Date:         04 Nov 96 06:17:14 PST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         CARVER_JEFFREY@aphub.aerojetpd.com (Jeff Carver)
Subject:      Stuck Bolt, Help, CV's '80

I attempted to remove the CV's on my '80 over the weekend.  Trying to 
switch between brown bus & beige bus to salvage what I can until new 
CV's available at end of week.  Both busses are at about 200K, both 
have original CV's (based on date stamp on outer housing).  Beige bus 
has had joints flopped to wear on opposite side of races.  This 
occurred after purchasing in '84 and under 12 month warranty.  
all they did was flop the joints, not replace.  Brown bus shows 
evidence of re-packing, so flopping should be successful.  So now 
to the stuck bolt.  All bolts on brown bus were 6mm hex, as were 
right side of beige bus (except for 1).  12 point 8mm on left side 
beige inner, hex on outer.  Nice mix, bleauch.

Outer hex head CV bolt is REAL stubborn.  Heres what I have done so 
far:  Stripped 6mm hex.  Have been using hex allen wrench cut off to 
fit into 6mm socket.  Ground to provide good square ends of hex.  
Soaked in WD-40 as best accessible.  Cleaned out hex in bolt with 
scraping and carb cleaner.  Repeated grinding/attemped removal 
several times with same results of rounding off of hex allen.  
Tried using 1/4 inch (6.2mm) allen cut off and in socket, same thing, 
rounded off allen.

I have carbide grinding tools, so am confident that I could remove 
head of bolt, but thought I would tap the collective intelligence and 
hopefully find a way to get this bolt out non-destructively.  Even if I DO 
grind off the head, I can get the CV out, but access is limited and 
then I have to get the remainder of the bolt out without a head.
Help!

Another nasty option would be to leave bolt in place and dismantle the 
axle from the outside, removing bearings, seals, and such, but am 
already spending too much $$ so far, and while in there would end up 
replacing bearings, seals, etc.

V@L potential respondees please respond to Type2 as I get unsub'd 
from V@L.

- Jeff + (2) '80 Westi's, '67 Sqbk, '64 Ford Crewcab, '87 Subaru 4WD
Grass Valley, California, USA, Earth