Removing Stubborn Shafts from Flat Belt Pulleys 

It's easy to make suggestions when watching from 3000 miles away, but I just can't help myself. By placing a piece of steel pipe with an inside diameter just a bit larger than the shaft underneath the hub and pressing down on that so you are not putting any pressure on the rim of the pulley, but rather on the hub, you have a much better chance of pressing the shaft out without breaking the rim or spokes. Here in Germany flat belts are still in use to some extent and this is a common problem. Supporting the hub is the answer. Really appreciate the efforts you make to share your work with us.

I feel your pain Keith. Been on jobs like that many times. They can extremely time consuming and frustrating, even worse when the customers don't want to pay you for all the time spent working on the job. But you did good, and tackled it in the same way I would, by boring out the center. I've done that on rotor shafts before. I'm glad to see that press finally pop! Success! Talk to ya soon. Adam

After boring the relief hole use an endmill let's say 3/4 inch diameter and plunge mill on two sides of the sleeve until you just nick the orginal hole .This will release all of the pressure. Even if you do score the old diameter it will not be detrimental to the outcome or function of the new assembly. This has worked for me when on a breakdown and don't have time to be so patient. Thanks for the video and I appreciate your calmness.

You, Sir, have the patience of Job! Thank you for a lesson on patience and perseverance. Whew!

Good video we pressed out shafts up to 8" at an electric motor company and there were times that puckered us up waiting for shafts to move. But you really need to be wearing safety glasses with sideshields at all times in the shop.

Well I have been enjoying your episodes quite a bit I love restoring sruff when I get a chance. I realize that part of the problem in getting the shaft out was it got galled by a set screw but , I can offer two suggestions when pressing a shaft out of a cast iron pulley. 1 Support the hub of the pulley so no force is applied to the rim or spokes only the hub. This will insure that the spokes do not shatter or flex and allows you to use the full force the press. 2 When you have as much force as the press will muster, tap on the hub with a hammer or use a blunt flat air chisel bit to apply some vibration to the hub and it will let go lots easier.

My goodness. I have watched a gentleman in Indiana that restores Oil Pulls, Averys etc. He has had press's on shafts like this for weeks. I would stop in to see him on my trips to Florida. Week after week the report was that he gave it another quarter turn. They always give-one way or another. Appreciate the videos. Glad I found them. Thanks!

hi Keith having worked in the heavy transport industry for 30 years you are doing everything correctly but for the one thing it really needs. when things are seriously time welded together only extreme smoke and perhaps heat and pressure at the same time, but shock is the key. thanx for the videos simon

I was on the edge of my seat watching this. I was actually cringing waiting for the 'crack' as the stuck shaft started to move. I don't know about you, but I always shut my 'good eye' when I'm doing something like this - you know, for safety :-) Brilliant video, thanks for sharing!

The last time I saw this much drama surrounding pressing a shaft out of a hub, someone was pressing a tapered shaft out the wrong way.

Perseverance is something you are teaching, and a lot of young fellas never learnt. Well done bro

I'm more of a heat man than a machinist, a torch man forever, and in my work, and once getting advice from a superb metal worker, you can take advantage of a strange phenomenon of metal shrinkage. Most people would think to heat the bigger piece to expand it, but this guy's advice and some personal experience taking out really stuck bolts, is to heat the bolt rapidly while trying to keep the big piece cooler, and then quenching the hot bolt (don't heat it red hot) will shrink it. Metal heated and cooled will often end up smaller in some dimension. Since the bolt is restrained in the wall, it cannot initially expand, so it does in the long direction, and then it will end up ever-so-smaller the round way. This feature is very apparent when re-arching flatbed semi-trailers as you heat and quench areas of the top half of the web sections without heating the flange. You can arch I-beams to a serious degree with nothing but this shrinking! I think a very rapid heating of the inner wall of that drilled shaft and then immediate cold-water filling would start the process. Then when everything is cold, warm up the wheel hub a bit and press. It might just work!Mike

Great work! I couldn't believe how tough it was to press that out, even after you had removed 95% of the shaft material. Thanks for the post-mortem - I was really curious to see why it was so stubborn.

I just watched a thirty minute video about pulleys and you had me on the edge of my seat for every single minute of it!!! I was rooting for you man and you finally got it!!! Haha!!

