Wheel Hub

[vrmlbasic]

How do I remove the front passenger wheel hub on a 1992 LeSabre? Once I get that broken lug replaced, and get replacement body panels for the broken ones which I wrangled off, I'll have a drivable lesabre again.

Once I get it off, should I just get another hub from another car, or one of the ones that they sell at pepboys? I don't want to replace the lug, not just due to labour trouble, but because if one lug has died, the others will be soon to go.

Thanks for lending your expertiese.

[spinne1]

Remove wheel. Remove brake caliper (hold out of the way with wire or something.) Stick large pry bar through remaining lugs such that the bottom of the pry bar jams into the ground thus freezing the hub, then use a giant socket and a large breaker bar to remove the large wheel nut. It is over 30mm but I can't remember what size. The best thing to do is go to Harbor Freight and buy a 3/4 inch breaker bar along with a kit of very large metric sockets (30-40mm approximately) that are 3/4 inch drive and one of them will fit well enough to remove it. After the nut is off pull the entire wheel assembly toward you with your hand while gently pounding the center of the axle spindle out of the hub. Of course such pounding is not the recommended way to do it, but if you don't have the right tools it works great and if you don't hit it too hard it won't cause any damage (I've done it on mine several times and they are fine.) You want to make sure that the movement is of the wheel going outward and not the axle going inward into the transaxle.

[HotZ28]

Another way (and the easiest way) to remove the hub nut, is to leave the caliper in place and insert a large screwdriver in the brake rotor slot from the top of the caliper and then place the 36mm axle socket on the axle nut to remove. You will need either an impact, or a long breaker bar.

[polarzak]

I may have read this incorrectly, but do you really need to remove the hub, just to replace a lug. Can you not just bang them through to the back and insert a new one?

[HotZ28]

Originally Posted by polarzak

I may have read this incorrectly, but do you really need to remove the hub, just to replace a lug. Can you not just bang them through to the back and insert a new one?

The OP said;

I don't want to replace the lug, not just due to labour trouble, but because if one lug has died, the others will be soon to go.

This is only an assumption on his part, "if one stud dies, the others are soon to go"! Seems like a waste of money to replace the whole hub assy for one "dead" stud. Even if all the studs are damaged, it is easier and cheaper to replace all the studs, rather than the hub.
BTW, yes the stud(s) can be knocked out easily with the hub in place and a two-lb hammer. I just replaced one last week! (5-min job)

[vrmlbasic]

It has taken me a while to get the time, but I finally removed the wheel nut using some really redneck mechanics...and the noble sacrifice of a screwdriver.

I checked back here, and I saw the post about hammering the lug out...which makes sense, but it wasn't mentioned before and my auto expertise is limited lol.

So I got a hammer out of the garage and hammered the lug back until I couldn't hammer it any further, but I also don't see where it would emerge on the back of the whole assembly.
(The only things that I have removed from the car for this process are the wheel and the axl nut. )