Pulling Wheel Flange

[iandraz]

Thought you all might like to see this. I just replaced the left front portal gear assembly on my 404. Somehow part of the plate containing the upper hub reduction gear had sheared off and was leaking oil everywhere. I have no idea how it happened, it was that way when I bought it. The owner claimed he didn't know why it pulled to the right when braking, and I thought it would be something easy like a wheel cylinder.

Anyway, I bought a new hub reduction gear assembly from Expedition Imports, but it didn't include the wheel flange, so I had to pull the old one off and reuse it. That thing is really on there! I used a Porta Power with a 50 ton attachment, and the pressure was over 6000 psi when it finally came off. I think that works out to 33 tons force! Made a huge crack when it finally came off. Here's some pictures (the puller jig is something I welded up with scrap metal I had around, took a couple iterations to get it tough enough for the forces involved):

[Tennmogger]

Thanks for sharing! That's a job we all hope we don't have to do.

Bob