Hey all,
I am having difficulty removing the rear disc wheels on my 27 Capitol AA. I have removed the little aluminum caps as well as the castle nut. The Front wheels were easy to slide off, but I am having trouble with the rear. I see that there is a key way slot that needs to be lined up. The driver’s rear starts to slide off and than seems to get hung up. The passenger rear will not budge. I do not have a wheel puller or know of where to get one. Hopefully I am not missing something. Do the brakes need to be released? By the way, the car has been sitting for 30yrs. It’s very slow going with rust.
Thanks,
Robert
Rear wheel removal...1927-8 repair manual.
I’ve been looking at that while attempting to remove the wheel but it doesn’t really go into much detail
The metal disc wheels are held on by six studs and nuts. The wood spoke wheels are bolted to the brake drum and are held on by the axle nut as shown in the page illustrated above. If the disc wheels are stuck on the brake drum by rust using a penetrating oil and a little heat with wiggling and juggling aided by a rubber hammer on the back side of the tire.
How sweet the roar of a Chevy four
Participant on Chatter since 11/22/2001
19758 posts on the former Chatter site
If you want to remove the hub and brake drum, you will need a wheel puller. Don't use a hammer on the end of the shaft! The puller threads on where the Hubcap goes. Gary Wallace (Early Chevrolet Parts) should have one.
@spross If they are solid disc wheels you can loosen the lug nuts one full turn and drive the car in a figure eight pattern a few times to loosen the wheel from the hub. If the car doesn't run you can rock the car side to side with some penetrating oil on the hub area and get it loose that way.
@chip Thankfully, I managed to remove all the lug nuts but the wheel wouldn’t budge. After removing the lug nuts, would I still need to remove the aluminum hub cap, and other trim? (Arrows pointing in the attached picture to the trim and cap).
Also, would I not need to remove the castlenut to remove the wheel? I was reviewing the manual and I see that it has a wooden wheel depicted.
It sounds like you need a hub puller to separate the hub/wheel from the axle.
The hub cap threads are 2 3/8-16, so that is the 'size' of the hub puller that you need. Gary Wallace might have one and they sometimes come up on ebay. Maybe you can borrow one if a VCCA member lives near by.
When you get the puller, take off the aluminum hub cap, remove the big castle nut off the axle, crank down the center bolt of the hub puller onto the end of the axle, and then give that bolt a whack with a sledge hammer.
Dean
Here's a pic of my hub puller. I bought it on ebay a number of years ago.
Dean "Rustoholic" Meltz
San Leandro, CA
3511 posts on vccachat.org
1927 LM one ton truck - tinyurl.com/Lurch-VCCACHAT-Gallery
1928 AB Canopy Express (1/2 ton truck) - tinyurl.com/Justin-Stovebolt-Gallery
@rustoholic thanks for info. It would be good to get my hands on a puller. I will have to keep my eyes out for one.
I still suggest using the technique I posted this morning. Rust is holding the metal plate onto the studs. If you have a very thin wedge you might be able to tap it between the wheel and metal plate to start it moving. Soaking with penetrating oil several times with some time between them can be of help. So can a little heat from a propane touch. Just enough to expand the metal a bit and quenching with water. Do not heat enough to change color of the metal parts. It may be necessary to use the heat/quench cycle a number of times as the steam from the water helps create gaps in the rust.
How sweet the roar of a Chevy four
Participant on Chatter since 11/22/2001
19758 posts on the former Chatter site
@chip I will have to give that a try. Thanks so much for the advice