Date:         Fri, 4 Nov 1994 08:39:57 -0600 (CST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jwk1@cec.wustl.edu (John William Kuthe)
Subject:      Re: Rear axle nut. Uuugh!

Chris,

You wrote, among other things:
>So, I tried with the large, craftsman socket, a 3/4 to 1/2 adaptor,
>and a 1/2 inch breaker bar. After all, its ONLY 300 ft.lb. Well,
>I banged on it, flamed on it, and leaned on it with 10 feet of cheater
>pipe, and all I succeeded in doing is breaking another 1/2 inch 
>breaker bar. I dont want to plop down the $35-$40 dollars for 
>the 3/4 inch breaker bar without KNOWING it will take the nut off.
>For the same amount, I could have the nut cracked with a chisel,
>and put NEW nuts on. (I found a place near here that has ALL the VW
>parts, even steering drag links, etc.)
>
>So, what has worked in getting these nuts off for you? How big a
>breaker bar, how long a cheater pipe? If I cook the nut with a
>propane torch, will it cook the rubber grease seals?

First off, if you buy either Craftsman or Snap-On tools, they're guaranteed for
life, and although the guy at Sears looks at you kind of funny when you bring
yet another broken breaker bar or flex handle in to be replaced, they will
replace it, free of charge. 

Second, there's no way a 1/2in regular steel flex handle is going to withstand
300ft-lbs! I have a 3/4in Craftsman flex handle, and along with the 36mm IMPACT
socket I bought, it does a great job at snapping off gland nuts when I put a
couple of 5ft pieces of gas pipe over the handle. Works on axle nuts too! But
the axle nut on Busses is 46mm, if I'm not mistaken, and I've not been able to
find a 46mm impact socket. I know the axle nut on my 64 Bus is 46mm.

5ft should be long enough. Since the nut is torqued to 300ft-lbs (neglecting
the rust factor), you'll need to lean on it with 300/5 lbs, or 60lbs, to torque
it to specs or remove it (maybe a little more to remove it).

But, aftermarket VW shops will almost always have a neat solution: a piece of
1/2in plate steel with a 46mm hex cutout and a 1/2in square hole also, in which
you put your 1/2in breaker bar, not to torque the thing but just to hold it
steady while you beat on it with an 8lb sledge hammer! Works great, if your
parking brake works real good, otherwise, you just scoot your bus along with
each hammer blow. Make sore you beat on it in the proper direction though,
otherwise you'll end up tightening the thing beyond belief!

Cooking the nut helps too, but you'd be hard pressed to localize that much heat
with a propane torch. I used to have an oxyacetylene welder, and that did a
wonderful job of heating those nasty rusted on nuts to a bright cherry red.
Worked especially nicely on lower shock mount nuts. Yeah, the rubber bushing
was incinerated, but I was replacing it anyway, so...