Needed a front hub replacement on Jackie, 247k on original front hub so not too bad. Despite living its entire life in the carolinas, hub was stuck on the axle. First I tried gently tapping it out like usually works (chucked up in vise), then I took it to two local shops to use their press, 1st one was a smallish press, 2nd one was more like a 500t - still didn't budge. Took it home and broke out the 8" grinder (I needed quick because ROAV event the following weekend). Took about 20 minutes to cut through it. Thought I would post the solution in case anyone else came up against a stuck one.

BTW, the rust is because after cutting it off I left it outside in the rain overnight.

 

I know I would have messed up the axle splines good on you for nailing it

 

Once it was down to the last few thousandths I basically wailed on it with a hammer to break it in two - more broke than cut.

 

Oh dear
Nice cut though. Quite clean!
If it makes you feel any better I had to saw a lower ball joint in half once. That didnt go nearly as well as your surgery here.

 

I had a salt-rusted lug nut when I first got my 2003:

 

Oh my goodness! You needed to destroy your wheel to remove it?

 

Yep. But the rim was also cracked and damaged so it was due for replacement anyway. It still took hours to get the damn thing off.

 

This is why I use anti-sieze on all my wheel studs...or anywhere I think I might not ever want to deal with a bolt/nut that's stuck in that particular spot.

 

I also use anti seize quite liberally for the same reasons. I think technically you aren’t supposed to use it on wheel studs but I also do. One thing to keep in mind when using anti seize where it wasn’t designed to go, is that torquing to the published value may be too tight (risk of stripping threads).

 

Yeah I thought I had hub issues with the Alveston and even with pullers like these to separate the half shaft from the hub, I said heck with it and just got new half shafts and hubs.





I put up with that on one side. When I just replaced both, it was a legit 20 minutes to do the R&R. Suffice it to say, I probably went through a tube of anti seize for the installation of the new parts.



Now this is different than your situation as you were just trying to get the hub off the axle assembly, but in my opinion. Taking it all off and just replacing both is worth the minimal added cost.