Triumph Repair: 1976 spitfire, hub puller, wheel hub

Question
My son is restoring a 1976 Spitfire and he severely damaged the passenger side rear axle while trying to replace bearings. I have bought another used complete axle for a Christmas present and am trying to remove the wheel hub with no luck. It appears to be a keyed taper fit but I can't remove it with a wheel puller. Is there a special tool or procedure to remove it?

Answer
Doug,

Yes, there is a special heavy duty puller designed to remove the hub from the axle without bending the hub.  If you try a multi-jaw hub puller you'll wind up bending or cracking the hub.  

And when the hub does let go of the axle it's quite impressive.  

If you'd like to get this done before Christmas I'd suggest putting a "other wanted" ad on the Vintage Triumph Register website (www.VTR.org)... maybe there's an expert out there local to you that can help you out.

Otherwise the only commercial sources for the hub puller are in the UK.  

There are some links for making your own hub puller at the Spitfire and GT6 magazine website

(http://www.triumphspitfire.com)

Cheers,

Jim