Hub, Drum and Rotor Puller Kit, 8.5 Ton Forged

This is a forged 8.5-ton puller kit for the three jobs that stop a driveline teardown cold: a wheel hub that will not leave the knuckle, a brake drum rusted to the axle flange, and a rotor welded to the hat by corrosion. It is Astro Pneumatic 78830, built from the same alloy Astro uses on its ball joint press sets. The forcing screw takes a 1-1/4 inch socket, so you drive it with an impact wrench instead of standing on a breaker bar, and the body takes a 1-1/4 inch or 32mm wrench on the flats to hold it steady while you load it.

The kit comes with three hub adapters that cover the common hub face sizes on cars, light trucks, SUVs and vans, and the arms open to 14 inches, so it reaches across full-size truck drums as well as small FWD hubs. The drum and rotor arms have raised stops machined into them: hook a ratchet strap over the stops on a really stubborn drum and the arms cannot walk off the lip while the screw is under load. That is the failure that turns a cheap puller into a projectile.

On the bench or on the car the sequence is the same. Back the axle nut off but leave it on a few threads so the hub cannot fall, seat the correct adapter against the hub face, center the forcing screw on the axle stub, then run the screw in with the impact in short bursts and let it work. Shock and preload break the rust bond; steady grinding does not. On drums and rotors, spread the arms behind the lip, snug the screw, tap the drum face with a dead blow to break the corrosion ring, and finish with the screw.

This is the tool you want on hand for axle, half-shaft and transfer case work, where the hub has to come off before you can pull the shaft. Slide hammers bend flanges and hammering on a hub face ruins the bearing you were trying to save. A static-pressure puller loads the part in a straight line and leaves the bearing usable if you are only after the axle behind it.