Dr. Righteous
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 13, 2016
- Posts
- 432
- Reaction score
- 467
- Location
- Jamestown TN
- Ram Year
- 2014
- Engine
- 5.7 hemi
I've have these seized before but never like this.
It was time for front brakes and wheel bearing hubs on my '14 RAM 1500 Express. I've run into seized rotors and wheels hubs before and always managed to get them removed without much hassle. When changing a rotor usually a couple hits with hammer breaks it loose. Took a few for this one but it eventually popped off. Then came the hub. I doused the entire assembly with PB blaster and let it soak. I took the axle nut off and pushed the shaft out of the hub. I was able to get to the 3 bolts in the rear then and unbolt the hub.
Right! A couple well placed hits with a big hammer and the hub will pop right out. At least that is how it always worked before. Well, after wearing myself out beating on it with heavy hammers and it not budging I knew I had a serious problem. I was familiar with a few tricks to get the hub out. One is place the rotor on backwards then put a jack under it; this letting the weight of the truck push it off. No go. didn't work.
Another was taking a bottle jack, placing it against a frame member then pushing it off that way. No go, the jack doesn't work on it's side. I decided on a quick google search and found a product called a HUB BUSTER. This is a piece of thick wall square stock welded to a plate that bolts on to the 2 wheel lugs. You bolt it up and stand back, hit it with a sledge.
I can see how that would apply tremendous shock load and break it free. Simple as the tool is, it is over 100 bux. Screw that. Can I weld one of those up myself? Sure can. But wait, I have another idea.
A couple days before I use a big ass pipe wrench to bent the mower blade back into shape. It is just a matter of leverage. The pipe wrench I uses was actually sitting on the porch. I grabbed the pipe wrench and had it clamped at the top of the brake rotor (mounted backwards). I went and got my sledge hammer and stood back and gave it a good whack; which snapped the aluminum handle off. The bearing hub didn't budge.
I thought about it for a minute. I'm not surprised the wrench didn't live though it. I need a all steel pipe wrench, a bigger one. Harbor Freight has these fairly cheap. So after church Sunday I headed to Harbor Freight and picked up the biggest pipe wrench they had. Had a 20% off coupon so got it for about 25 bux. When I got back I placed the new wrench on top of the brake rotor. Stood back and hit is hard with the sledge. To my delight it worked and the hub popped out and fell to the ground.
Examining the mating surfaces you can see the corrosion that had it seized in place. Aluminum steering knuckles are used because with independent front suspension you need low mass for quicker tire rebound. Well, the hub is steel, so bolting 2 dissimilar metals together you get electrolysis and that is corrosion.
A simple solution is to add some anti-seize compound to the mating surfaces at the factory. But they don't do that!
A quick wire wheel cleanup and some anti seize will make the new hub go in nicely. Hopefully this is the last time I have to take a sledge hammer to my RAM pickup
Last edited: