Like it says....I'm trying to get those large nuts off my rear axles for a transmission swap and they won't budge. They were off last spring for brake work but when I had new tires installed down South just before Carlisle, the lad at the garage noticed one was not tight enough so he reset both of them.
The buggers won't budge. I've put a loosening agent into them several times, tried heat and just now broke the head off my power bar using a 5 foot cheater bar. Any ideas ? Thanks..
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Torque Meister tool? $75
https://www2.cip1.com/ProductD...uctCode=ACC-C10-7036
Just don't get BenGay on them!
Don't know what a "Power Bar" is, but if you heat them up to red and put a 3/4" drive socket, 3/4" drive breaker bar and a 6-8 foot piece of pipe on them, they should loosen up. Have someone stand (hard) on the brake when loosening them so that the hub doesn't move. You had them off last winter so they're not rusted on, so no amount of penetrating oil is going to loosen them up.
If all else fails, then drive somewhere that has a 600 pound impact wrench and a BIG air supply and see if they can loosen them. The numbnut guy who impacted them on down South probably had a Mac tools 600 pound impact wrench, too. those things are probably on there over 500 ft lbs.
Thanks for that lead, Greg. Have you used this tool or seen it in use ? Sounds like the right tool for the job.
Anyone on the list used this tool ?
I can't afford to make a mistake here. Was the BenGay thing a joke or what ?
Heating the axle cherry red will destroy the seal etc. Borrow someones (MAC or like) battery powered impact gun.... They have 500 600 ft lbs of torque, I did and broke a hardened gland nut with the thing.
Yes, David, the Ben Gay thing was a joke, alluding to inadvertent application of same on your biological nuts, if you get the drift.
And grease monkeys who do not usually do tires for a living, can and will run those buggers up tighter than a nun's . . . um. . . nevermind, you know what I mean. I'd go w/ the air powered impact wrench, as suggested. I doubt an electric one has the muscle, despite what it might say. Heating to red hot does not sound like what I'd want to do to my wheels, just sayin'.
Used to run in high school/college - painful experience that I still remember well!
The torque meister is tool to have for rear axle and flywheel nuts - always managed to find someone that knew someone that had one that I could borrow. Really a force multiplier!
Now THAT is cool. Where do you get one of those??
And there is always an issue, I guess, clearing the body panel.
Keep us posted David.
Kelly- https://www.cip1.ca/ProductDet...ductCode=C13-16-9602
Other VW parts houses will have them as well.
.......or my 4' x 1.5" pipe that goes nicely over a breaker bar.
While waiting over the weekend for more stores to open Monday, I've researched a shyt load about various cures for my problem. Some sites say that the Torque Meister may not do the job either.
I'm going to hit the local truck maintenance shop tomorrow and ask for advice.
Other alternatives may include the use of a nut splitter or even grinding down the nut with an angle grinder and finishing off the cut with a Dremel type tool. Any thoughts on that ?
I'm putting my money on the truck shop. they usually have really BIG stuff, and lots of torque and the proper impact tools. The impact wil do it. Cutting would scare the shyt out of me. The last thing you want to do is bugger up the axle.
I'll tell you the old school method, not the most safe or professional way of doing things but it will get the job done.
Remove the cotter pin, soak the 36mm nut over night with penetrating oil.
You'll need a decent breaker bar, ( or in a squeeze a Craftsman 1/2" ratchet ..if it breaks you get another for free) locate a 1' or so piece of pipe that will slide over that. Find a 3' piece of 1.5" I D.pipe that will slide over the first shorty pipe.
Put the trans in gear, yank the E' brake to the max, block the tire from turning and give it a good pull it should come loose, if not with your weight in the long pipe have someone hit the 36 mm socket hard with a shorty sledge hammer to shock it , repeat if necessary....
A word to the wise: Anticipate the nut coming loose w/o warning which in turn, can and will propel your ass the distance of your garage in the blink of an eye as you try to maintain your dignity......... Drclock.
THere's this too - $15
You whack it with a BFH but you need clean access-
Alan Merklin posted:I'll tell you the old school method, not the most safe or professional way of doing things but it will get the job done.
Remove the cotter pin, soak the 36mm nut over night with penetrating oil.
You'll need a decent breaker bar, ( or in a squeeze a Craftsman 1/2" ratchet ..if it breaks you get another for free) locate a 1' or so piece of pipe that will slide over that. Find a 3' piece of 1.5" I D.pipe that will slide over the first shorty pipe.
Put the trans in gear, yank the E' brake to the max, block the tire from turning and give it a good pull it should come loose, if not with your weight in the long pipe have someone hit the 36 mm socket hard with a shorty sledge hammer to shock it , repeat if necessary....
A word to the wise: Anticipate the nut coming loose w/o warning which in turn, can and will propel your ass the distance of your garage in the blink of an eye as you try to maintain your dignity......... Drclock.
Did all of that with a five and a half foot log pipe yesterday. Didn't whack the socket though. That's roughly 990 ft. lbs. Broke my old 1/2" breaker bar in the end. I'm getting worried. Can't take the car anywhere either...the engine is out.
Next.....Cut the nut 3/4 of the through ( avoid going down to the threads) and hit- wedge a chisel into the cut to relieve the nut from the stub axle threads
I don't understand what you are saying , Alan. Could you please reread your post and expound on it ? Do you mean cut from right to left 3/4 way through ( down ) ? Like with a hacksaw or grinder ? Thanks...
