W4 rear axle seals

Our 4H club is restoring a W4 this year. Our next job on the list is the rear axle seals. Thw hubs are on the axles pretty tight. What is the best way to remove the hubs from the splined axles. We have been soaking the hubs fsince our last meeting. Is therte apuller for this or do we have to make one up. Any help would be great.
Ron

you could use a press if you had one available that was big enough. you could also rig up something with blocks of wood and a hyd. jack.

Wow, that's a cool 4H project! My dad and I restored a W4 a couple years ago and had to do the same thing. It was easily the most difficult part of the project.

First we put the tractor on blocks, removed the rear wheels, and drained the rear end. Then we took off the PTO and disconnected the rear axles from the bull gears (it's just one bolt per axle). At that point we were down to the axels and cast iron hubs. They are HEAVY and I would advise using a cherry picker to move them.

We then heated and cooled the hub, used penetrating oil, and put it in a big press, but nothing would budge ours.

We ended up having to screw a bolt all the way into the end of the axle and pound on it with a sledge hammer. We dug a hole in the ground and put a railroad tie on either side of the hole so the hub could rest on it with the axle hanging down in the hole. We then pounded the axle through.

This system worked, but it was not ideal.
1.) The axles fought us the whole way
2.) You need to be accurate with your swings so you don't mark up the cast iron hub.
3.) It's difficult to find something to use as a punch once the end of the axle has moved down inside the hub.
4.) We made it injury free, but any time you're making that much metal collide, it can present safety issues. BE SURE to wear safety glasses, etc. if you attempt this.

I'm just sitting here after I spelled out everything we did with ours, and I want to suggest that you do that as your last option. It was difficult and really not very ideal. If you can find a really big press and combine it with heat, etc., that would be safer and less potentially harmful to your parts.

I'll be very interested to see what other post on here, because I've always thought there had to be an easier way than the one we ended up using.

Took me a few days to get the hubs free from the axles on my W4. I ended up unbolting the bull gears from the axles and sliding them w/ hubs on out of the housings... I ended up with each assy in the press which required some creativity and time. Still had to heat the hub with the rosebud and apply 20 tons or so to the axle. I screwed a bolt into the axle minus the big washer and pressed on that.

Cleaned them up well when I put it back together and liberally applied never-seize to the splines...

I don't think mine had been off since they were put on at assy... they were on there...

That is a real cool club project.

Best way that Ive seen and used is a large T puller. place a 1/2" thick round piece of steel against the end of the axle, works best if theres a small hole in the center to place the tip of the threaded rod from the puller. Than use to large bolts to hold the bar of the puller to the center, be sure to place flat washers on the bolts so the nut is not pulled against the center. Than using a 3/4 impact tighten the rod of the T puller to pull the center off the axle. 3/4 air powered impact works best, cause using a bigger one will likely ruin the threaded rod of the T-puller, been there done that. You may end up having to heat the area of the center on the axle in order to expand it so it might slide easier. Also when you put the center back on its not a bad idea to coat the splines of the axle with anti-seize after ther are cleaned up, just in case you ever have to pull the center off again.

Hope this helps...........Jordan

<a href="http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/JJ4h340/My%20560W/?action=view&current=560WDteardownpart5004.jpg" target="_blank"> </a>
<a href="http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/JJ4h340/My%20560W/?action=view&current=560WDteardownpart5005.jpg" target="_blank"></a>
<a href="http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/JJ4h340/My%20560W/?action=view&current=560WDteardownpart5008.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

Heres another picture just showing a better view of the T-puller.
<a href="http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/JJ4h340/My%20560W/?action=view&current=560WDteardownpart5031.jpg" target="_blank"></a>