Another title for this could be ... " Why the Split Tapered Pulley is a Great Invention". Those flat belt pulleys have so much surface area on the shaft, danger! Restoration creates challenges that modernization would avoid (by replacing ALL the rotating parts). Maintaining our manufacturing history makes it worthwhile if you stay safe, but don't forget you are the one to decide when any given part becomes better to scrap, or modify than restore. We need YOU thanks for your awesome work!

One thing I have learned over the years is it's a restoration- they do things like that. You take on what seems to be a simple task, 2 or 3 weeks later you're still scratching your head. The only keyword to apply here is "patience". That first "pop" was pretty satisfying, but the amount of flex on the press frame made me a little wide-eyed.

I love this .... and I work for Verizon... But My father worked as a Machinist for Bethlehem Steel at the Sparrows Point Maryland Plant for 40 years, so I had plenty of exposure in dads shop...He taught.t me a lot but not enough... ;-) wonderful video indeed, thank you again

A method i have used is shrinking the shaft instead of expanding the pulley with heat (which i try fist) ...when you heat steel/iron up, it expands we all know that.but when it is cold again it will have shrunk sightly and will be tighter than it was originly we can use this...after you drill the shaft out if you got the stick welder and run half a dozen breads on the inside the shaft ,let it cool off it will have almost fell out...i use this method on bearing outer races that are in a blind hole and cannot be knocked/pressed out ..one zig zag weld bead all the way round the race and they literally fall out

Been there there and done that. Once had to rebuild an old cider press. All was going well until I got to one of the driver gears. I put all the pressure I felt it could stand. Just as I decided to stop pressing, BANG! The cast iron gear exploded into 6 pieces. This press was handed down from the old man's father. It turns out that it had tapered keys and that one was on backwards. The more I pressed the tighter it got. I ended up making the gear from scratch. Used gun blueing to darken it to match its twin gear. When the owner came to pick it up, he didn't believe me when I told him what happened. I had to show him the broken gear pieces. Then he could not tell which gear I had made. That made my day!

Keith I turned wrenches for 25 years in a automotive garage. I can't tell you how much time I lost by getting mad and aggravated and not walking away when I should have. The worst for me was broken bolts in the block that I just could not get to. What a pain. I never liked the air powered Jacks because I liked the feel of how much pressure I was putting on a part. Guess a gauge would have helped. I was removing a pressed race off of a front hub and was using an air hammer with a Snap on chisel. The end of the chisel shattered and metal in bedded in my neck area. Like to have never got all the shrapnel out of me. I do not think Snap on is nowhere worth the outrageous prices they charge. If you use Snap on credit they charge you 24% interest on top of the crazy price. Thanks as always for your time and effort. You are very talented person.

The mother of all stucks there Keith, glad you got it out with the pulley intact. Stuck stubborn things like that pulley can be so exasperating as to lead to Shop Rage that can result in damage to not only the part but your pride for letting that inanimate object get your goat. Stepping back and regrouping is a great way to deal with those pesky little buggers that want to drive you crazy and egg you into making a big mistake.

Well done Keith. I would have loved to have been working on this with you. I would have told you of the fantastic tip I was once given...Weld a nut onto under side of shaft, and use a slide hammer from below whilst pressing from above...nothing beats a little impact!

You have learned by your past mistakes, and developed new methods that work. WOW!!! You have me on the edge of my seat! When that finally let go, I jumped!

Great job on the shaft extraction and lots of good comments too. One suggestion I didn't notice was to heat the shell of the shaft AFTER it has been drilled out. I've seen problems very similar with broken bolts in engine blocks. Keith's comment early in the series not to heat a stuck bolt but to heat the casting around it is spot-on. However, after the center has been drilled out, heat on the remaining shell makes it more malleable--which is just what you need when pressing it out. A second option is to continue the slightly off-center drilling or boring until you break through the shell in one place. Then use had tools (chisel, punch) to collapse the shell toward the center. It doesn't take a lot of collapsing until the core is lose enough to remove with very little force. I've saved many a casting this way. And in the case of a hardened steel bolt broken off in aluminum alloy engine block, collapsing a drilled-out core is sometimes the only option.

Hi Keith, There's a technique I've used a couple of times because I lacked a large diameter drill. I drilled the shaft offset (close to its outer surface) and then bored it out until I just broke through the surface at one point. If the shaft alignment is good, you might break through all the way through the hub, but if not, no matter. I closed the boring head down a little and offset the hub to work on the unbroken sections of the bore wall. Eventually I had a break all the way through and the shaft pressed out no problem. On another even more stubborn shaft, I had to drill a row of holes across the shaft to allow it to 'spring' more easily.

take a hacksaw and cut a vert.slit in shaft after hollowing out the shaft. This works well with old pipe in fittings. Mike B.

