Trying to replace a rear wheel bearing. I have the upright stripped down, and the axle nut off. F-ing axle won't come out of the hub. Soaked in PB Blaster, used puller, hit it with BFH, heat it up with torch; nothing works. WTF!

 

They can be a bitch. I use a heavy duty two jaw puller on the hub and my big-assed impact wrench. Fair warning, I have parted five miatas (10 hubs) and bent three hubs. Some come easier but most come apart like they have been assembled and ran in gunk and salt water for the last 15 or so years.

 

we couldnt get one off here once. broke a bunch of tools. i believe super heat worked.

 

The one time I tried I couldn't get it apart. Good luck.
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use an impact hammer, only way:

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I took the upright with hub and axle attached out. Hopefully I can get it pressed out at a machine shop. The bottom upright bolt was a hoot too. Had to use a 4ft long jack handle on the end of my ratchet. Rust sucks. I feel like replacing everything with stainless.

 

i had to press my driverside bearing out as well man they can realy stick in there like a sombitch.

 

Same here, I took the whole axle assembly to a machine shop, my 20ton press wouldn't do it.

 

I never got my drives side out...luckily it was the passenger's wheel bearing that made all the noise.

 

My buddies PPF wouldn't come off the diff pumpkin, used heat and got one off, and ended up grinding off the head of one of the bolts and pulling the ppf over it, then smashing it out using a BFH. Pain in the ****...

 

And this has what to do with pushing axles out of hubs?

 

that just makes dents in the axle shaft....

 

I didn't mean use the chisel thing shown in the link...


I seriously thought that would work...I hope they're not THAT bad!

I fought with an upper ball joint for an hour once and used the impact hammer, worked like a charm.

Now I'm not looking forward to replacing that whiny rear passenger wheel bearing.

 

didnt work for me, we used the pointed tip and pressed it into the center hole of the axle, didnt work.

 

I always use a flat (rounded) tip. Has worked magic on any stubborn assembly I've come across. I haven't removed a shaft since replacing the halfshafts on the Integra 4 yrs ago...so goes to show what I know.

I was planning on doing wheel bearings soon though, and this thread makes me groan about the idea. I hadn't heard people complain about it in the diff swap threads either. Now I really want to see just how hard it is.

 

I've had cars that had one axle locked in tight, wouldn't come out no matter what. And the other side I pushed right out with my thumb. It's hit or miss on these really, but make sure you put some anti-seize on the spline before you put it back together so that you don't have to do this all over again.

 

An axle that's good and stuck will just look at that puny little tool and laugh.

 

I was saying to use one like it...I usually use an IngersolRand with shop air at my uncle's shop. I've never seen anything it didn't break loose.

But like I said, I've yet to attempt my wheel bearings, and you guys have got me worried now.

I'll keep my mouth shut next time, thought I was helping, but apparently the Miata axles just don't come out like every other car on the road. I worked 2yrs at a Midas(don't ever go there) and occasionally lend a hand at my uncle's, especially when I need to borrow his toolbox. I've seen some pretty mis-treated cars, but never seen an axle that didn't come out with a little coercing. I usually go in order: hands, BFH, impact hammer, lube/heat/other. Almost never get to the last circle of axle removal hell.

I just can't fathom that it would be THAT hard. Of course now that I've typed that I'll be posting up next month bitching like a mother ****** about my busted knuckles and car still on the lift.

I'm not saying you guys are wrong...I believe experience. I'm just saying I've never heard of such epic problems, especially from such a cute little car.

 

Left the assembly with my mechanic. He had the axle out and bearing changed in about 20 minutes. Looks like he wailed on it with a hammer. It looks like the end of the axle was mushroomed out and he ground it back down. Cost $40.

 

I've replaced rear bearings a few times, some on used assemblies that were rusted as ***. I've only had to resort to my 4lb mini sledge for two of them, but a few really hard wacks always knocked them loose. A BFH only works if you don't have arms, lol.

I tried heat and PBblaster, but I have had the best luck with Freeze Off Super Penetrant for anything super rusty. I have also used my 40 inch 3/4" breaker bar to bust the nuts loose, but my shitty HF electric impact gun has never let me down. 10-15 seconds and EVERY nut spun off. Yay for Chinese power tools haha.

TIP #1:
The few times I did have to pound out the axles with the BFH I reinstalled the axle nuts, leaving about 1/8" from tight to prevent the hammer from mushrooming the axle tips.

I have also used my bronze hammer to pound the less crusty axles out - this hammer usually did the trick on most of them and did not deform the axle tips at all.

TIP #2:
if you plan on keeping the car for a while you should use a very small hand file to remove the rust from the hub splines and the splines on the axles, then apply a thin coating of high temp anti seize to each part, AS WELL as the underside of the axle nut and the center of the hub where the nut meets the hub(the area where the nut gets rusted to ***).