at them.

 

I had one that was frozen on there too when I first bought my truck. One side came off easy and the other was pure evil. I kept "tapping" around the circumfrence with a rubber mallet and slowly worked it off. Took me about 2 hours.

 

PB all the way. Spray it a few times throughout the evening and then again the next morning. Should come right out..

 

I had this same problem with one of mine. Just kept hitting it with the rubber mallot and tugging on it.

Careful though, when mine let go, i wasn't ready for it and i landed on my a$$ and let out a very bad series of words. The neighbor playing in her yard with her 6 year old wasn't too apreciative.

 

Yeah I love PB Blaster, but it seems like it wont even reach where I think its seized. You see about 7 months ago I was offroading and I got stuck in a deep water hole and submerged my 40" super swampers for about 45 min. I guess I should have taken the hub lockers out sooner rather than later. When I spin the wheel it seems to be stuck in the locked position even though I switch it to auto. when I spin the wheel the axle shaft spins. Im thinking I will drive it around and get the hub real hot and see if anything improves and I will keep spraying the PB blaster. Does anyone think hitting the axle outward where the inner and outer are connected would help or would thank be a waste of energy?

This is what it looked like...

 

the axle will just hit on the wheel bearing and wont really help

 

Just keep at it with the PB Blaster and some stronger language.It will eventually come free.

 

Hey Fellas, well im posting this response to let you all know that today was the day the hub lock finally came off. Yup, all I needed was a one friday afternoon and a couple of my buddies and we were at it. Ok so I used PB blaster at least on 5 different days. I would spray it and drive it for a while and when I would park, I would check to feel if it was getting hot. I would attempt to pull it out and nothing. So today I took off the wheel and hit it with a mallot and rotated the rotor 1/4 turn at a time and hit it again. I kept doing this for about 50 smacks. I seen the hub locker shifting everytime i hit it, but I think i was hitting it too hard in that it would lodge itself after the hard hit. So I held the bottom of the hub locker in one hand pulling outward and with the other hand I would lightly tap the top portion of the hub lock and millimeter by millimeter I began to see the hub lock moving outward. Thanks guys for all your advise and thanks to my buddies for helping me out too. here are some pics of what I found inside, Could anyone tell me if I can purchase the bearing and the gear that the bearing wraps around? the bearing is missing some of the rollers and were crumbled up into dust inside the hub and it left some scored marks on the gear shaft that it runs on. ................................ .................................................. .................................................. . [/P]
[P][/P]
[P][/P]

 

I had the same problem last summer and i made myself a tool 2 4 inch clamps and a piece of 4 inch pipe than i cut some slots all around then slide over hub put clamps on thenmade a home made puller came off fairly easy when on line and seen the tool that is made for that task hope this helps!

 

Hey i hate to be the bearer of bad news but here goes..... If the hub is that corroded from sitting in water you might have to do more than just change the hub. The hub has a set of centering needle bearings in it and the back side of the wheelbearing housing also has a set. These needle bearings are there to help center and support the inside outer axle stub shaft. The one behind the wheel bearing hub might be toast as well. If you replaces it now it might prevent the stub shaft from getting destroyed from the ruined bearing. Check out guzzles 60k bearing lube. Hope that helps!
FYI I would also check the inner u joint and wheel bearing hub assy while i was in there too

 

^^^^^^^
What rob said!

 

Anybody got any other solutions. I tried the hammer and penetrating spray and got the passengers side out but the drivers is really stuck, won't even wiggle when I hit it. Its so tight that while I was hitting it the hub broke apart. Im thinking I might have to heat it up, I just dont have a torch.

 

This is especially for bigblue61. Did you ever fix your hub? I have exactly the same issue. Was hoping for some good advice before I go into panic mode! Also great info on this site. Thanks in advanced.

 

Are you referring to the auto locking hub (small black center hub with the auto/lock position) or the main hub bolted to the knuckle?

I've always been able to get the auto locking hub off with a mallet and patience. Even this last time when my needle bearing gave out and spit parts all over and jammed up everything I was able to get the center hub out. It took about 45 minutes but it came off.

The hub is a sealed unit that should come off when you undo the 4 nuts holding it onto the knuckle (assuming you've removed all other interference up to that point). The hub should slide off the axle and into your waiting arms. My last foray was due to binding which was caused (as I later found out) by my needle bearing retiring itself all over the inside of the hub. It jammed the axle and put bits and pieces everywhere. I used a large 2 jaw puller, a 1/2" breaker bar and a lot of elbow grease and muscled the hub out of the knuckle and off the axle. As expensive as they are, the hubs are a sealed unit and I don't know of anybody that refurbishes them. When mine go bad, they hit the trash and I install a new one. I've used the 2 jaw tactic every time I pull the hub off (usually with less effort) and have been successful every time (and I haven't incurred any additional damage to the components).