Re: How to remove Raptor rear wheel hub? [Resolved - solution posted]
First, sorry it's taken so long to respond on this thread but I just got my mower operational again and I'd like to update the thread in case someone else faces a similar situation sometime. Thanks to the responses I received. As it turns out, the vice grip was not necessary as the parking brake is enough to keep the axle stationary while removing the nut. As for the retaining ring, this made a lot of sense when I read about it in the reply but apparently there has been a design change in this area as I did not encounter one. As it turns out, I decided the best bet was to wait until the new hub I ordered from hustlerlawnmowerparts.com came in. Once it arrived (hub.jpg below - the kit contained the hub and retaining nut) I realized that after removing the nut, the hub could be pulled off by using a puller (shown below) that I bought at Home Depot. The nut was extremely difficult to remove. I had a 1/2" drive and socket and was unable to produce enough torque even though the drive was 18" long. I ended up putting a 4' piece of pipe over the drive handle and, with the increased leverage, was able to remove the nut that way. I then attached the puller (I'd have preferred a 4-jaw but all that was available was a 2-jaw) and started cranking away to remove the hub. The puller was rated at 4 tons so I figured "no problem". As it turned out, it was the biggest problem. One of the bolts on the puller sheared off and the head came off like a bullet. I decided that wasn't the way to go and started thinking what else I could do (after replacing the bolt to repair the puller). As I mentioned in the original post, one of the captive bolts had broken loose from the hub when I tried to remove the nut so to get the wheel off I ended up cutting the bolt using a Dremel and metal cutting disk. After that, the back part of the bolt almost fell out of the hub. I decided to see if I could use the puller to force the other bolts out of the hub. Turns out this was relatively easy to do and it only took about 15 minutes to remove the remaining three (studs_removed.jpg below). This was late yesterday afternoon so I called it a day. This morning the first order of business was to see if I could find replacements bolts locally. I tried Auto Zone, O'Reilly Auto Parts and a local "carries (almost) everything" hardware store and struck out on all three. I really wanted to wrap up today and mow the yard, which needed it badly, so I removed the four bolts from the hub I ordered. This was easy to do; simply put one of the nuts over the front of the threads to protect them, put a socket slightly larger than the bolt head over the other side of the hub and put everything in the vice. About 4-5 turns was all that was necessary to free each of the bolts. I then put each into the old hub on the mower, along with one of the nuts turned around so the flat side was towards the hub and tightened down with the socket driver pulling the bolts into the hub. So that was the solution. The remainder was simply a case of putting the wheels back on and tightening everything down. I mowed the yard this afternoon and the mower performed flawlessly. So, if anyone else is unfortunate enough to find themselves in a similar situation I would recommend not ordering a hub as I did (since it was shown in the Hustler parts manual as an integrated unit). Now that I know it's much easier to remove the bolts from the hub, then the hub from the axle, I would do that from the start. Further, the hub was nearly $100 and I have since found the bolts (#HD-0016 Wheel Stud) online from multiple places for less than $2 each. I would also recommend getting the puller (about $20). It's possible the bolts could have been pounded out with a hammer but this was much easier, faster and with less potential damage to the mower.