How to remove Raptor rear wheel hub?

DaveHarper

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My yard is rather bumpy in the back and today seemed worse than usual. I stopped and checked things and found the nuts had come loose on one of the rear wheels. Unfortunately, by the time I discovered this, the loosened wheel had pretty much dinged up the threads on the hub bolts. I was able to get three of the nuts off okay but the fourth one ended up breaking the bolt loose. I've got a new hub on order but in the meantime, I'm trying to figure out how to remove the current one. The service manual for my unit is pretty general in nature and doesn't cover anything like this. I've looked for a repair manual but haven't found anything so far. Looking at it (see picture) it would appear to simply unscrew but I went after it with a big wrench and it wouldn't budge. So before I jump in and possibly make a bad situation worse, I was wondering if anyone out there has ever had to remove one of these things and has some tips on how it's done.

Thanks,
Dave
 

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mhavanti

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Try grabbing the rear of the wheel stud with a big vise grip to hold it while you unscrew the nut.
 

BlazNT

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I am not on my computer so can not confirm this but is believe the hub is held inplace with an Internal Retaining Ring. After you remove it the hub is pulled off.
 

DaveHarper

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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.
 

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mhavanti

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DH,

Glad you're up and running. Hopefully you'll not have any further problems with the little Hustler.

Good luck,

Max
 

shumwayp

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Hi guys! New member here, and I also own a Raptor SD, and encountered a similar issue today. Took me hours and hours of trying, but finally got the wheel off. I need to order a new rear hub, as the bolt holes on mine have been stripped out. Where did you order yours from and would you happen to remember the part number for it?

Any information, especially on replacement parts like the hub and those spline bolts, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
 

DaveHarper

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Wow - first of all, I'm 70+ and I've slept at least twice since I posted here so take that into consideration. According to old email, I ordered the entire hub from hustlerlawnmowerparts.com (#601433) for about $100 but then found I could not get the hub off from the axle. As it turns out, the bolts themselves were press-fit into the hub so, using the puller from Home Depot, I was able to remove the stripped bolts from the hub where the threads had been messed up. I then removed the bolts from the replacement hub and then inserted them in the original hub which was still on the axle. As they were press-fit, all I had to do was put them into the hole and then tighten the nut and it pulled the bolt into position. I just checked and the part number for the bolt (from the previous post) is still good, so that, and the puller from Home Depot should be all you need. I see you're also from Texas - if you're near McKinney (north of Dallas) and still having problems, call me at 214-563-7013 and I'll do what I can to help.

Dave
 

shumwayp

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Thanks Dave!!

I've looked up that part number for the hub, and it's around $180 now. Since the bolt holes in my current hub are stripped out and smooth, I'm going to install some regular machine/automotive bolts and washers from the inside out, and tighten it down that way.

I figured if I have any future problems, I'll actually have a six sided bolt head to grab onto instead of a flat round head.
 
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