I ran across this on the web. Since I don't have a puller I thought I'd give it a try. Works pretty well, though a little scary with a stubborn drum.

http://www.brickboard.com/GALLERY/images/11428.jpg



Operate at your own peril!

Am I misunderstanding what's happening here?

The lug bolts aren't attached to the drum, they're attached to the hub behind the drum and merely pass through the holes in the drum, right. Then it seems that, rather than pulling off just the drum, the hub is being pulled off the axle spindle (or what the top of the bottle jack is pressing against).

Perhaps I don't understand the parts configuration of the 120-130 cars -- I'm more familiar with 240s. But I hope someone can enlighten me.

Thanks.

Ken;

"The lug bolts aren't attached to the drum, they're attached to the hub behind the drum and merely pass through the holes in the drum, right." Wrong.

Lugstuds are in-fact pressed into the drum on 544/122/1800 models (and not part of a halfshaft with hub assembly, like on many later vehicles)...drum is held fast and concentric to halfshaft by a tapered, keyed center hub which interfaces with the tapered halfshaft.

Cheers

Wow, seems like a lot of effort to get around buying or borrowing a proper puller. In my old VW days I would loosen the nut a turn and drive a loop around the block, not good for the axle / drum mating surface, but it did the trick .

I don't like it much; there seem to be a lot of failure points in the loop here. I'll stick with some heat and my ipd puller.

Wreckers use a piece of chain with a lower rating than their cables because chains have no particular tendency to fly when they break because they are not elastic.

If a chain rig flies, it is because there some geometry problem, something elastic involved, or something that moves due to gravity.

This seems to be a really bad idea to me. Big potential to hurt your self.
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That's a joke, right? How would pulling on the studs remove the drum? The studs are pressed in from the back of the hub flange.
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1992 745, >500k km

oj;

It's certainly funny from a Rube Goldbergian perspective, but it's no joke! The forces are absolutely correct: Pulling on Studs with respect to pushing on axle shaft. The Studs wont pull out because they have a lip on the drum backside...something else has to give...and that is the tapered joint. It's called a puller because it pulls the drum from the shaft...the equal and opposite action really "pushes" the tapered shaft out of wheel hub.

Cheers

WOW ! That is scary, just trying to get all those pieces in position could be a challenge in itself.

Those links at the ends of the chains better be strong!

+1 to that. A flying link could kill you. Fixed bars or even threaded tubes turnbuckle style would be cheaper, easier, safer. Better still buy the proper Volvo type puller. Not that expensive.

I could see myself doing something like this. Question... do bottle jacks work sideways? Maybe they do, maybe they don't.

As for chain links breaking... perhaps a heavy blanket over the whole top of the whole whole apparatus. Overall, looks like a nifty idea.

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-Matt I ♥ my ♂

I have never been able to get a hydraulic jack to operate sideways or upside down, so this is interesting in itself.

As far as chains not flying when they break that is not always the case, at least in my experience. As a kid my dad was in the excavating business and he had two BIG Cats, a 977 loader and a D-9 bulldozer. We were using the 977 to attempt to pull new tracks onto the D-9 (each complete track weighed about 10,000 pounds) using a hefty 3/4" chain with each link having a welded web as reinforcement. My Dad told me to stand way back as he was afraid the chain might explode. When he started to pull the first thing that happened was the chain links "stretched" out
like rubber bands then the weakest link expolded and took off like a .45 cal bullet while the two ends of the chains snapped back with tremendous force. No one hurt, no damage done just a ruined chain and a lesson learned.

Bottle jacks do work on their side if the pump is down, which allows hydraulic fluid to get into the pump.

Besides flying chains, I'd be worried about damaging the wheel studs.
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john

The range of comments is very interesting. These drums were really stuck. I kept my distance with a cheater bar when the pressure got high. Some heat and a few taps with a dead blow mallet did the trick. Of course, I kept the nut on the axle so nothing went flying.
Bending or breaking studs was of little concern, notice the scoring inside the "puller" drum. That one came from the left side. The right side was similar. Both will be replaced.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with those drums. If you are the least worried about a scratch, you are so poorly informed you should not be working on this, as chances are you will leave it inferior to how it was when you began.

Did you have any problem getting an even pull?
It kind of looks like some of the links bent at the hub.
Heat works wonders - I've used it to pull a few stubborn ones myself.

Creative solution IMO.
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"Differences of opinions should be tolerated, but not if they're too different' - Sharon Craig

Even pull?
I think the links with the greatest pull bent until all were pulling the same tension.
Having 5 chains seems as though it would be more even than the pullers that attach to only three lugs.