Front hub bearing - possible without a press?

Possible certainly, but probably overall better to take the hub in to a local engineering place or garage and get them to press it out/in for you.

I had exactly this "press issue" issue about 20 years ago when I was a poor hard up university student with a Citroen AX.

The AX had failed its annual MOT on a worn ball joint on one of the lower track control arms leading to excessive play.

As a result of financial necessity I did all my own car maintenance.

So I jacked up the AX, undid just three bolts and the whole track control arm came away with the failed ball joint.

I bought a new ball joint which cost just a tenner.

I went round to the local garages and asked them to press out the old ball joint andf press in the new one using their hydraulic press.

They all wanted to charge 1 hour's labour which was £60 then. I protested that I doesn't take 5 minutes and that it was 6 times the cost of the new part but they all said thats our minimum labour charge.

So I had to resort to plan B.

On the following Saturday, I walked into Halfords and wandered over to their display of hydraulic presses.

I gulped at the price tags, they were £300 upwards.... That put the Kibosh on Plan B

Now for PLan C....

Sure enough, a spotty faced staff member youth turned up.....

"Can I be of any help Sir?"

"I've been looking at these hydraulic presses and I can't work out how they get old ball joints..."

"Well I have nothing to demonstrate the principle Sir"

"Well How about this ball joint in this track control arm then?"

I then proffered the track control arm to him.

He then proceeded with gusto to demonstrate to me how one gets the old ball joint out using a hydraulic press.

He then hands me the old ball joint and the now de-ball-jointed arm.

I then said "Wow, thats very clever......"

In the meantime I put the old ball joint in my left pocket.

I then said "How do you put it back in then?"

"Give them both back tyo me and Let me show you!" was his reply.

So I gave him the old track control arm back and the ball joint from my right pocket, (which just happened to be the new one).

In all his enthusiasm, he then proceeded with gusto to demonstrate to me how one presses the ball joint in. He had not noticed that I had given him a nice new shiny ball joint instead of the old one back.

After the deomonstration, he gives me the track control arm back with a brand new pressed in ball joint.

"Wow, thats very clever, I am impressed!"

"Would you like to buy a hydraulic press?"

"I will have to go away and think about it, after all it is an expensive purchase....."

"Ok sir, hoep we see you again soon!"

I then walked out of Halfords with a massive smile on my face and the track control arm was back on the AX and it passed its retest the following Monday.

Stephen.

Nice story. ;-)

Tim

It is, but I've never seem anything remotely like a hydraulic press on sale in Halfords. ;-)

nor any staff with the brains to use one, and the chance of having the right adaptors on hand would be zero. Mind you I can see that the bottom arm for an ax is prohibitively expensive, there is one on ebay for over 30,000 pounds buy it now.

Nice story. ;-)

More literary than literal, I'm thinking.

Steve

Just finished. Surprisingly easy. No seized bolts getting the hub off, then I heated up the hub with a blowtorch, and using a scaffold pipe as a drift, hammered out the old one, which came out without too much drama.

The new one went on with a little force. As before, heated up the hub for a long time, greased the bearing outer, it went in around 5mm easy enough, then another 5 mm with a mallet, then I had to get the old bearing to use as a drift, and use the lump hammer. Seated reasonably easily - no massive whacks from the hammer needed.

Well done.

I can assure its real.... It happened in Milton Keynes branch of Halfords, back in 1998. They were doing a much wider range of tools then they do now.

It of course all changed when private equity bought Halfords... Halfords have gone downhill imho just like Maplins and AA did....

LOL but you had a decent impression of the place which has made you return there over the years. I know if I had that happen I'd be back to do further business with them..

After all it didn't really cost them did it, but that sure generated some customer goodwill for later...

JOOI dealer cost, 60 quid an hour, when was this?...

Machine mart do have a few...

With the whole arm only being thirty quid nowadays it would be very hard to justify putting in a single joint on a loose arm.

Been the case with such things for a while.

Different if you could set up to do lots at once - but as a one off labour can cost more than a complete new one.

Back in 1998 and that was without VAT being added!