AL-KO Hub Grease Cap

[DrZhivago]

I am trying to service my AL-KO brakes, and cannot get the hub grease cap off!

I am very experienced as a mechanic, have serviced hundreds of cars, and this hub is similar to the old Leyland Metro/1100 rear hub, except with that you could tap a chisel into the gap between grease cap and brake drum and it popped out. However there is nowhere to get a purchase on the AL-KO cap; there is a very shallow bump down close to the base, but not enough to lever against or get a chisel behind.

The AL-KO handbook says "tap lightly on the edge" to remove it. LoL! What edge? I have been banging it with a chisel in as much of an outward direction as possible (which not very outward) and knocking it sideways with a copper hammer, and it does not budge. I have also had a 18" Stilson on it trying to lever it off. It is a very poor design, and you wonder if anyone at AL-KO's design office ever tries working on the things themselves.

Now it is battered already, my next step is to destroy it and replace with a new one afterwards. I suspect that it has been a long time since these drums last came off (it's 2nd hand, new to me), and it is obvious why. I can see the back plate is not entirely parallel with the drum, so I guess someone has been levering against it.

How do you other guys get on with this?

 

[Gafferbill]

How old is the caravan?
Most likely your axle has sealed for life bearings so you are trying to remove a dust cap. They normally just prise off with a wide flat blade screwdriver.
The hub is retained with a single use nut so new ones are required for refitting.

 

[DeliDave_]

According to this,http://www.al-ko.co.uk/edit/files/handbooks/overrun-braking-system-handbook.pdf
it is use special tool Former Tool (603751) or destroy and replace .
Interested as I have to do mine this year,torque wrench needs to be 214 lb/ft according to The Caravan Manual

 

[DrZhivago]

How old is the caravan? .

About 1996

They normally just prise off with a wide flat blade screwdriver.

It is clearly not behaving normally I'm guessing it is a bit rusted on; I have known just a film of rust to fix things like they are welded. The rust takes more space than the metal it comes from and can wedge parts together.

 

[Gafferbill]

.......my caravan is 1995 and the dust caps have been renewed a few times !!!

 

[martindf3]

I am trying to service my AL-KO brakes, and cannot get the hub grease cap off!

I am very experienced as a mechanic, have serviced hundreds of cars, and this hub is similar to the old Leyland Metro/1100 rear hub, except with that you could tap a chisel into the gap between grease cap and brake drum and it popped out. However there is nowhere to get a purchase on the AL-KO cap; there is a very shallow bump down close to the base, but not enough to lever against or get a chisel behind.

The AL-KO handbook says "tap lightly on the edge" to remove it. LoL! What edge? I have been banging it with a chisel in as much of an outward direction as possible (which not very outward) and knocking it sideways with a copper hammer, and it does not budge. I have also had a 18" Stilson on it trying to lever it off. It is a very poor design, and you wonder if anyone at AL-KO's design office ever tries working on the things themselves.

Now it is battered already, my next step is to destroy it and replace with a new one afterwards. I suspect that it has been a long time since these drums last came off (it's 2nd hand, new to me), and it is obvious why. I can see the back plate is not entirely parallel with the drum, so I guess someone has been levering against it.

How do you other guys get on with this?

Volvo made a special tool for this but all it consisted of was a thick steel cap that was a close fit over the grease cap , you bashed that with a hammer ,the bigger the better . I would say hit it on the corner of the cap with a big hammer as if you wanted to destroy it and it "will" come off . If it doesn't you will have destroyed it anyway so replace it . Boat trailer caps usually get destroyed as they do seize on probably like yours have done . "Have fun" .... regards Martin

 

[Damian]

The item you are trying to remove is a dust cap, not a grease cap and sometimes they can be a pain to get off, as you are experiencing.
There is a tool to get them off with which slips over the cap and a big hammer then persuades the cap to move.
An alternative is a lump of wood placed against the side of the cap and a big hammer (a 2lb Club is good) and whack it several times, it will come off, or at least I have never found one that can resist !!!!!

 

[DrZhivago]

a lump of wood placed against the side of the cap and a big hammer

I'll give that a last try. Then I will source a pair of replacement caps before I destroy the ones I have. It looks like you can get replacement caps here :

http://www.westerntowing.co.uk/acatalog/Al-ko-Hub-Drum-Dust-Caps.html

 

[DrZhivago]

I succeded with Damian's method (thanks) : 30mm square 250mm long piece of hardwood against the outer edge of the cap. angled as far back as the brake drum allows, and bash with a 2lb club hammer. A bit more battered, but there is probably a roaring trade in replacement ones. Stupid design.

