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#%$#%%$#^ Dust Caps!


moto-m
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BF vice grips and a flat head screwdriver. take the vice grips and clamp them of the cap and wiggle then take a flat head screwdrive and get it in between the cap and the hub and it shoudl pry off pretty easily. i got mine off in less than 5 min for both sides. once you get those off make sure that youve got some O-ring or snap ring removers itll make life alot easier

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I sprayed the dust caps, bolts and studs with penetrating oil a couple of times a day for a couple of days before I installed the manual hubs, and everything came off realtively easy. For the dust caps I used a large vice grip, a large flathead screwdriver, a large hammer and some elbow grease. P...

 

The hardest part for me was removing the studs and replacing them with the ones provided with the manual hubs, but I've heard a lot of people have kept the stock studs without a problem. Just out of curiosity, do the stock studs really need to be replaced, or is it OK to use the stock ones?

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Hammer and appropriate chisel worked for me. Tapped around the diameter a bit so it worked off even, then put a bigger chisel in the gap, sorta wedging it out. Came off pretty well for me that way. Best of luck!

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I am trying to install manual hubs, and I can't even get one of the frickin dust caps off! I'm going to freak out! Any tricks?

 

I had the same problem about a year ago when i installed my drilled and slotted and I found that a monkey wrench works best to free the dust cap from the hub housing and then it will come off easily without pinching the hell out of it with some vice grips.

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Well, I finally got them off after prying them off the seat with several different screwdrivers then using the backs of two hammers. What was supposed to be a simple installation has turned into a nightmare.

 

I left the stock studs and the first hub seemed to go on fine. Then I started on the second and 2 bolts stripped. One of the studs unscrewed out and I spent probably an hour drilling off the nut on the other stripped bolt.

 

I finally got the hub off and decided I'd better take off the other one and install the studs provided. So, I stand tonight with no hubs on and nuts JB welded to the old studs so that I can screw them out easily tomorrow. I guess that is why they provide new studs. Any tips on installing these? Should I just put some permanent lock-tite on and screw them in?

 

Also, I'm not going to but I was just curious if you could drive the truck without the hubs? I don't see why not except for the fact that you would get dirt and brake dust up in everything.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In the end, everything worked out fine and I am actually glad that the stock studs stripped because I feel much more confident with the Warn studs. And no, I didn't just now finish. I just forgot to update everyone.

 

I would recommend that everyone install the studs, washers, and locking nuts provided by Warn. They are much stronger than stock. The JB weld idea only worked on one or two studs and I felt pretty stupid when I discovered a stud remover at Harbor Freight. Worked great.

 

I know that you can install the hubs without removing the wheels, but I would recommend that you don't try this as it is much easier to work without the wheels on.

 

Just calculated my gas mileage and went from about 16 to 18.7! Very happy!

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