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Prying off Wheel Grease Caps [Hub Caps too]

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JohnnyMead

JohnnyMead

Jedi Trainee
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These are two really basic questions, but heck, the only dumb question is the one not asked, right?

1) What's a good way to get the grease cap off the front hub? I've been denting up these things on cars for years and I feel kind of bad about doing the same to my TR3.

2) Hubcaps - I may just be clumsy, but I have trouble getting these off of the TR3 without sometimes putting little dents in them from using a screwdriver. Is there a hooked tool that works?

Thanks,

John
Carbondale, IL
 
John, My have holes in the ends so I take a sheet metal screw and screw them in the holes and pull them off with a claw hammer.
 
The factory method was to put a screw in the hole, and turn it in against the end of the spindle to force the cap off. The screw is supposed to be in your tool kit; 10-32 threads as I recall.

I've never liked having that hole open to let dirt into the bearing, so I put a screw through it permanently, with the threads hanging out so I can grab them with vise grips, and rap on the vice grips to pull the cap off.

There was also a factory tool for removing the hubcaps, kind of a bent screwdriver thing. I'm not entirely certain, but I think a reproduction is available from TRF as P/N 503848.

I have kind of a special case, with TR3 hubcaps on TR6 wheels, so I made my own prybar by grinding down something similar to this:
37514.gif
 
I use the original style hub (grease) caps and use a 2" eye-bolt of the correct thread size to remove them. I just thread the eye-bolt in (as Randall notes) and the cap backs out. Keep it on the same key-ring as the little Lucas distrubtor tool and SU wrench.

I like the idea of plugging that hole, may put a short screw in mine from the outside. BTW, I JBWelded a nut behind the threaded hole in that cap to give the eye-bolt more thread to grip.

For nave plates (hub caps) I have a claw hammer that works quite well. Since I don't generally carry my claw hammer on the road I also have a small pry bar from Harbor Freights pry bar set -- the edges and corners have been ground down a touch to reduce the chance of scratching.
 
Aloha John,

Moss had a tool for that purpose. It appears that it is no longer available but here is what it looked like.
 

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Harbor Freight sells a set of hard plastic (or nylon) prying tools similar to the one pictured above. Might be worth a try on your hubcaps.
 
See the tool kit that came with my 1958 TR3A. The long tool (5th from the left) with the hook at the top end is for removing the hub caps from an early TR with steel wheels.

Or you can buy a simple tool used for removing carpet tacks. It looks just like a screwdriver but instead of a flat "tongue" on the end for a straight slotted screw head, it has a 30 degree bend in this "tongue" which is slightly larger than a normal screwdriver and in the center of this "tongue" there is a "V" slot where one would normally pry out the carpet tacks,

You can use this tool to easily pry off the hub cap from a sidescreen TR without any damage to the hub cap and you won't even leave a scratch on the painted steel wheel.
 

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Wow, very nice tool kit! I've never seen an original one.

Scott
 
Use a piece of cardboard, like from a pop tart box,under the lever against the whell you are prying against and no scratches. The lever pictured in the tool kit makes the removal easy.
 
Pop Tart box lid: now that's something we have around the house!

Thanks everybody. I'll head to the hardware store with these ideas.

John
 
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