Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 14:25:17 -0700
Reply-To: dylan friedman <insyncro@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: dylan friedman <insyncro@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Removing stuck nuts and bolts e.g. Axle Nut
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
I have countless Van owners stop by my personal shop for me to use my 3/4 impact on those axle nuts and they drive home with them at about 90lbs.
No issues, as long as the clevis pin is put back.
I tie them in place with safety wire for the owner to cut free when they are ready to remove the nut.
its not a big deal for a trip home.
dylan
----- Original Message ----
From: Ben Cichowski <aquasheck@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Thursday, July 3, 2008 4:44:42 PM
Subject: Re: Removing stuck nuts and bolts e.g. Axle Nut
Yup, for sure you don't want to go overboard with the ol torch. Again,
we're not talking about trying to heat the nut to expand it, i.e.
dissimilar expansion. While you're definitely right that heat can
realign the molecules of a
metal and temper it, the amount of heat needed to melt candle wax into the threads is
not enough to do anything.
Not so sure the truck stop idea is a good one for me given my location,
but maybe a good idea for others. I'd be worried about finally getting back to the house only to find that I toasted my axle stub. I live in the mountains and I'm certainly not going to drive a van any distance at all with less than properly torqued axle nuts.
In any case, I was using big
rig equipment (tractors and semi's) You should see this wrench, I've
never seen anything like it, 42 inches long and about 30 pounds or better. The truck stop would have used the same thing and then either grabbed a 1" impact wrench or gone right to the wax idea too. As my neighbor said, most of the pros who work on big stuff like that all day long don't even bother trying the nut until they give it a quick hit of wax.
My neighbor, who gave me the tip for using the
wax, (and use of what was probably a $300 wrench) has 40 years+ experience as a machinist. When you see new things from Outfront
Motorsports and the like, he's likely the one who created the prototype
for whatever the doodad they just came out with is. Pretty sharp guy with what I'd say is a better than average
understanding of metals.
> Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 20:25:08 +0000
> From: Gary.Duncan@COMCAST.NET
> Subject: Re: Removing stuck nuts and bolts e.g. Axle Nut
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>
> Hi Ben,
> Be Careful with the heat.
> Heating steel removes the hardness. ( softens or tempers it depending on the temp )
> Really, the Easiest thing to do.
> Is stop at the big Diesel Truck Stop.
> Slip the guy a $20 ( a 10 spot, if ya think ya can get away with it :)
> & have him break the nuts loose.
> With their big Air Wrench!
> ( It'll do it no problem !!
> spray a little WD40 on the treads,
> wipe it back off, leaving a sheen of oil;
> then
> Re - Hand ( wrench ) tighten enough
> that you feel safe getting home.
>
> Do the bearing job
> then torque the nuts back to specks.
>
> I use a 3/4" drive breaker bar with the proper size Socket
> ( what is it? a 36mm? ) ( cant remember, It's been a while )
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
>
> > A very neat little trick - and a good one.
> >
> > For what purpose did you need to remove the axle bolts??
> >
> > I sincerely hope you were not trying to remove your rear brake drums by
> > that method! It is not necessary.
> >
> > All that is required is to remove a single small bolt in the face of the
> > drum, and the drum slides off over the studs.
> >
> > It's good to know how to easily get the axle nut off, however.
> >
> > John Rodgers
> > 88 GL Driver
> >
> >
> >
> > Ben Cichowski wrote:
> > > Hey all,
> > >
> > > I've read several posts on this forum and on various web pages discussing
> > horror stories regarding the removal of the rear axle nut on the vanagon.
> > > This nut is torqued to something like 320-360 ft pounds (gotta check the
> > manual for the exact spec) and can be a bit of a bear to remove.
> > > Well, I may run into problems with all the "easy" stuff, but removing this nut
> > was a breeze...and this technique will work for other stuck nuts and bolts as
> > well.
> > >
> > > WAY WAY better than any penetrant that I have ever used (PB Blaster, 3M 5-way,
> > Marvel's Mystery....all garbage in comparison)
> > >
> > > Here you go:
> > >
> > > 1. Heat up the nut or bolt (don't worry, we're not looking for dissimilar
> > expansion of the metal to do the work, so this will indeed work for stuck bolts,
> > not just nuts)
> > > 2. Take a candle and touch it to the hot threads where they interface
> > > 3. Re-heat to make sure you melted the wax - it will wick into the threads
> > very nicely
> > > 4. If it's a nut, take it off now as it will have likely expanded because that
> > is probably where you held the flame. If it's a stuck bolt, you may want to let
> > it cool, depending on how you heated it as you don't want it's expansion to work
> > against you.
> > > 5. Put your wrench or socket on and go for it.
> > >
> > > Just took my axle nuts off last night with this method. I tried it without
> > first just to see how bad they were....my 42" long (actually my neighbor's)
> > super heavy duty 1" drive socket used for working on tractors started bowing!! -
> > That nut was on there....then I tried this method....and it came off like it was
> > put on by hand!
> > >
> > > I've heard of this method before, but never seen it posted on any of our
> > "stuck bolt" discussions, and never tried it myself. Well, it sure works.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Ben
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > Watch “Cause Effect,” a show about real people making a real difference.
> > Learn more.
> > > http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/MTV/?source=text_watchcause
> > >
> > >
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