Looks like a sealed bearing, not the adjustable castellated nut type. It has a 1.25" AF shake-proof nut which I am about to get off. I will use a 3/4" drive 32mm socket (which is only 0.25 mm over-size) with a 18" breaker bar (and scaffold pole if needed).I'd be doing it now but it's pouring outside

I would guess this has never been off in its 20 year life (I have it 2nd-hand). It is gritty to turn - not the bearings but probably rust ridges in the drum. I had a similar finding on my car recently - it has combined drum and disks at the rear (looks like a cast steel boater hat) and because the drum shoes never wear (only used for parking) people, even garages, don't bother to remove the "boater" to inspect the shoes. In my case the "boaters" had rusted onto the half-shaft flanges and it was a major job (half-shafts out, handbrake cable disconnected at the front end, seats out to do that etc etc) involving blowlamps and sledge hammer to free them.

 

[Jaydug]

When you do take it off you'll need a new nut and a torque wrench to ensure it's tightened to 290Nm

 

[DrZhivago]

Here is my set-up for getting the hub nuts off :

That's 3/4" socket drive kit with an 8ft long scaffold pole (unnecessarily long, but all I have), with an axle stand to take the reaction. When the nut saw the set-up it just jumped off the axle and into my arms, sobbing, :lol:

The brakes and bearings all looked fine, cleaned out the dust, filed down slight ridges, took the glaze off the shoes and drums, adusted the star wheel and put it all back. The ALKO handbook suggests adjusting the brake's star wheel with a screwdiver through a hole in the back plate; I would really not like to do it that way.

Don't need a torque wrench in this situation because, knowing your own weight, you can work out where to stand on the pole to exert the required torque (allowing for the fact that the scaffold pole self weight is providing about half of it in this case).

The club hammer and piece of wood in the foreground is what I used to knock off the dust cap btw.

 

[DeliDave_]

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Borrowed my friends SnapOn torque wrench when I did mine Saturday

 

[SirRogerFFS]

After working with a Service engineer I can assure you there is a special to manufactured to remove the dust cap.Even with this tool it can be a begger to get off but nice to see the job has been .Also good the OP has let us know the outcome
Sir Roger

 

[martindf3]

The item you are trying to remove is a dust cap, not a grease cap and sometimes they can be a pain to get off, as you are experiencing.
There is a tool to get them off with which slips over the cap and a big hammer then persuades the cap to move.
An alternative is a lump of wood placed against the side of the cap and a big hammer (a 2lb Club is good) and whack it several times, it will come off, or at least I have never found one that can resist !!!!!

That's a toffee hammer. It was a 4 lb lump hammer for me ........ I always remember a quote when I was young (a long time ago )
"Being rough is not necessarily being effective . But being effective is not necessarily being rough" ! Good advise for dust caps

 

[DrZhivago]

I always remember a quote when I was young (a long time ago )
"Being rough is not necessarily being effective . But being effective is not necessarily being rough" ! Good advise for dust caps

The quote that sticks in my mind is :- "Don't use force, fetch a bigger hammer!"

 

[martindf3]

I always remember a quote when I was young (a long time ago )
"Being rough is not necessarily being effective . But being effective is not necessarily being rough" ! Good advise for dust caps

The quote that sticks in my mind is :- "Don't use force, fetch a bigger hammer!"

my favourite was the " hot spanner" if you haven't guessed ,oxy/ acetylene welding plant ,and the air chisel . There's nothing in the world that can resist that lot .

 

[martindf3]

By the way ,love that long bar ,whats it made of . We had a name for them too, Shift anything bar . " Those were the days !

 

[sargan]

I am trying to service my AL-KO brakes, and cannot get the hub grease cap off!

I am very experienced as a mechanic, have serviced hundreds of cars, and this hub is similar to the old Leyland Metro/1100 rear hub, except with that you could tap a chisel into the gap between grease cap and brake drum and it popped out. However there is nowhere to get a purchase on the AL-KO cap; there is a very shallow bump down close to the base, but not enough to lever against or get a chisel behind.


How do you other guys get on with this?

I know this is an old post but was part of my finding the answer.
It is a pain to get these caps off ... I resorted to spraying with release spray, letting it work in for a while, then I used a freeze spray on the cap ... a couple of sprays letting it evaporate off each time .... then tapped side of cap with a hard-faced plastic mallet (type used on windows) .. the cap then came out.

There is a removal tool
(URL removed)
Though expensive for infrequent use.

 

[Parksy]

Hmmm
We are always wary when a very old post is resurrected (necro posting is against forum guidelines by the way) with a comment which includes a hyper link to a commercial product.
For that reason I've decided to edit your post to remove the link.
Anyone who is interested can message you privately for the relevant information.