Removing hub grease cap correctly?

[RustyWa]

Is there a recommended way of removing the grease cap to get access to the clamp nut and wheel bearings?

The Haynes manual says to, "Carefully pry off the hub grease cap" but I didn't much luck doing it that way. Couldn't get a good location to "pry".

I eventually just tapped the inside of the little ears on the cap with a hammer and it slowly started to move and came off.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

There's an old aviation saying, that "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing."

In a similar vein, any way you can get the grease caps off without destroying them is a good way.

I use a large pair of channel-lock pliers, and wiggle the cap off. I tried the same on my buddy Josh's 914, with no luck whatsoever. I've seen and heard of people using screwdrivers, pry-bars, pliers, and just about everything short of dynamite... One person welded a bolt onto the cap and then screwed a slide-hammer on.

(If you're curious, the caps on Josh's car came off with the application of a pry bar.)

--DD

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Pelican Parts 914 Tech Support

A few pics of my car: http://www.pelicanparts.com/gallery/Dave_Darling

[DDS]

That Haynes fella is a master of dry brit-wit. I don't think it can be done gently. I used your hammer trick, then ground the crotch of an old pry bar to conform to the dia of the groove in the cap and used that and a hammer to lever the cap off the studs (with lug nut spun on for protection - it was a 911 hub).



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-- Dave
Pics of my '73 project here: http://members.tripod.com/mike4g/dds73_b4pics.htm