I have a 14-bolt that I am going to shave, put disc brakes on, and regear. It is still in the teardown phase.

Getting the pinion nut off involved a large vise and a heavy duty impact gun. As far as I can tell, there should be no other obstacle to removing the yoke from the pinion gear. However, it's not coming off.

I have pounded on it with a BFH. I have attempted to use a gear puller. Neither have had any noticeable effect on it.

Other ideas for removing the yoke?

Thanks,
- eliot -

heat the yoke

Fabricate a yoke puller tool. Basically a round bar of steel, just small enough to fit under the straps/ubolts. Bore a hole through the side of it, tap the hole for fine threads, and install a puller screw. I have a heavy truck version for pulling yokes off big drive trains that I made about five years ago, never had a yoke that would not come off.

I would bore and tap the hole acording to whatever puller screws you may have already. If you have no screws available, a brake chamber pushrod from a heavy truck works well. They are available from many heavy truck parts houses.

A steering wheel puller works great for this.

Originally posted by azk5
A steering wheel puller works great for this.
I have found that on truly stuck on yokes, the bolts may strip out or break off before the yoke pulls off. With my puller suggeted above, I use all four bolts to pull the yoke.

And to Norton, when you say BFH, I hope you mean you put away the little ball pein tappy-tappy hammer and are holding at least a 5# mini sledge:flipoff2:

Maybe not the best way, but if you have the little pinion housing off the diff( sounds like it) Brace the yoke and that housing real good. Since your going to regear it, put a piece of pipe or a punch on the end of the pinion shaft, and go to town with a mini sledge or if you have a very trusting friend, swing a big stick!! Just knock the pinion out of the yoke.

I was actually thinking my making a "pusher" type tool. Take some 1/4", cut it out in a U shape to fit around the bottom lip of the yoke. Drill and tap 6 or so holes through it. Use bolts to push yoke off of pinion gear splines.

And yes, Robert, when I say BFH, I mean a 5# mini-sledge. My momma didn't raise no sissy. :flipoff2:

- eliot -

on the trail i usually put the straps back in the yoke, then slide a 1/2" drive ratchet handle through the sides of the yoke, then hook my winch cable up to the ratchet handle, and they usually shoot off.
in the shop i usually unbolt the pinion support housing, then put the whole thing up on my shop pree, and press on the pinion where the pinion nut goes. if you dont had a press go to any garage, they shouldn't charge more than 5 bucks to press it off.

So I got the damn yoke off today. I took some 1 1/2" 3/16" think angle and drilled holes through it so I could bolt the yoke to it. The bolts are 5/16-24, just in case anyone needs to know.

I set the whole affair on some cinder blocks, heated the yoke using MAPP gas (the mini-tank setup from Home Depot), and pounded on the threaded end of the pinion gear until the rest of the assembly seperated from the yoke.

All involved agreed that the whole process was a whore.

So now I just have to get the pinion gear out of the mounting assembly. I might have to take it to a gear shop since it looks like the inner race of the outermost bearing needs to be pressed off.

- eliot -