ABS hub bearing
Folks,
As promised, I tried to pull apart the old ABS hub today just to see if it can be done and if so, we can all change bearings rather than spend so much money.
I started by grinding down the outside of a cheap 1 -1/16" (one and 1/16")socket so that it fits into the VERY thin clearance around the main bolt. This is a high tensile bolt which has been riveted onto the hub at the other end. Once the socket fitted, I put the hub into a vice with aluminium jaw plates so the stud threads were not damaged. I wasn't going to risk breaking a ratchet socket, therefore a normal length socket bar was used. It was too short to make the bolt move. I then reached for a 1m long steel tube. This worked straight away but I would suggest you use a high quality socket bar as the cheapies will bend before the bolt loosens. Once the bolt was released, it was quite a job getting the bolt off due to the riveting on the front. But can be done with little time.
Now the bolt was off. There's a magnetic ring type spacer under the bolt and it is now loose.
Not knowing how it fitted, I tried to get the sensor ring off. This is the only plastic item and has the integral electrical socket. It looked like it's press fitted so I took a couple of sharp wood chisels and pushed them at right angles into the sides of the black sensor wheel plastic, enough to grab hold of the ring while I prised them to to force the ring up. This worked straight away and the only damage to the ring are the almost un-noticable chisel cuts. I guess the trick here is not to cut through the plastic. Once the sensor ring was off, the magnet wheel can be taken out and under this is a sealed wheel bearing.
Next I tried to separate the two remaining pieces using two very large screwdrivers between the disks. Didn't work.
I have a cheap bearing puller that I used to try to separate the pieces by using the large central bolt. Short of destroying the bearing puller, I gave up. I think a hydraulic press would be much better at this stage, set up to separate the pieces.
So there's my attempt and, while not too successful, it did reveal a few things:
- The sensor ring can be changed. If you have a hub with crook bearing, chances are that the sensor will still be good. This means you could get any hub from the wreckers (with good bearing) and change over the sensor if the number of teeth doesn't match. You would NOT need to remove the large bolt either as the sensor ring is not retained by it.
- Once the main bolt and sensor rings are removed, you need a hydraulic press to continue to get the hub apart.
If I get the chance, I'll take the rest to a workshop to get it pressed. Perhaps I could try heating the whole thing up in the oven for a while. I'll do it in the kitchen oven while the Missus is shopping though.
More soon.
Also some interesting info to remember if I ever run into a simalar problem 