As an old fitter of 40 years, when we had shaft that were stuck we would blow a hole through the shaft with a gas axe, an with care, work towards the edge. When you reach the edge the air gap between shaft and boss would stop you touching the inner boss face, you can do this both side thus the shaft becomes two shells and can then be pressed or knocked out, a bit of care and a bit of nerve, saves a lot of hard work. This even work on threaded caps.

Hi Keith, I'm with Bruce, 3000 miles away and thinking that it was being supported on the rim, especially when you turned it into a hospital case with the blanket. But I was with you when it started to move, what a relief that must have been. Well done. Turned out to be a riveting video, all in all. Much enjoyed. Regards.

THE HUB OF THE PULLEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPORTED so the spokes would not be stressed & possibly fail.

Don't know why I watched this, I've done this thousands of times, but this one was a tough one. You always need a bigger lathe or a longer/larger drill bit. It's a good feeling when one finally gives it up like this one did.

Went on a ride along with a CAT mechanic once. He was called out to get a huge king pin out. The local yocals had been beating on it for 3 days with sledge hammers. We rolled up, he took a gander. walked back and setup stuff on his welding equipment. He spent a about an hour blowing out the center with carbon arc. Hit the inside of the cut out with a garden hose and proceeds to shove it out with one arm. Pin hit the ground and we were gone. I was thoroughly impressed.

Just come across this video. Back when I worked in a machine shop and we had extreme stuck shafts like the last one we would drill out the center like you did but all the way through then take a cutting touch to the inside of the drilled hole and cut to the outside. If one was careful the torch would stop cutting when it got got to edge of the shaft. This was especially true if the pulley etc. was cast iron. This was relatively fast and saved a lot of time and frustration.

Guy is a smart mechanic. I worked my whole life doing things like this, and he knows what he is talking about.

I had a similar situation with a larger 4" shaft. I did the same by drilling mostly through with a 3" drill. We put dry ice into the hole for half an hour and it just fell out.

thanks for all the info. I am working to restore a 10" Sheldon Lathe (E drive). The info you have on the net has been invaluable. I am now trying to get the j-type furnas drum switch wired to a new motor. Thank you for the info you have made available across the various sites.

penetrating oil: to make "great stuff", you need 3 things: a solvent, like your acetone, a lubricant, like your trans fluid, and number 3, a substance that likes to eat rust itself. now most stuff that does isn't entirely compatible with solvents and oils, or long term soaking of ferrous metals, or both. however, there are 2 glaring exceptions: turpentine (which can also double as solvent), and plain old dollar store DOT3 brake fluid (which also kind of doubles as an oil). my "secret formula" penetrating oil is about equal parts any auto oil (used or new, no real difference), some "past it's prime" lacquer thinner, and "the old bottle of brake fluid in every garage". leaving it actually covering the part (as in submerged, not just coated) works far better, as does taking whatever container it soaks in, and leaning it against some fairly constant (or at least frequent) source of vibration (like propping it against the air compressor tank). the lube's purpose is obvious, the solvent helps cut the old goo, which increases penetration, but the "rust antagonist" is where the "magic" hides. submerged, the rust eater has ample opportunity, the vibration floats out particles in suspension, and the solvent and lube pretty much preclude it just relocating in a way that is no help to your efforts. i've gotten parking brake cables on forklifts that had spent decades in brackish sand pit duty to return to "usable until the new ones come in" condition, from "ginger cousin itt that kind of resembles a cable or something". try it, you'll like it, promise!

All the tension of a Hollywood blockbuster! On the edge of my seat until that final "POP".

I agree with the facemask comment and like very much the "blast blanket" tip. I applaud your patience and perseverance on this job. A LOT of us could take a tip from your experience here. Thanks so much for sharing....Fred

Glad you won the battle on the pulleys and no one got hurt on the making of this video. That was a good idea to put the blanket over the pulley. I once got a piece of metal stuck in my arm and the production manager took it out with a electric magnet. It was a piece of tool steel. Thanks for sharing.

CONGRATULATIONS job well done!!! I see at 23:02 where the gremlins decided to visit, you really need to lock your doors.

