Wire Wheel Hub Grease Cap Removal

The situation had all of the ingredients of a classic Sunday evening Healey project debacle. I had recently been released from an indentured servitude with my neighbor when I relocated my car from his garage into my own shop, and was looking forward to the convenience of being able to start a project on the car without having to be concerned with the completion date.

Subscribing to the restoration philosophy of “Owner Bonding” and maintaining a rolling restoration, I was undertaking to restore my Healey by rebuilding subsystems of the car over a period of time instead of the “Catastrophic Restoration” method, which requires total disassembly of the car. Being a red blooded American male, I was convinced that REAL men don’t need special tools, they can rely on that twenty fourth chromosome (the innate mechanical ability gene) to get them through the most complex mechanical problem. With this conviction, I had set aside a recent Sunday evening to begin the rebuild of the front end of my Healey, which would include the replacement of the front wheel hubs and various other front end components.

The process of jacking the front end of the car up provided no major challenges, nor did the removal of the front knock-offs. Then things got interesting. During the pre-rebuild preparation period, I noted that removing the grease cups on the front wheels of the car would require a special tool to pull the grease cup from the center of the front hub. I immediately discounted this as an unnecessary requirement. The removal of those grease cups very nearly brought the entire project grinding to a halt.

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention and the inevitable combination of a Sunday evening (approximately 7:30 with no chance of finding a decent hardware store open) and the gnawing feeling an other weekend has escaped without getting started on a Healey project (which has been postponed repeatedly) can bring out the creative genius in anyone.

Panic sets in. The problem appears to be pretty straight forward. What should I do? Until the grease cups are removed, the front end is not going to come apart. Examination of the threaded studs that protrude from the grease cup revealed a previous owner (Does this sound familiar? What will the next owner say about those clever solutions of mine?) had attacked the stud with a pair of needle nose vise grip pliers and mangled the threads in the process.That obviously wasn’t a great idea. Just to make sure. I tried it. No. it didn’t work for me either. Walt foranger to subside. Feel the power of the creative forces. Light bulb appears over my head. (Yes, the light is on.)

Now for the solution! On an Austin-Healey, the thread on the grease cup studs is 5/16″ 24 tpi. I chased the threads that had been mangled by the vise grips with a nut of the same size and this cleaned them up enough so that the threads were usable again. Once I had the grease cup out of the hub I was able to run a 5/16″ die down the threads to complete the restoration. I scavenged the following parts from the bits and pieces bin under the work bench:

1 -1/2′ x 3″ bolt
1-2 1/2″ square piece of 1/4″ steel
1 -1/2″ flat washer
2-1/2″nuts for the 1/2″ x 3″ bolt
The following tools will be required to fabricate these parts into a grease cup puller:
5/16 “x 24 tpi tap
17/64 drill bit
1/2″ drill bit
center punch
electric drill or drill press

Locate the center of the 1/2″ bolt as best as you can and mark it with the center punch. Dead center is nice, but not required. Holding the bolt so It will not spin, drill a hole in the hex head of the bolt. The hole will need to be at least 3/4″ deep. A 1″ deep hole allows plenty of room, so the tap will not bottom out when you are tapping the hole. I generally will drill a small pilot hole and progressively enlarge the hole until It Is the correct size for the tap that will be used. (In this case a 5/16″ x 24 tpi). Tap the hole in the head of the bolt with the tap.

Next mark the center of the 1/4″ steel with the center punch. The intersection of diagonal lines drawn from corner to corner will locate the center of the piece of steel. I recommend starting any hole to be drilled in metal with a small pilot hole, enlarging the hole progressively with larger drill bits until arriving at the final hole size. This will help to maintain control when drilling a large hole. The finished hole in the center of the steel plate should be 1/2″.

Now you are ready to assemble the tool. The head of the bolt with the 5/16″ x 24 tpi hole tapped Into it, screws onto the stud that protrudes from the grease cup. Slide the 2 1/2*square steel plate with the 1/2″ hole over the threaded part of the 1/2″ bolt that is now extending from the center of the splined hub. The end of the splined hub will stop the plate. Slide the 1/2″ washer onto the bolt and thread the 1/2″ nut onto the threads of the 1/2 ” bolt. If It Is necessary to tighten the 1/2″ bolt on the grease cup stud, thread two 1/2″ nuts on the 1/2″ bolt and lock them against themselves using two wrenches. Then tighten the 1/2″ bolt onto the grease cup stud and loosen the 2 nuts on the 1/2″ bolt and remove one of the nuts. Tighten the remaining nut down to the washer on the steel plate. As you rotate the nut on the threaded shaft, the grease cup will be pulled out from the splined hub.

I am sure that modifications can be made to this basic puller. The steel could be substituted with a piece of hardwood. The length of the bolt can be increased or decreased depending on the hub from which you are trying to extract the grease cup. The basic Idea is to remove the grease cups without doing a root canal on your wallet buying special tools, if they are even still available. I would rather spend my money on parts to repair my Healey, not buying special tools. Good Luck!

By John E. Palmer