35 replies to this topic

[DarkHand]

After several years I've finally started working on my cars again! I've started pulling the bottom end out of the Civic; I pulled the head a while back when the timing belt broke. Without the head attached, where does everyone recommend I hook my hoist to on the drivers side? I was thinking of using maybe an AC compresser bracket mounting hole, the alternator bracket, or something similar.

Can't get that far yet though, the drivers side axle nut is stuck but good. I managed to break the passenger side free with a 2 foot pipe on my 1/2" socket wrench, but the drivers side is proving... difficult.

I tried using the same socket and pipe on the driver's side, but I ended up breaking my socket wrench! Thought maybe the notch punched into the nut was binding it up, but after double checking, it was completely free. I soaked the nut in PB Blaster overnight, bought another socket wrench in the morning, and tried again...

I broke THAT wrench!

I exchanged my 2nd wrench for a new one, and put it back in my toolbox, as obviously this nut was too much for the likes of a socket wrench. Picked up a 24" breaker bar, and tried jumping on it. It didn't budge an inch. Getting a little desperate, I broke out the dremel and tried cutting into the nut to loosen it. With the help of the dremel and a chisel, I removed the entire outer tang that gets tapped into the notch in the axle to immobilize it. Also cut into the the nut itself to try and weaken its grip, though I could only get about halfway because of the positioning. Tried again with the breaker bar... Nothing!! Getting frustrated now, I decided to use my 2 foot cheater bar with the breaker bar! This gave me 4 feet of leverage: 4 feet, times my 125lb frame standing on the end of it = 500 lb ft. of torque.

The nut did not budge.

I bounced up and down a few times and broke the new breaker bar! Something is definately wrong if I can't break a weakened axle nut free with over 500 lb ft. of torque. I've retired for the night, but plan to hit it in the morning... With a torch!

Any suggestions/explanations for such a badly stuck nut, as well as for where to hoist a headless engine from? Thanks!

Edited by DarkHand, 21 September 2008 - 06:09 PM.

[604_Crx]

To take mine off i was jumping on a breaker bar and it snapped, i bought a new bigger and better one and it took me and a friend jumping on it to break the nut free. Try a impact gun (if you have one) thats what we use now.

Good luck

[jjamiemmark]

i have had the same pro with the wheel nuts,broke two breaker bars, i had to get the torches and heat it red hot and it came of like butter.i bet you will get it with the torches.

[C8V6C]

I just use my 1/2 drive breaker bar with a long handle, and add a jack handle to it to extend it

When i situate it right, and then just step on it, putting my weight on it, they come right off everytime..well sometimes I have to bounce on it a little

the wheel is on the ground right?

[DarkHand]

the wheel is on the ground right?

Until today it was, I jacked it up and pulled the wheel to hit it with a torch. Wedged the brakes on with a 2x4 and they had no trouble holding everything still.

No luck.

I bought a hot head and a small canister of propane... I used the entire canister up before it was glowing. The propane can't heat such a large nut fast enough before the rest of the suspension wicks the heat away. I'll need to pick up a canister of MAPP gas for my next try. I tried cranking on it again with what heat I had in it after the canister ran out with a new breaker bar, but it wouldn't budge.

My progression was kinda like this in the garage:

Edited by DarkHand, 29 May 2006 - 02:10 PM.

[Richard]

i have a 6 foot piece of pipe and a 1/4 breaker, does it every try for me.

i was thinking of a realllly aggresive way.

jack the car up real high, situate the socket and set up, stick a jackstand under the wrench and raise the jack till it touches the handle, then as fast as you can pop the jack out.

800 lbs rushing down on end of said wrench might help. or the socket could fly out and break your shin

anyhow, just a scary though

[kedwards]

I use a 3/4" drive 18" breaker bar, with a 1.25" 6-point socket. Then I stand (or jump) on the end.

As long as the tire is on the ground, I have had no problem real problem getting the nut loose (and I have done a number of them).

Keith

[Maine_Honda_Racer]

You need a real torch. I use an acetylene torch on all stuck nuts, when the whole nut is glowing red it comes right off.

[JeepGirl]

i have had the same pro with the wheel nuts,broke two breaker bars, i had to get the torches and heat it red hot and it came of like butter.i bet you will get it with the torches.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

not very good for your wheel bearings you know....


if it wont come off and you dont have an impact then you need to get on it with a drill, hammer and a big ass chizel.

when we tried to get the one off the passenger side of my car with a brand new snap-on impact gun it wouldnt budge, we tried sniping it, no go. we thought about heating it but i didnt feel like having to buy new wheel bearings (heating the axle nut till it glows will fry off all your bearing grease). so i got a drill and some good bits and drilled a bunch of holes through the nut to weaken it, i then took a BFH and a big chizel and propped the chizel in one of the holes i had made and started whacking at it till it broke off into 3 pieces.

do not drill into the rotor. and use drill lube if you have it. and do not drill to close to the axle threads. make sure you drill pilot holes before going at it with a huge drill bit i drilled all around the nut, like 6 holes. one of them being right where the key is in the axle. thats where i hit it with the chizel as well knowing that if i slipped i wouldnt chew off all the threads on the axle, i have had to repair the threads on one of the old axles with a thread repair tool, not fun i can assure you...

doing it this way means you'll have to spend $8 for another axle nut but you really should have a new one on it anyway right.