Hi Keith! Nice job DONE!!! I couldn't really see your press setup; but am assuming you had the hub supported either with bed steel or a big bushing? This to eliminate ANY flex in the spokes and minimize damage......I'm sure you did; I just couldn't see it. I do a lot of big sheeves on sand & gravel equipment....a couple things: when heating a big pulley like that; don't heat the hub. Heat the rim circumference. The hub is constricted by the spokes, and heating it just makes it tighter. You heat the circumference and it stretches the spokes and grows the bore. Also; a Slice ultrathermic torch would be a great investment for the work you do. I use mine frequently on big pins (crane or dozer drive chain).....with that shaft cut off you could blow a hole right through the center and indeed it would have shrunk enough to drop out with a hammer. I enjoyed the video......with the tools on hand you GOT IT DONE!!!! Thanks, Sean.

I am not a machinist, but I have certainly been the victim of my own impatience. So while I found the video quite interesting, what I found most valuable was process you went through to address the challenge of removing the shaft from the pulley. At each step, you did not simply apply force until something 'gave' but rather you applied a reasonable amount of force for the step. When each step failed to produce the desired/expected result, you stopped and thought it through before proceeding. I was also impressed to see you (apparently suggested by a subscriber) take safety into consideration by wrapping the pulley in a blanket. I have direct experience in what can happen if you treat safety with a cavalier attitude. Once, when I was approximately 20, I worked in a machine shop where safety was viewed as something unnecessary that ate into your profits. As a result, I one day found myself operating a drill press with dull bit. I was drilling a piece of material that was being held in a jig. I was instructed to hold onto the jig with one hand, operating the press with the other. The jig should have been clamped down, but I was new, inexperienced, and had a quota to meet. The results were all too predictable and I severely damaged the hand that I had quite foolishly thought could overcome the force of the machine when the dull bit started to break through.. Like I said, I am not a machinist, but watching your video was a great reminder of how a skilled, experienced, and seasoned professional approaches a task. Thank you.

Great solution finding video, I love seeing problems get solved. Videos like this are great for exercising the mind, seeing how someone else gets the job done their way and hearing alternatives from others. Please keep on posting them.

That was a great and wise fundamental engineering approach, Pull on an elastic band and it gets thinner, push on it, and it gets fatter. By pushing on the bottom of the "tube", you are literally pulling the shaft out, and thus thinning its diameter. Very good!! Perhaps you, like me, enjoy the hand feel connection with the work process by keeping with the manual jack lever. Automating the press would be great for production, but I'd lose the feel of the job.

The correct process is this: bore it out, heat the outside, fill the center with liquid nitrogen, support it from the hub (not the rim) on the press, then press it out.

Years later. Still a valuable lesson in reality and patience and perseverance. Thanks!

It was a relief when you finally wrapped the pulley with a thick blanket. I've not seen machinery explode in exactly that situation, but I have seen an early Ford Dorset diesel engine shatter on a dynamometer and bits of crankcase, conrods and pistons embedded in the soundproofing that lined the walls. Those engines would run off oil vapour from the crankcase breather if they got really hot. With the injector pump bypassed there was nothing limiting RPM, and they revved until they exploded, or someone was crazy enough to get close enough to pull off the breather pipe. I've seen that done as well, while I should have been running away! Then there were the self inflicted fate temptations where we put an airline on a big ball race to rev it up and drop it on the floor. They'd actually sit for a moment like Wiley Coyote stepping off a cliff. Then race at incredible speed across the workshop floor and smash into a wall. We were eventually warned that the outer case could explode at the high RPMs, and lost our nerve. It's amazing some of us manage to grow old!

***** Hi Keith, lots of times I will just oil it down for a couple of days, put it in a press and put some pressure on it and leave it overnight. There have been many cases of coming in the next morning and finding the shaft sitting on the floor. That burr on the shaft is why I always have an undercut next to key ways.

Was anyone else laughing with nervous anticipation waiting for the big bang of that last series of pushes with the press?

Just watched this video... 7 years after it was made! One thought that occurred to me: With the stuck shaft bored out, and pressure on the press, heat it up from the outside. Then, while still hot, spray/pour water into the hollowed out shaft. The thin-walled shaft will shrink away from the pulley hub and initiate movement.

