bobh said:
Neither did I.
bobh said:
I did not say you needed a hydraulic press.
Your local shop has an arbor press ?
bobh said:
I am also confident in my abilities to correctly disassemble the suspension as required to properly remove a stub axle.
But not your ability to fabricate and use a simple puller ?
bobh said:
In this case buying a press versus paying a shop to press out the axle.
Which was my point, a press is neither required nor factory-recommended to remove the axle.
It should actually come out easier with a puller, since the axle will elongate and lose diameter (very slghtly) under tension from the puller; but contract and swell under pressure from a press.
bobh said:
Yes I read the book. The premise of the book is stated in the title. You missed the point of the book if all you learned from reading it is the author's ideas on the cheapest way to own a car.
Well, make up your mind. Are you arguing that the point is to "Drive them til they drop" or not ?
bobh said:
His advice focused on extending the period of virtually no wear for as long as possible.
Somehow, I doubt never changing the oil, or antifreeze, or indeed
any preventative maintenance that cost money; is targeted at "extending the period of virtually no wear". Maybe you read a different book than I did.
bobh said:
I don't understand the reluctance to spend $25 or $50 to have a shop perform a task.
You forgot spending most of a day to R&R the vertical links. For what a day of my professional time is worth, it would make more financial sense to take the whole car to a mechanic and let him screw it up. I'd rather do it myself /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
bobh said:
It's not like you are stranded in a lunar crater 5 miles from the landing craft with only 3 minutes of air remaining.
True. But starting the job on Saturday afternoon (when the machine shops are typically closed for the weekend) and wanting to drive the car to work on Monday comes close enough that I can't understand why you are advocating throwing away a day's labor and $50 on such a simple task.
bobh said:
A friend recently told me about a dirt bike he owned when he was a kid. When he wanted to raise the compression. He "Shaved" the head with a belt sander.
Did it work ?
BTW ... if you're afraid of breaking a taper, how do you get the tie rod ends off ? Unscrew the tie rod ? The stub axle is just another taper, about the same size as the #3 Morse on my lathe. Thank goodness I don't have to take it to a shop every time I need to change the center !
I've said enough ... if you want to take your axles to a shop, by all means do so. I'll do my own, thank you.