What is this tool?

[jimjdm]

Hi All,

I am looking for a tool that I assume exists but that I cannot find because I am not sure what it is called. It would essentially be a portable press that would allow something to be pressed off of a shaft when there is only little space on one side of the thing being pressed off, essentially unlimited space on the other side, and an obstacle preventing a typical puller from being used. An example would be something like a tire rusted onto a shaft of a snow blower where it is desired to pull on the hub of the wheel close to the axle but the outer portion of the rim and the tire get in the way.

In its simplest form, the tool would look like a deep C-clamp with a fork on the fixed side and the swivel removed from the forcing screw. Using the tire example given earlier, the fork would fit around the shaft behind the tire, the tire would fit inside of the throat of the clamp, and the forcing screw would press against the axle. Information on the identity of this tool would be appreciated!

 

[paulsomlo]

Maybe a bearing separator would work?

 

[The Cobbler]

maybe something home made . and if your actual case is a snow blower tire ceased on an axle, good luck. sometimes they are there to stay and the only way to get them off is slice the hub off the axle

 

[toolenthusiast]

Kinda sounds like a hub grappler / hub tamer

 

[jimjdm]

Maybe a bearing separator would work?

That is the right idea, but the separator plate would need to be huge.

 

[jimjdm]

maybe something home made . and if your actual case is a snow blower tire ceased on an axle, good luck. sometimes they are there to stay and the only way to get them off is slice the hub off the axle

One use was a snow blower tire that did finally come off after a great amount of penetrating oil and weeks of patience. However, I have come across similar things and assumed that there is something already made for the situation.

 

[jimjdm]

Kinda sounds like a hub grappler / hub tamer

For the specific case of a tire on a snow blower, that would work, except that the tires are often directly put on the shafts with a pin through the shaft to keep them from coming off before they had a chance to rust on.

 

[Silver 92]

I use a piece of chain wrapped around the wheel/tire, top and bottom, then secured a piece of grade 8 all-thread through the links with g8 nuts and washers. Hardened the end of the all thread to a tip like a self centering puller, and slide that into the hub of the wheel against the axle.

A little impact wrench action and it pops off every time.

 

[seber]

I have a home made tool that look like a pickle fork but with a very thin leading edge and much lower rising angle for just such things. It comes in handy where bearing pullers would work but are fussier to use.

 

[oldmachinenut]

I have a home made tool that look like a pickle fork but with a very thin leading edge and much lower rising angle for just such things. It comes in handy where bearing pullers would work but are fussier to use.

Sounds similar to Jacobs chuck wedges.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Drilling and tapping two holes on the hub can allow you to use a harmonic balancer type puller.

 

[RTM]

Sounds like you need a beefy version of a valve spring compressor, just adjust the black bit to meet your depth. And make it strong enough to take the forces you need.

 

[joe_padavano]

Without more info, it's difficult to provide useful info. What's the diameter of the item being pulled? What is the press force required? What does the backside of the item look like? There are a bazillion existing tools for something like this, ranging from the aforementioned bearing splitter to hydraulic bearing pullers for rear axles to brake drum pullers for larger diameter items. More information will get you a more useful answer.

 

[Rinspeed]

Need a picture or two.

 

[neophyte]

Maybe wrong brand, but it sort of looks like these from the Imperial Stride Catalog.

 

[Old Man Roger]

A valve spring tool would need to be a metric **** ton stronger to get a mower wheel off of a rusted axle.

 

[RTM]

A valve spring tool would need to be a metric **** ton stronger to get a mower wheel off of a rusted axle.

Was thinking metric boatload stronger myself.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Was thinking metric boatload stronger myself.

I believe boatload to metric **** ton conversion is about 1.5 to 1.

 

[jimjdm]

I have a home made tool that look like a pickle fork but with a very thin leading edge and much lower rising angle for just such things. It comes in handy where bearing pullers would work but are fussier to use.

That would work OK if there is something behind the wedge that is strong enough and close enough for it to press against. You could deal with gaps using shims, but you still need something solid to wedge against. I would like a tool that presses against the shaft since that is always there.

 

[jimjdm]

Drilling and tapping two holes on the hub can allow you to use a harmonic balancer type puller.

I have not done it, but I have seen it done. It can be a solution sometimes, but there are cases where that would not be a great solution. Here is an example of that from the same snow blower with the frozen wheels. The frame has a jackshaft with a bearing on each end of the shaft outside of the frame and held on by a retainer bolted to the frame. Both bearings are supposed to slide on the shaft, but both are rusted on. It may be barely possible to get a bearing puller between the outside of the frame and the shaft, but it would be a lot easier and a sure thing to put a tool like I described between the inside of the frame and the shaft. The tool would fit around the shaft on the inside, the throat would accommodate the edge of the frame, and the forcing screw would press against the shaft.