I congratulate Keith on successfully removing that last shaft. Your patience is commendable. However, there is a part of me that is sorely disappointed that I didn't get to see a pulley shatter after investing my time and emotion! Well done, as ever, Keith.

now that was a tough one,, the others have covered my thoughts, so , nice work.

I was squinting when you had all of that pressure on it.

Hi Keith, Imagine, you're digging in steel made way over 100 years ago, just like an archeologist. Yep just like you I've gotten into stubborn shafts, discouraging... Good thing you were on video and you rate those "for all audiences". And you're so right about patience and thinking the problem over. Cheers, Pierre

I have heard abom recommend you and I am glad I found you. I really appreciate the time you take to make the videos and explain things so well. I hope one day to visit the museum as I love old farming equipment - I guess it reminds me of growing up on a farm in the 50s and 60s. Thank you again for taking the time to do this - you are a good presenter and I learn constantly.

Have you ever tried stick welding some passes on he inside of your bored hole? It will heat and then shrink and pull in . Postville Blacksmith

Thought of 2 additional things I wanted to add. First, after breaking a pulley(s) I think I would have supported the hub in the press as it was such a problem. Second, I like the blanket idea (yes shattered pulleys fly around) and I would have put on a full face safety shield. For some strange reason it did make my laugh at you with the pulley - mostly because I have been there as well!! :-) Thanks for the video!

I realize this video is 5 years old but I wanted you to know that I was holding my breath as you put the pressure on this and nearly jumped out of my chair when it let go the first time. Great video and persistence.

Now we see the two meanings of "galling". Great job. Thanks for showing us about patience.

Don't know if you noticed but you have ghosts coming in and out of your door.

Try tapping on with a hammer while under pressure on the outside housing. Done this all the time at work when using a 40-ton press and it would stall. As the vibration transfers from one metal to the other 99% of the time it will pop.... Give it a try some time.

Hey great, you got it. You won. It's amazing how patience and persistence along with brute strength and awkwardness will save the parts. I have not read many of the comments, but comment suggested supporting the hub of the pulley in the press. From my experience and escapades I'd had have made junk out of the piece, broken spokes in every direction. I thought you were quite brave heating the hub even a little to get the set bolts out of the other pulley. I've had even a small amount of heat in the center break cast spokes. I have many times heated the set bolts to just get the rust in the threads to break the seize but still being careful to not twist the bolt off. Don't try it while it's red. The way that shaft spun in the hub you not only had natures weld (rust) to deal with, but also the stacking of the metal wedged it extremely tight, almost a friction/stir weld. Sometimes I've ruined the hubs by horsing the shaft out in the press. It leaves an unwanted groove in there. I'm envious of your milling /drilling machine and how you used the indicator to find center. After you had the center bored out with the big drill bit, did you consider using the cutting torch to just cut a slot in the shaft out to the hub of the pulley? Granted you'd have needed hole clear through to get slag to blow on through. As much material as you bored out, running several beads of weld inside the bore, as was already suggested, would have shrunk the shaft enough to have relieved a lot of your seize, kind of like welding on the inside of a bearing race in a wagon hub. You had me on the edge on my seat. You always had another plan. When plan A or B or C doesn't work, there is always D, E and F. Congratulations. You WON. Mike Roberts

I once told some friends I want to build a 200 ton press. They all said, what for? That's nuts! This video shows exactly why I want to build a 200 ton press.

If I had been in the same situation due to my lack of a big press I think I would of bored all the way through to a thin wall then threaded a hacksaw through and cut the wall through to the casting in a couple of places, then attack with a hammer. In fact if you can get on centre well enough you could bore until it is like foil and pick it out. But it was a deep hole so might need more of the shaft cutting off. Or possibly the pulley would of ended up in a million pieces :)

support the hub not the outer wheel cut a slot in the bushing heat then quench the piece with water

Well, I may be much younger than most of your viewers at just 22, but let me say that I appreciate the skill and craftsmanship that you show in all your videos just as much as the next guy. I'm eager to learn just about anything I can from you and you seem to have plenty to share with us, so thank you, really for making these videos and taking the time out of your life to share these with us all. I know it isn't easy, and I'm sure you have much better things to do than edit video or record these things. Just know that you have another die hard viewer on your side that's eager to learn about your next project! Thanks!

That one may turn out to be your favorite pulley. Anyone that doesn't like a good pulley video just don't know what's good. Thanks for showing how patience and determination works. You are right though, sometimes you just got to lay the problem down and walk around it for a while and then come back.

