Anybody know what this is and how to remove it. I've been through several book and forums and no one seems to know what it is and it isn't in my chilton's or haynes. Its on a 1996 F150xl 4x4. I'm talking about the silver surprise after I took the torx screws out of the cap. Took of the cap and now this. I figure there is a special tool to get it off but I first need to know how it works. I've pull ed on it, hammered it and tried to turn it but nothing works. Any ideas? I'm running out of options.

 

look up inside for a snap ring of some sort around the edge. That is all I can figure. I have never seen that and I used to work in a 4x4 shop.

 

OUCH! If NGM doesn't have an answer for ya you may be screwed. haha. Good luck with that...

 

Finally cleaned out all the grooves and found a retaining ring on the inside. there is nothing to grab onto and I broke a couple of dental probes trying to get it out. I hit it with some WD40 and loosened it up but then kept pushing it around in a circle. Ran out of vacation. Put everything back together and will try again next week. Thanks for the thoughts.

 

erm that isnt a automatic lockout is it?

the ony other way to get the snap ring out is to get a dremmel tool and i small cutter and grind it till you can get it in pieces and remove it..

 

did you try using actual snap ring pliers?

 

It don't look anything like the manual lock-out on mine, so I would guess it is auto-locking.

It's not a true snap ring, more like a circular rod. From the looks, it seems to be rusted in.

Might try taking a small expendable jeweler's size screwdriver, bend the tip a bit, and try to drive it underneath, between the locking ring and the wheel hub.