 

[jimjdm]

Sounds like you need a beefy version of a valve spring compressor, just adjust the black bit to meet your depth. And make it strong enough to take the forces you need.

That is the basic idea, and I had thought of that . However as mentioned already, there is definitely a strength issue with an ordinary spring compressor. Valve springs exert on the order of hundreds of pounds of force, where tons would be the right order of magnitude for the tool.

 

[Old Man Roger]

If the snow blower is small enough, could you hang it an inch off the ground by the wheel and hit the axle? Kind of use the weight of the snow blower to help?

 

[jimjdm]

Need a picture or two.

The pictures of valve spring compressors are essentially what it should look like with possibly some variation on the fixed end to allow more flexibility. I had been assuming that there is a tool like I am describing, but I just did not know what it was called, so I could not find it. The hope was that someone would write that it is a <something> and then I could look into those. Now I am starting to wonder about that assumption.

 

[jimjdm]

If the snow blower is small enough, could you hang it an inch off the ground by the wheel and hit the axle? Kind of use the weight of the snow blower to help?

Both wheels have been removed already. I have seen people swear by letting penetrating oil work a long time. I was not in a hurry at all, so I kept adding penetrating oil every day or few days and trying to break the frozen parts loose for several weeks as an experiment to see if the parts would eventually free up. I was surprised, but if you wait long enough, the penetrating oil seems to work.

I posted originally so that I could look into getting some tool that would prepare me better in the future when time may not be as much of a luxury.

 

[jimjdm]

Without more info, it's difficult to provide useful info. What's the diameter of the item being pulled? What is the press force required? What does the backside of the item look like? There are a bazillion existing tools for something like this, ranging from the aforementioned bearing splitter to hydraulic bearing pullers for rear axles to brake drum pullers for larger diameter items. More information will get you a more useful answer.

I had not been overly specific because I am looking for a general tool that would work in a variety of applications, much like a gear puller does. The issue with pullers is that they do not allow you to get around a big obstacle like a tire or the side of a frame. Like gear pullers that come in a variety of sizes, the tool I am looking to find may also. However, as a ballpark set of specs, pressing force would be on the order of a few tons, shafts that get pressed on would be around 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter, and the throat would be deep enough for an obstacle that is about a foot wide.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Both wheels have been removed already. I have seen people swear by letting penetrating oil work a long time. I was not in a hurry at all, so I kept adding penetrating oil every day or few days and trying to break the frozen parts loose for several weeks as an experiment to see if the parts would eventually free up. I was surprised, but if you wait long enough, the penetrating oil seems to work.

I posted originally so that I could look into getting some tool that would prepare me better in the future when time may not be as much of a luxury.

Oh ya, I forgot you did mention that you got that particular wheel off already. Hope you used anti seize when you put it back together.

 

[joe_padavano]

I had not been overly specific because I am looking for a general tool that would work in a variety of applications, much like a gear puller does. The issue with pullers is that they do not allow you to get around a big obstacle like a tire or the side of a frame. Like gear pullers that come in a variety of sizes, the tool I am looking to find may also. However, as a ballpark set of specs, pressing force would be on the order of a few tons, shafts that get pressed on would be around 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter, and the throat would be deep enough for an obstacle that is about a foot wide.

Naturally, the problem is that any crossbar long enough to span a large diameter will need to be extremely beefy to avoid simply deflecting when you apply load. And any hooks on the backside will similarly need to be beefy and stiff. As I said, the closest commercial item I know of is a brake drum puller, but that likely won't work with a snow blower tire and wheel.

This is the one I have:





This one is for tractor-trailer drums. It might give you an idea.

 

[jimjdm]

Naturally, the problem is that any crossbar long enough to span a large diameter will need to be extremely beefy to avoid simply deflecting when you apply load. And any hooks on the backside will similarly need to be beefy and stiff. As I said, the closest commercial item I know of is a brake drum puller, but that likely won't work with a snow blower tire and wheel.

This is the one I have:





This one is for tractor-trailer drums. It might give you an idea.

I am surprised the larger puller is not even stronger given the size difference of the drums. The OTC puller is rated at 7 tons, while the bigger one looks like it is using 3/8 inch grade 70 chain, so just about 10 tons for the three pieces. However, sometimes it is hard to judge things from pictures. Grade 120 chain would boost the rating to 15 tons, which seems reasonable for the drum size, or maybe the chain is larger in diameter.

I have found the name of the tool I am looking for, at least in a general sense: a C-frame press. Here is one from https://www.trick-tools.com/Mittler_Bros_Standard_Bench_Press_3_ton_2200_M_151 that has the depth that I would like.



Unfortunately, the fixed end, besides having a lot of height, still would not allow a shaft to pass through and it is a bench unit not something portable. It seems that what I was looking to find is not out there rather than being a tool that I had not seen yet.