And you never swore once! Or is it just good video editing? Thought you were gonna lose it Keith :-)

Hollow carbon arc rod hooked to the air compressor and welder,burn right thru!

Love all your videos Keith. No matter what the content is. You are the mr rodgers of the youtube machinist world. Your videos are relaxing to watch and educational. I thank you for all your time and hard work

An old trick my dad showed me a long time ago messing with old cast iron stuff. He used candle wax and and torch, the wax would melt between the parts and wash out the rust and help lubricate when taking it apart.. might give that a try sometime. I enjoy watching people restore old stuff..

When you had drilled out the shaft you should consider using a coping chisel to cut a slot along the inside of the bore. That will destroy the hoop strength of the remaking ring of the shaft.

This is actually the second time I watched this video. Between this one and a couple others I have watched it convinced me that when I build my press next month I will build a 50 ton press instead of just a 30 ton. Thanks for the great video.

Love your work mate. I trained as a diesel mechanic but worked as a machinist for my dad fixing rusted on crap on commercial fishing boats for a few years. I often wish that we had the time to ponder on a job for more than a few minutes if the fish were running 😎 Keep up the good work mate👍

After you get it drilled, crush up dry ice and fill the cavity with it.

That shaft may have been stuck, and resisted all your attempts to whisper sweet nothings in its ear, but I guarantee you, if it was put in service in a critical application, that pulley would've come flying off of there all on its own... LOL, looks like that museum needs to buy you an electric hydraulic press.

Gotta say, I enjoyed watching this one. Standing at the press, thinking - what am I missing here- What on earth do I need to do. Sure is great when it finally breaks free. Thanks- Well done.

I enjoying seeing these types of projects. We have all fought a project like this. Thanks for showing the techniques, methods and resolution. Best to you.

If you could bottle rust you'd put loctite out of business overnight, I've had some drama with marine shafts over the years and just kept building bigger hydraulic presses.

...to paraphrase Prego's Spaghetti Sauce: "it's out of there!!"

Lots of pushing out old shafts ! Congratulations ! 👍👍👍

I realize I'm coming very late to the party, but I admire your perseverance. Your comments about letting the problem rest while you did something else resonated with me, reminded me of something Richard Raffan said in one of his books on woodturning: "Sometimes the only thing to do is put down the tool, shut off the lathe, and go for a walk." I did have an idea, although maybe it wouldn't have applied in this case. Once you'd gotten the shaft bored out leaving it as thinwall tubing, use a flexible shaft with a cutting head to cut two or three grooves down the inside. That would encourage the bored part of the shaft to collapse, maybe with some assistance from a hammer and punch.

press a verance

Did anyone else jump out of their skin at 28:27? :)

I hate it when the part finally gives like that. To this day I still jump when it happens, and jumped in my seat when it happened on your video too! As we say here, it fought you all the way.

Wow Keith, those pulley shafts fought every step of the way. Good video,,thanks Harvey

Work is work, gotta do whats required to make the unit function properly. Enjoyed the watching.

Mr. Rucker, in addition to thoroughly enjoying your videos, I really like your music. You're better than TV!

Keith this had to be the best video to date and I have been watching for only a month now getting caught up on your whole libray. slow and steady can be the best solution in life sometimes.

Keith, the next time you try this operation use heat. Get a rosebud torch tip, two torches would be better but one would suffice on these smaller pulleys. The main thing is to heat the outside of the pulley first. If you first heat up the center a lot, which you didn't, you can break the cast iron because the outside hasn't expanded but the inside, hub and spokes have, causing stress and strain. Heat up the outside first, working inwards to the center. Doing so will expand the whole casting and in doing so, expand the diameter of the center allowing the shaft more clearance to pass through. I was shown this by a master machinist who I saw drop a vertical shaft from a cast aluminum wheel by its own weight using only heat and gravity. Thanks! Jacques

My late father often told us to walk away for awhile if you can if not going well. Often worked too. Interesting press rig. Kept waiting for that "Big Bang " .

Hi there Keith,what a fight! Had a similar problem with a pulley that had spun on the shaft and friction welded itself on. Had to bore it all the way as no amount of heating,cooling or pressing was going to shift it! Thanks for another great video,keep them coming!

