Stuck wheel bearing

Morks

TJ Enthusiast
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Sep 3, 2020
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Ontario
I am currently in the process of doing wheel bearings on a jeep tj. The hub is completely froze, have tried putting an extension between the yoke and axle tube and steering and steering hard!! I bought a puller and it won't budge it and it's torqued basically as much as it'll go. Then tried steering with it like that as well and nothing... Any ideas on how to get it out? Tried just beating on it for a long while using a torch and BFH.
 
PB blaster all over, unscrew the bolts a little bit and putting an extension between the tube and bolt, something that's worked for me is getting a thin screwdriver and hammering it in at the corners. Keep in mind that the bearings are sort of press fit, only the corners have any room to put a screwdriver in before it bottoms out.

In all honesty, getting angry with a BFH is the best way to go if you don't care about the unit bearing anymore.
 
PB blaster all over, unscrew the bolts a little bit and putting an extension between the tube and bolt, something that's worked for me is getting a thin screwdriver and hammering it in at the corners. Keep in mind that the bearings are sort of press fit, only the corners have any room to put a screwdriver in before it bottoms out.

In all honesty, getting angry with a BFH is the best way to go if you don't care about the unit bearing anymore.
Been at it for 2 hrs with a BFH and heat. Give it a go tomorrow for a while lol.
 
Try hammering a screwdriver or small chisel in here. That's what has always worked for me.

jeep-wrangler-TJ-unit-bearing1.jpg
 
The XJs owners have the same problem in rust prone areas.
Spray the area with PB Blaster which you have already done.
Unscrew the hub bolts 1/2"-3/4" and turn the steering wheel until the backed out bolt hits the axle tube C; continue to turn the steering wheel a little more and this should press out the hub bearing from the knuckle. You can tap around the circumference of the hub bearing while using the steering to separate the hub from the knuckle.
 
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I was going to post that but was having trouble finding it in my pics. But yep, Blaine’s photo is the idea.
X2 I was about to post it. But so far as penetrants go, according to some well done comparisons, PB-Blaster is next to the bottom of the heap and barely better than WD40. Better choices start with Kroil, then Liquid Wrench, followed by Break Free. For the $$$ good old Liquid Wrench is still a great choice.
 
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Try hammering a screwdriver or small chisel in here. That's what has always worked for me.

View attachment 308774
Gave her a whirl with a chisel for a decent amount of time now, all I am doing is damaging the knuckle at this point and I broke one crappy flat head to know I don't want to use the nice tools lol.
 
X2 I was about to post it. But so far as penetrants go, according to some well done comparisons, PB-Blaster is next to the bottom of the heap and barely better than WD40. Better choices start with Kroil, then Liquid Wrench, followed by Break Free. For the $$$ good old Liquid Wrench is still a great choice.
Definitely soaked in a healthy dose of liquid wrench!
 
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Gave that a go for a while with full body weight and umph, (300lb university football player), she saw some torque lol and wouldn't budge.
Did you turn on the engine so you had some power steering assist? I have never ever seen that trick not work. Not doubting you just making sure it’s being used to it’s full potential.
 
Did you turn on the engine so you had some power steering assist? I have never ever seen that trick not work. Not doubting you just making sure it’s being used to it’s full potential.
Definitely had it on, am going to just mess around with it for a while more. How hard can I crank the wheel before something, may break lol
 
Definitely had it on, am going to just mess around with it for a while more. How hard can I crank the wheel before something, may break lol
Yeah that's hard to answer. Never had one be that bad to remove. With power steering working your most likely thing to get hurt I would think would be a tie rod end or tie rod. But the force is all lateral. It would be putting some strong forces on your pitman arm and sector shaft I guess.

Any chance you're better off just changing the knuckle and bearing together? Hate to throw extra parts at it but if it hasn't come loose yet...
 
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