Hub rebuild fail - please help

[Slanski62]

As part of my extended brake replacement, I decided to replace the bearings in my front hubs. I had my mechanic press in the races and I did the rest. The first hub went on the spindle without a problem. But the other one has me beaten. As I slid it on the spindle, it hit something solid and would go no farther. The back of the hub went almost as far as the spacer, but not over it. Something hard and metallic is preventing it from seating. What's worse, when I tried to take the hub off, something inside the hub has caught, so that I can't remove it. So now I have a useless hub half dangling from the spindle.

The only thing that could cause this problem is the inside bearing, since it's the only piece that's not affixed to something. But how could it jam like this?

How can I get the hub off without wrecking the spindle?

Should I assume the inside bearing and seal are toast?

Any suggestions or encouragement are needed and appreciated

Steve Yeatts
Chapel Hill, NC

[DanielDudley]

Rent a puller, or go to Harbor Freight.

[Jesse16]

As others say, there is no normal reason for the hub to not come off, its a smooth spindle and a loose inner bearing race is all that should be there. I usually have a hard time keeping it in place until I get the nut started. If after a night of cooling off and a re-try don't let it get loose, put out a call for another forum member to maybe take a look. You have several in the vicinity who may stop over and do a sanity check. I'll even be near-by on Saturday. I would not "pull" hard.
If it feels jammed, use a few hammer taps around to get it back to straight. Gotta be the bearing race is cocked somehow.

[T77911S]

this one is up to you. sounds like you have a very unique situation going on.
might just be one of those situations you have to do what you need to do to get it off and take care of the damage that happens when you do.

slide hammer attached to the studs

[Cory M]

strange, maybe the races aren't in there straight..

[Queefchief]

Just tap it off with a brass hammer or Hulk that thing off the spindle. Check to make sure your races are correct and completely flat. Then grease everything up, insert rear bearing then press in your grease seal. Slide it on the hub, put in your outer bearing and tighten it up. If the other side worked fine use it for reference to find anything out of the ordinary.

Should be an easy fix

[Slanski62]

Update: First, thanks to everyone for their suggestions and offers of help. I did tap the hub off the spindle. Actually, I had to hit it hard a number of times to get it to budge, but it finally came loose. Upon inspection, everything looked fine. However, when I took the problem bearing out of the hub and placed it on the spindle, it again got stuck. But this time, I could manipulate the bearing enough to un-stick it and get it to seat properly. So I measured the bore of the bearing against the old one. They're the same. So the only thing I can figure is that the curvature of the bore of the bearing is off just enough to bind on the spindle where it transitions from a taper. I tried this several times, and every time the bearing caught in the same spot.

FWIW, the bearings I bought aren't Porsche. They're the SKF brand made in Brazil and sold by our host. Maybe the Porsche tax would have been worth it in this case.

The good news is the spindle wasn't damaged, plus I gained some valuable experience. Cheers to all!

[T77911S]

probably a bad bearing, perhaps out of round.
you could pull the other side off and put it on this side.
order another bearing
do you still have the old one. how does it fit

how does the spindle look. nice and shiny.