I agree with the thought of supporting the hub just to take the strain off the spokes and limit the possibility of breaking the wheel. Also reducing any flex forcing the top of the hub pushing in. Good idea cutting the center out for the same reason. What I wanted to add was a personal experience, where this seedy old cuss of an auto mechanic, put an axle and bearing in a press that wouldn't move, not even with the Hot Wrench, so he called it. He put all the pressure he could muster on the press and hit the top of the press with a 4 or 5 lb. hammer. Not real hard, just a good tap. The second or third time he tapped it, BANG! it cut loose. He looked at me and said sometimes ya' gotta' shock it. That axle was scored under the bearing race too. I just had to share that.

One hell of a good job Mr. Rucker! I don't know if it would have applied to this because your problem was raised material from the pully spinning on the shaft but I've found on several occasions on freeing up brake bleeders and recently a 50 year old cylinder head had an exhaust stud broken off and siezed in the threads. What I do is heat both pieces as hot as I can get them in without causing damage to the main piece of material and then shocking it with cold water. On the bleeders, I just heat the bleeder only till it's red, squirt water on it, do that three to 5 times and sure as heck, they come right out. So now when it comes to old bleeders, I put very little pressure on them in the first place and then get out the torches. The other example was a head from a 318 polyspheric cylinder head from a 62 Plymouth Fury. The manifold broke and I was tasked with changing it. All the bolts came off and a couple of the 5 studs. One of the studs had broken off flush, the other two has some left. I used the same procedure as the bleeders and the two with enough to get visegrips on came right out. I started small and very slowly and carefully drilled a center hole, and then started opening the hole progressively. There came a point that if I had gone any further there wouldn't have been any part of the stud left for the easy out to grip to. I got one to grip very well but the remaining piece still wasn't budging. Like in your example, I needed the cast iron to expand but not the stud. BUT, I heated both very hot and shocked them several times, let it cool and then heated the the stud very little and the cast quite a lot at least 20 times, each time the stud would rotate a little. I broke the easy out trying to get it out of the stud but at least we were able to use that hole, and the threads in it after a quick clean up, to hold the manifold down without needing to use a helicoil. I hate those things. I honestly believe that the remainder of the stud never would have come out if I didn't shock it first.

When we had a stubborn shaft we'd drill it out like you did only a bit thinner but then we would cut grooves in the shaft like you would do when making internal key ways until the metal is paper thin. 3 grooves evenly spaced seemed to work the best. I think Joe Pie at Advanced innovations has a video about using the mill with the spindle locked and a tool he made for making key ways on the mill. Not complicated at all. Then use something to collapse the shaft. In some cases a dull cold chisel could be used but a simple clamp (like a split collar) with a round opening and a screw on either side to apply the clamping pressure can be made pretty easily and works a lot better. The metal in the grooves will sheer fairly easily and, once it does, the sides of the shaft break free making pressing it out a whole lot easier (especially if you use penetrating oil in the gaps created) and there's no damage to the pulley. Another way to collapse it is to use a ring with an internal diameter larger than the shaft and having 3 threaded holes equally spaced radially in the ring and made to accept whatever screws or bolts you want to use to collapse the shaft. Again, very easy to fabricate. Great job as always though! Thanks for sharing your experiences!

This is a *classic* video and one I have returned to several times. What I particularly appreciate is the non-destructive problem-solving you demonstrate Keith. Not to mention the patience of a saint!!! I am absolutely _certain_ I would have been sledging away at that thing after the first couple of hours, broken the spokes, felt intense regret and then had to find another wheel. *Very* cool that you could give a post-mortem and identify the problem afterwards as well. I also really enjoy the musical interludes in these older videos. I think the folk music goes very well with the spirit of preservation and appreciation of these old machine. I actually miss it quite a lot in the more modern entries. I can imagine it was quite a hassle to get that custom audio all cued up and scrubbed in with the video though. Not to mention copyright nonsense as well probably. Still. A *real* favourite of mine and two thumbs up if YT allowed it!!!

Hi keith ,i enjoy your videos very educational ,in engineering. Here is a tip that will keep you safe, when pressing stubborn shafts,pins,and bushes ,make your pushing bar with a bored hole at one end with plenty clearance to allow the hyd/jack piston to fit in this will stop the bar from jumping.

I love it. He talks about being patient and the need to take your time. Next wraps it in a blanket to block the shrapnel! LOL

Nice work. I agree with your comments about sleeping on it and trying a different plan. I too have messed up may things by being in too much of a hurry.

This is my all time favorite video on his channel ... came back to watch it again.