It reads like a novel! Really!
Jerry
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike & Christine Trettin" <mtrettin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2002 4:33 PM
Subject: IML: The Definitive Tapered Hub/Axle Nightmare
> This topic comes up fairly frequently when discussing fifties and early
> sixties Imperials, and Square D just cited this issue as one reason he's
> passing on a 1960 model, but I've neither experienced nor read about one
> quite THIS bad before, so let me share my recent experience with you:
>
> 1. In 1992 I bought a 1956 Imperial, a car which had sat since 1971; soon
> thereafter set out to do a brake job, especially since left rear wheel
> cylinder leaked a little.
> 2. Noticed at that time that both rear axle threads were screwed up, and
> the left side did not even have a nut. Right side came off with only the
> usual hassle from the puller, but required enough force that the threads
> were compressed badly. After recutting the threads with a die and
> reassembling the right side, I discovered that the threaded portion was
> basically cosmetic anyway, as it must have been brazed or poorly welded
onto
> the end of the shaft by some previous mechanic, and the threaded end
simply
> snapped off before I came anywhere close to torquing the axle nut to the
> relatively modest figure of 150 lb-ft. I replaced the axle and everything
> was fine.
> 3. Left side (the one that didn't even have a nut on it) did not respond
to
> hefty blows to the striker bar of the puller. The shaft simply compressed
> the more I whacked. Application of heat to the hub/drum didn't help, and
at
> the time I thought, well it's not coming off, so I'll fix it later....
> 4. Well, OK, so it's 10 years and 20,000 miles later! What kind of a nut
> would drive a car with no nut on the end of his axle with which to retain
> the hub and drum, you say? Turns out I needn't have worried....
> 5. I try the conventional approach with the appropriate puller. The
> oft-maligned el cheapo JC Whitney "professional" puller turns out to be
> plenty strong, with heavy cast-iron legs for the lugs and a surprisingly
> good, hard, 3/4" pulling bolt.
> 6. After a fair amount of torque to the pulling bolt (approx. 250
lb-ft.--I
> wasn't worried about tearing up the already-destroyed axle), and giving
> plenty of lateral whacks to the drum, my only accomplishment is to have
sunk
> the pulling bolt 1/8" into the end of the relatively soft axle.
> 7. I try the patience approach, just like I'd read about on the IML,
giving
> the hub/drum two full nights to come off on its own, while occasionally
> cranking a little harder and supplying increasingly more violent impact
> blows to the drum. No dice.
> 8. Time to try something different. How about heat? One propane
> torch...yeah, right. Three propane torches....pretty hot, ought to have
> expanded some. Several iterations of cooling cycles tried, quenching the
> center with water, etc. How about impact? I adapt a 14-lb. slide hammer
to
> the puller assembly, and try that, in many more iterations and
combinations
> with the heat, and even higher torque to the pulling bolt. No dice.
> 9. OK, the heck with the drum, I'll buy a new drum. I just need this
thing
> off now. First I'll try heating the hub with an acetylene torch, then
quick
> re-apply the 14-lb. impact hammer. Ha! A few futile heating/cooling
> cycles, no dice.
> 10. Admittedly, frustration begins to set in. But I'm not stupid (at
least
> when it comes to injuring myself), so my decision to go for broke and
apply
> absurd force and heat together is a sane one. I abandon the slide hammer,
> and go back to applying steady pulling force, using my 3/4'"drive ratchet
in
> combination with the only cheater I had in my garage longer than 4 ft.,
> which turns out be a long section of box channel from my engine hoist.
Not
> very elegant, but I can apply gobs of torque to the pulling bolt. Easily
> 1000 lb.-ft., anyway. Better wear a face shield in case that JC Whitney
> puller comes apart. Wait, it's getting easier! Could it be easing its
way
> off? It's getting a lot easier now--yahoo! Oh, wait, Moron, all you've
> done is tear off a huge section of axle shaft :-)
> 11. Let's cut the blasted thing off. I cut through as much of the hub as
I
> can with a 3" muffler cutter, thinking that will reduce the grip enough to
> get it off. No dice.
> 12. I pull out the 2 horse angle grinder, equipped with a 9" cut-off
wheel,
> and cut through one side of the hub, all the way out to the drum, and all
> the way through the center (completely through the diameter, and the axle
> shaft) to a depth of about 3-1/2 inches. Surely with almost 4 inches cut
> clean through, I should be able to get it off now. Nope.
> 13. OK, this hub is not coming off, but I need this axle gone, so time to
> cut the drum itself off. I zip through the relatively thin metal of the
> drum (relative to the massive hub, that is) in a hexagonal pattern, and
> remove it from what's left clinging to the axle. At least now I have
access
> to the brake support nuts, etc., and after removing them and disconnecting
> the rear brake line, a few modest hits from the slide hammer and I now
have
> my rear axle out!
> 14. How the heck do I free up the brake support plates that I'll need to
> reuse, which are sandwiched between the axle bearing on the inboard side,
> and the mangled hub on the outboard side? No easy way that I could see,
> since I can't even get this mess into a press in order to apply force in
the
> right spot....not with those support plates in the way.
> 15. Some more cutting....cut off the bearing race and cage (careful not
to
> nick my support plate) to remove the rollers, hoping to remove everything
> out the back. First I have to press pound the metal portion of the grease
> seal from the backing plate, then cut it in half to remove it, but it
works.
> Got my parts, and I'm ready to reassemble a new axle and all new brake
> parts, bearing, seals, etc. But first....
> 16. I'm really curious about that blasted hub. There's less than half
its
> length now holding it to the axle, but still I couldn't get it off. Will
it
> come off using a shop press, or did come sick production workers
> resistance-weld it to the axle on a Friday afternoon in 1956?
> 17. I set it up in my 20-ton hydraulic press, and apply as much force as
I
> can. No dice. This is ridiculous...I grab a long cheater, and wearing a
> face shield and staying out of the way as much as possible, I give the
> hydraulic ram a couple more cranks. Ka-BOOM!!! Literally louder than a
> gunshot--at least, say, a 12-gauge shotgun. I'm glad to see that nothing
> broke, that it was, in fact, the axle flying down after being released by
> its deathgrip in the tapered hub. Or should I say, a 3 inch piece of what
> was left of the axle being released by a stop sign-shaped piece of hub :-)
> What's cool is that the gunshot sound was made by separation of the two
> pieces, not by the impact of the flying axle shaft, which was just a loud
> clang.
> 18. I've read Dick Benjamin's advice about reassembling the drum to the
> axle dry, and I'm sure he's right, but after this experience, I don't want
> to deplete any more of the world's junkyard supply of 1956 Imperial or
1956
> Desoto wagon (ONLY interchange!) rear brake drums, so I'd like to use
> something to keep the parts from bonding so tightly again. Granted, these
> looked like they were original (what a shame--drum had never even been
> turned), and 46 years and plenty of rust-inducing brake fluid to help weld
> them together, but even so....
> 19. What to use? Anti-seize compound? Grease? Does it even matter?
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Mike Trettin
> 1956 Imperial Sedan, Turquoise
>
>
>
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