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?
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?