2000 GMC front hub bearing fight

[edgein72]

I need to replace the left front hub on my truck. It's 2 wheel drive. We have been trying to do it from the ground. We jacked up the truck and removed the wheel, the caliper, and the rotor. We then removed the 3 bolts and disconnected the wire. As you can expect the hub is pretty locked in there. We were using a hammer at first but it wouldn't budge. We then tried a 5 lb sledge and still no go. We sacrificed the rotor and bolted if on backwards and beat on it for a while still nothing. So we put it back together and parked it for now. I talked to a friend at a local shop and he told me that it's going to be a fight and we just need to keep beating the hell out of it. He said we can't hurt it, it's going to take a lot of brute force. We are not mechanics. I was hoping to be able to do this on my own though. Before we put it back together, we saturated it in WD40 hoping that would help. Anyone have any advice/tricks I can try to get this removed? My friend offered me his lift but it's an hour an a half away and I'd rather not drive it that far especially after the beating we put on it.

[truckdude239]

well number one get something other then wd40 it is not a penetration, get something like pb blaster and soak it front and back side i normally let them set a couple days and every few hours or then i wal bay spay it, then you will have to beat the daylights out of it

[edgein72]

Thank you sir ! I'll try that. I pick up a couple of cans of pb plaster last night.

[determined]

Been a while since I had a good fight with one.
Going by memory here is what works on the stubborn ones.
Remove the 3 bolts holding it on.
Reinstall the front lower bolt, thread it out so you have a 1/4 inch gap.
From the backside use a hammer and drift on the head of the bolt to break it free.

[edgein72]

My friend has an acetylene torch so we are going to get together this weekend and hopefully win that fight.

[Desert1957]

This is the tool you need , Install the puller on the studs.
IMO I would never put heat to steering/ suspension parts.

[edgein72]

So the hammer didn't work ! The rubber mallet didn't work ! The slide hammer was a no go ! I was going to try the 357 Magnum but decided against that ! So I went to good old Youtube. There was a redneck fella that said to grab a long extension and a socket. First he said to put the bottom 2 bolts back in part way and then he said to put the socket and extension on a bolt and find a spot on the frame to brace the extension and turn the wheel. Since I couldn't line it up on the frame, I put a pry bar between the frame and the extension and turned the wheel like he said. Well it destroyed the socket but it worked enough that I was able to use my chisels and tap it the rest of the way out ! Everything went back together much easier and I drove around on it for the rest of the day and nothing fell off or caught fire so I am good to go ! ! ! Thank you for your help ! Next is a full tune up and replacing all the O2 sensors. She got 207000 miles on her so she deserves some love.

[Desert1957]

Curious why the slide hammer pictured above didn't work? I have personally never had a problem using mine 5 or 6 times on many different trucks.

[edgein72]

Was really on there. Rusted in place. I used PB blaster to loosen it up. Still was locked in place. I live in NY and with the salt and everything else, I figure that's why it was such a problem.

[Bladeboy1998]

Yeah they always fight me, slide hammer hasn't worked on a gm wheel bearing for me in a while. I just use a really fat air hammer chisel bit and lightly walk it out at the points where the bolts go in. And clean it really well when you put it im, it makes it easier to do the next time because you're only going to get 40k out of it ��

[AussieinNC]

I just did both my fronts...(2001 GMC Sierra) and both were rusted in place bad...

Found this works...Jacked up and supported chassis with jack stand..remove wheel, caliper and rotor...PB Blaster soaked overnight...to remove left side, turn steering full right, place jack under hub flange and lightly take some weight...maybe 1/4"...then wack the hub flange with a 5lb hammer....

Both of mine came out in less than 5 mins each...the jack adds some resistance against the hammer and lessens vibration.

Use sand paper and lots of pb blaster to really clean out the flange hole, then add smear of HP grease over inside of flange hole...aids future removal of hub.

Hope this helps...