I am making my first attempt to press apart a rear axle/bearing/backing plate assembly. I built a press fixture so that I could use my 12 ton hydraulic press to do the job. Apparently, 12 tons, or whatever my little Harbor Freight press is putting out, is not enough to do the job. Reading in different forums, I have seen that others have had success with similar presses. My neighbor, A professional mechanic, said he thought I wouldn't be able to do it. He thought that I would probably have to cut the retaining ring off first. I'm hoping that maybe I can find a 20 ton press and give it another try. Any ideas? By the way, I did take out the snap ring.

A picture of the press fixture that I made

 

Your post is a bit ambiguous, did the 12 ton press work or not. Did take much to press my bearings out.

 

I will grant you, the title of the post is ambiguous. For that I apologize. I was sleep deprived when I wrote it.

My 12 ton press would not do the job. I only tried one axle so far though.I will try the other later today. I also have a different 12 ton jack that I can swap with the one on the press. I have a 20 ton jack as well, but I think it will bend or break the press.

 

First of all, that is a nice bearing removal tool you made. I'm not quite that good at fabrication, so I bought one from ebay. I used my HF 12 ton and was able to press off both bearings. This was back in 2013 (so my memory is fuzzy), and I did not cut the retaining rings. I have read where people did cut the rings, but I was worried about hitting the axle shaft with the grinder.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f199...l#post52080408

 

Thanks as usual. I checked out your thread. That is a good price you paid for the axle puller. I didn't know they could be had for that kind of money. I was seeing them priced closer to $300! I have about $50 in materials into mine.

I got the backing plates off! The 12 ton press I've got just barely did it. I had to use a cheater bar to pump the jack.. I think I may have damaged it internally. A twenty ton press would have been much better. I'm going to make one, but I am going to take my time and scrounge the steel for the lowest possible price. I already have a 20 ton jack and a 30 ton cylinder with a separate manual pump.

One thing that worries me about disassembling the axle, is that I had to press the bearing out with pressure on its internal ring. I know you shouldn't do that but there really seemed to be no other way. The bearings don't look like they were damaged.

 

Wow, I know it's been nearly 4.5 years since I did mine, but I know I did not use a cheater to pump the 12ton jack. Good job getting them off there, seems like yours were really stuck on there. If I could weld as well as you I would have tried making a tool. I read a lot of posts were people were taking their shafts to a shop and getting the bearings pressed off\on for not too much money. I called 3 or 4 shops and got some pretty astronomical quotes. The Toyota service guy had to go check if they could do it and called me back, he wanted $150 per axle. Other shops were less, but not by much. I couldn't find any place that could do it reasonably.

 

If you haven’t already. Check seal beds (not sure of proper name) on axle shafts. My old shafts had significant ridges worn. Was 1 of 3 possible routes water got into rear axle.

In photo i notice lines lines worn in closest shaft.

 

The last time I paid to have the axles pressed was in about 1990. I remember taking them to an auto parts store in Campbell, California. They sold me the bearings and pressed them on for something like $135 for both axles, all labor and materials included. In and out the same day too.

In any case, I have two "classic" Toyota 4x4s and two parts trucks and another axle assembly loose. I anticipate getting more use out of that tool. And I live in the upper Midwest, which is not the most Toyota friendly region of the country. Auto parts stores and repair shops around here can be kind of short of knowledge about our vehicles, so it is a good idea to be prepared, which can include having specialty tools that might be hard to locate on short notice.

 

Sharp eye! There were lines where the seal rides on both axles, but thankfully they were only black grease marks.Wiped them right off with my finger. I am thankful to have knowledgeable people looking over my shoulder though.

 

Score!!! Like I said mine were pretty bad so had to be replaced. Wife just gives me that look when I explain I need to spend more on my project

 

It has been some time and it seems most bearings I work on are for other people.

I always remove the retainer makes pressing the axle out quite easy .

I just use the air hammer to knock it off the axle.

It is easy to bend and break things with a 50 ton press

 

I guess the old mechanic who told me to cut off the retaining ring knew what he was talking about.

When you go after the ring with an air chisel, Do you hit them straight on and try to cut the ring or what?

 

Just drive it off the axle intact

I found the first time keeping the retainer on was going to break something .

I think that was when I bent the 1" plates on the press.

 

I am not picturing how you do this. Can you explain it so my simple mind can grasp it?

 

I wish I had a axle out to show you .

Since the retainer is inboard of the bearing .

We are talking about the same thing

Snap ring Retainer Bearing

with the axle inverted backing plate on top axle held in the soft jaw vise .

Once the retainer starts to move it comes off quite easy .

The blows from the Air Hammer vibrate it off I never had luck trying just a regular hammer and chisel .

Then I find so many strange things your rear axle might be different then any thing I have seen

 

The bearing and safety sleeve comes off for me easy enough on my harborfreight 12ton.....but if you forget to take the clip off first.......

 

The sleeve can be loosened substantially by nicking it strongly 3 or 4 places around its circumference with a BFH and a cold chisel.

They come off a lot easier after this treatment.