[Jay]

A front wheel bearing went out on my 2001 Surburban 1500 4x4. It's a sealed bearing, which means you have to replace the entire bearing/hub assembly. $150 just for the part. :crybaby:

Here's the problem: All the bolts are out, I'm able to slide the axle splines freely (remember, 4x4), but the damn hub is stuck like it's welded to the steering knuckle.

Anybody ever deal with this before? Any suggesitons? I've soaked it overnight with WD40 and it's no better. I beat the living snot out of it with a 5# dead blow hammer (and destroyed the hammer). The only thing I can think of now is to heat the knuckle with a torch and hope it expands enough to release the hub. There's no room to stick a tie rod separator (pickle fork) between them.

I'm stumped, and I've got to get back on the road. It'll take all of 5 minutes once I get the stupid thing loose.

 

[Heathen 730]

Use a big hammer and beat on the back side of the hub flange, the part that the wheel studs are pressed in. Hit it a few times on the top, the sides, and the bottom to sorta walk it out of the knuckle. They are tough to get out sometimes, thats how we do it at the shop. When you get it out, clean the inside of the knuckle where the bearing goes. I even apply a little grease to the area to make it easy for the next time it needs to come out.

 

[Jay]

Well, that's exacty what I did for a couple hours last night and it didn't budge. Tonight I finally went nuts and put an air chisel between the hub and the dust shield. Popped it right out! It boogered up the dust shield a little bit, but not bad enough to bother me. If I'd ad a chisel I didn't care about, I would have sharpened the tip a little and I think it would have slid in-between with less damage to the dust shield.

I did clean up the mating surface with emery cloth and put a thin coat of anti-sieze compound on it. It's disturbing how much rust had built up.