*EDIT*
also, i didnt have to replace any broken tools nor did i have to expend any energy doing it this way.

Edited by JeepGirl, 30 May 2006 - 09:36 AM.

[JeepGirl]

i should note that even if you dont "fry off all the bearing grease" heating it past its thermal capacity changes its allowing it to break down faster, shortening the life of your bearings.

i looked it up.

i couldnt understand why i was seeing torch marks on my rotors and the axle nut and i was at the time having huge issues with my bearings howling and grinding. so i asked the previous owner about it (my hubby's co-worker) and he said that when they changed the clutch in it last that they had a hell of a time getting the axle nut off. so they took a torch to it. i then read the tech sheet on the grease they suggest to use when you replace them and the thermal capacity wasnt that high, much lower than i expected. so i just kinda put 2 and 2 together and came up with torch + cherry hot axlenut = short lifespan for poor wheel bearings.

oh, and i looked up how much those bearings are and they are $65 each at wholesale. nevermind how much of a PITA they are to replace.

Edited by JeepGirl, 30 May 2006 - 09:52 AM.

[addiction2bass]

gotta love those stuck nuts!!!!!
on my friends truck it took a 2ft long 3/4 break bar and my jacks 4ft handle with another jack under the socket so it wouldnt twist and pop off then i started to jump up and down on it for awhile until the dam think finaly budged!!!
sometimes if it doesnt come lose just keep spraying it with penitrating oil and keep it up for awhile..... and then retry

[DarkHand]

sometimes if it doesnt come lose just keep spraying it with penitrating oil and keep it up for awhile..... and then retry

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'd been spraying it with PB Blaster every few hours since Friday, until Monday night when I cleaned it up with brake cleaner so the torch wouldn't set it all on fire.

I've been putting so much torque on it that it looks like I may have actually bent the strut

Taking a break till Friday when I can pick up a MAPP torch.

Edited by DarkHand, 30 May 2006 - 03:22 PM.

[DarkHand]

The little bastard is off!!!

I had two friends come over today to help out and still had no luck at all. It wasn't until about 30 minutes after they had left that I got it off. When they were here and saw how badly it was stuck, we pulled the rotor off to look at what I thought was our last option: pull the whole knuckle, axle and all, and take it somewhere to have the nut cut off. The rotor was rusted on badly as well, and it took us about 15 minutes to get it off. The MAPP torch came in handy here too, I'm sure all the spray, pounding, and heat to get the rotor off helped loosen the axle nut.

We put everything back together, hit the bolt with the MAPP torch, hit it with some liquid wrench while it was still hot, and still had no luck. Grilled some brats, came back and tried later, still nothing. So they go home, and I decide to try one last time. Hit the nut with everything that was left in the MAPP torch. I still never got the nut glowing, but I had it hotter than I had ever had it yet. I just kept going even after the suspension was smoking and I was afraid I was going to set the car on fire. Called my dad down to hold the brakes for me, put the socket on the still hot nut, and I jumped on the breaker bar for a good 5 minutes.

Nothing.

Now utterly defeated, I was sitting there, perched on the breaker bar still connected to the almost red-hot axle nut, talking to my dad for about 5 minutes. And right in the middle of a sentence, I lost my balance... the breaker bar slid to the ground! I thought he had let go of the brake, but he hadn't... The nut had finally broken loose in the most anti-climactic way possible! After three weeks of spraying, pounding, chiseling, dremeling, yelling, swearing, and torching, it let go while I was sitting on it and chatting.

For all the trouble that dumb axle nut gave me, it felt good to pound it with a hammer, dremel it in half and chuck it into the woods.

Edited by DarkHand, 03 June 2006 - 10:37 PM.

[hoopty dx]

.......
For all the trouble that dumb axle nut gave me, it felt good to pound it with a hammer, dremel it in half and chuck it into the woods. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hehe

glad u got it off

[JeepGirl]

we had the entire front end of my car apart and the axles on the floor in 10 minutes yesterday 10 minutes from shutting off the car to axles on the floor.

then again, we have my axles out of the car at least once a month so weve become proficient at it....

good to hear you finally got that bugger off though

Edited by JeepGirl, 04 June 2006 - 11:34 AM.