Hi wondering about the front hubs on my 97 duley 4x4 , are they the same one piece hub and bearings as my 02. Need to replace balljoints and axle shaft universal. Scared of ruining bearing when removing. If they are the same could someone please explain the safe way of doing it with the scocket and useing the power steering to free the hub .Thanks

 

Break the axle nut loose first, but lightly re-tighten to keep hub assy together during hub assy removal process then once off take the axle shaft out of the hub assy.

 

Thanks Northslope but still can't see it , what about the bolts on the back of the rotor ?? do you loosen them a bit and put the socket against them? Also if the axle nut is on loose but still holding the bearing ***. together how does it allow the hub to slide off , wouldnt it stop the hub from comming off ???

 

Check it out:

1) Break loose axle nut

2) Re-tighten axle nut loosely (the axle shaft keeps the hub assy clamped together)

3) Remove those funny 12 point bolts on back of rotor

4) Use the power strg method (I use 4 bolts 14mm x 1.5mm pitch that are about 4" longerand and use an air hammer on each bolt head equally to drive the hub assy out, bolts must kept tight, or you can buy a slide hammer attachment that is fastened useing the lug studs)

5) Once hub assy and axle shaft assy are out remove axle nut and remove axle from hub assy to change axle joints

A word of advice get 8 new 12 point hub assy bolts from dealer. They'll more than likely have a hard time finding them every dealer I've ever ordered them from thought I was crazy I have the p/n# for them and will pm it to you on monday as the p/n# is at work. The reason for the replacement is the threads on the bolts usually get buggered up on the way out. Might not be a bad idea to get a 14mm x 1.5 pitch tap to chase the threads in the hub assy's.