My thought was to take a side grinder with a thin cut off wheel and cut two castellated parts off the nut, then horizontally cut into the nut from the front face to the back down low as close to the threads as I dare, then take a dremel and skiff down closer to the threads, then hit what's left of the nut with a chisel from right to left, hopefully breaking the bugger apart. .
Does that sound like a plan ?
What a bloody predicament. I can't give anything but support, David.
Well, I could drive to Ottawa and stand there holding your beer...
Good luck!
Yes cut the nut from the drum face toward you...not easy but doable
I agree - not easy, but do-able. It's a "last resort" trick, but it always works. You'll have to get the cut as close as possible to the drum flange in order to crack the nut loose from both the axle threads AND drum/hub face - I use a Dremel with cut-off wheels for that last bit close to the drum. Be careful to NOT cut into the threads - just get really close - then, insert a cold chisel into the cut in the nut and open the cut up til the nut comes loose. DON'T chisel your way into the threads.
Alternatively, you could make two cuts along the length of the nut, one cut on each side and split it open that way. Twice as much cutting, but the splitting might be easier.
Thanks for the help, Lads. I just got my nuts off. New 36mm impact socket, new 1/2" CTC power bar and a seven foot extension. We'll never know ( and I don't care ) but two days of soaking with penetrating oil may have helped.
I'm not a very patient person and that was a close one....
Just curious now....when I take the third bolt off those spring plates, is there anything I should be watching out for ? Since I've got the car jacked up by the frame, the plates should be at the bottom of their travel and should not want to give any surprises, right ? Thanks.
"Thanks for the help, Lads. I just got my nuts off."
David: I'm afraid to ask who helped you...
Careful - there is still a preload on the rear torsion bars. You don't want body parts under the swing arms when they are pried off the perch.
Use a torque meister to put the nuts back on. It allows you to accurately apply the proper torque.
David:
As Wolfie mentioned, if you remove the bolts fastening the spring plates to the axle hub, the spring plates should be at the bottom stop of the torsion bar cover/casting and shouldn't go anywhere unless you remove the torsion bar end cover, too.
All that's covered in here, too:
For Chrissakes, David, get yourself a 3/4" drive breaker bar and the right 3/4" socket to go with. Do they sell Craftsman tools up there in the Great White North? Eh? It's been years, but the only way I ever made one of those nuts budge was to use the larger breaker-bar and the long cheater pipe with me standing on the far end. Not sure I ever went to seven feet, but maybe. I never tore into a torsion bar, so can't help there. Follow the experts advice on that front.
When I look at all the stuff you have managed with your car, and all you have planned, I'd say you are a very patient man indeed. But nobody likes to spend a week getting a job done that should take five minutes.
PS: What did that bugger look like once off? All rusty and stuff, or was it just on there tighter than a nun's . . .
PPS: I'd like to hear the experts' opinions here, but my advice for reassembly would be to clean up the threads on both sides, obviously, and then apply some never seize thread compound -- brush it on sparingly w/ an old tooth brush. A little dab 'ill do ya. Can be applied sparingly to the face of the nut too, where it bears on the flange. Might save another three days again sometime. Just sayin' I believe it is OK to have a little lube within the threads as it is not the friction of the threads that keeps things together so much as the deflection energy stored in the metal (nut and stud both) when you achieve the correct torque. That and the cotter pin too. The never seize will inhibit rust also.
And: you can use the shade-tree mechanics torque wrench here to get it snugged up proper: weigh yourself (this is the hardest part), take the correct torque value in ft-lb, divide that by your weight (in pounds), and go stand on the cheater bar that distance (in feet) from the center of the axle. Or, if you happen to have a big mother torque wrench, use that. And post pictures.
I will once again suggest the torque meister instead. You only need to apply 30 ft-lbs torque to the torque meister to get 270 ft-lbs on the nut. I would think standing on the cheater bar wouldn't be all that precise unless you are standing on one foot wearing an ice skate.
David, if you want to pay shipping both ways you can use mine.
Michael McKelvey posted:I will once again suggest the torque meister instead. You only need to apply 30 ft-lbs torque to the torque meister to get 270 ft-lbs on the nut. I would think standing on the cheater bar wouldn't be all that precise unless you are standing on one foot wearing an ice skate.
David, if you want to pay shipping both ways you can use mine.
Torque Meister is a 9 to 1 ratio tool. IMO why would anyone want to bounce on a breaker bar when you can use one of these. Only $60 or $70 bucks.
Are you kidding?
I LIVE to bounce on a piece of pipe on a breaker bar.
We actually broke both a 3/4" breaker bar AND the 2-1/2" socket we were using to get a bus wheel lug nut off. Had my 250 lb. brother bouncing on the bar somewhere out around 6 feet when things let go. That's when we opted for the 1" drive for the next go-around.
Good thing it was a Craftsman toolset!
Thanks for everything guys, but it's done....the nuts are off. I'll use my large torque wrench to put the nuts back on to the correct spec. Itgoes to 250 ft. Lbs and is about two feet or so long.
David, again I say, what did that old nut look like when it came off?
Do you really really want to know?
Sure.....If the mating surfaces were clean and just polished, that means one thing.
If they were galled and generally roughed up, that means something else.
Different look, different diseases, I guess......
OK Dave, let's wrap this one up? Show me your nuts.
