Hubs Dismantled

28/03/2007

Phew all the donor parts are now completely dismantled. I finally managed to get those rear hubs dismantled but it was a struggle!

Front Hubs (Cortina Mk4/5)

The front cortina hubs and uprights come from Tiger as a completely assembled unit, so you have to separate out the various components. At first glance it looks just like a heap of rust. Diassembly is done as follows:

1. Remove x2 19mm caliper retaining bolts
2. Remove x2 split pins and use a drift to knock out the pad retaining pins
3. Remove outer facing pad by bashing it with a hammer and screw driver, the caliper should be easy to remove now.
4. Remove the centre hub nut cover, by prying it with a screwdriver
5. Remove the split pin and castlated nut cover
6. Use a 27mm socket to undo the hub nut, it shouldn't be tight.
7. Remove the washer and extract the bearing. Pull the hub off. If it is tight use a hub puller
8. Undo the x3 13mm bolts securing the back plate to the upright
9. Use a 15mm socket to remove the 4 bolts from the back of the disc
10. Bash the disc with a hammer to separate it from the hub.

Its all pretty straightforward, the only real pain is getting those caliper bolts undone as I found them pretty tight. Breaker bar to the rescue!!

Rear Hubs (Sierra)

There are two main types of Sierra rear drum axle, the main difference is the drum size. One uses an 8 inch drum, the other a 9 inch drum. The most common seems to be the 9 inch and this is what I seem to have.

Dismantling the wishbones and hubs is made more difficult because of the hub nuts. Do any google search and you'll find people who have had big problems with getting them off. I was quite daunted as compounding the problem is the fact they aren't on the car, so I couldn't use the weight of the vehicle to lever against!

The rear sockets use a 41mm socket, which I seemed to have tremendous difficulty locating at any of my local motor factors. Still if you need one and are having problems you need a socket with a Sealey part code of SX007. It can be found quite reasonably on this site.

Removing the driveshafts and separating the hubs is as follows:

1. Remove the centre hub nut using the 41mm socket. Be aware of the contra-rotating nut. The right hand side hub nuts undo as normal (anti-clockwise), the left hand side nuts undo in the opposite way so trying to loosen them as normal is actually tightening them!
2. Prise the drum off, the shoes may be stuck on, so use liberal doses of the hammer and crow bar to pry them off.
3. Twist the spring loaded retaining catches to loosen the shoes from the back plates.
4. Release the other springs from the shoes and extract the mechanism from the drum.
5. dettach the handbrake cable from the shoes, this should just be a retaining lug.
6. Remove the handbrake cable from the back plate, either unclip it or bash it through the hole if it is stubborn.
7. Use a 10mm socket to remove the two bolts holding the brake cylinder in place, and extract the cylinder.
8. Use a 13mm socket to remove the four bolts holding the hub to the carrier.
9. Pull the drive shaft completely through the carrier and discard the wishbone
10. Use a hub puller to extract the drive shaft from the hub

I can say with absolute certainty the rear hubs are a complete nightmare!! I managed to get the two right hand side (normal rotating nut) loose by using my trusty breaker bar, it did take me lying at full stretch and a liberal soaking in WD40 before they finally cracked. However the other sides I had no luck with.

I finally threw in the towel when I gave up using the vice and jammed them into a reasonably sturdy black and decker work bench, with my full weight on the breaker bar, and me at full stretch all I succeeded in doing was snapping the work mate clean in two!
So I gave up and took it to a friend of mine at the local garage. I can only say that I was amazed at what happened next. He took my socket, went to his tool box, and came back with a 19v 2 amp cordless impact gun. 30 seconds of chuntering and straining and the first nut came free. a minute later and the second was free.

As you can imagine, we then proceeded to the office to discuss prices for said item in the catalog...

Phew... its all done!

Cortina front hub and disc assembly

Cortina front upright

Front hub extracted

Discarded calipers. These can be reconditioned if you wish to use them

The separated Cortina uprights.

The rear back plates separated out

separated rear hub assembly

Driveshafts (diff side)

Driveshafts (hub side)

All ready for shot blasting, priming and painting.