RDB Project from a 323 Question#4

[Guest Anonymous]

Ok, while I am having serious fun in my garage while the wife is having fun with her best friend in town, I do have one hitch so far.

I can not for the life of Lola seem to get the locking nut off the hubs. I have been soaking the item with Lock Break, I am now facing the fact off cooking (i.e. heating) the nuts to remove them.

My concern is how much heating will it require, I don't want to cook the bearings already inside, nor damage the shaft.

So the question is how much heat needs to be applied? light smoke, dull red or cherry color from applying flame on it?

Thanks Again!

J.E.2002

[winstontj]

are you talking about the 36mm BIGASS nuts on the rear hubs? Are the trailing arms off the car? Do you have an impact gun?

You're gonna need to put some muscle into that one because those puppies are on there at a pretty high torque. I used a 3/4" breaker bar (broke the craftsman 1/2" on it) and went to home depot and bought a 48" section of black pipe. With that I had no problem. If you're talking about any other nuts/bolts go with heat.

You can heat the axal nuts too it's just that you need to break them free somehow and there on there tighter than the crank pulley nut.

[Guest Anonymous]

In addition to the 36mm (a 1 13/32 fits I think as well,) place a breaker bar, metal pipe or metal rod (rebar works) between the protruding lug bolts on the outside of the hub with the end touching the ground. When you put the torque on hub nut that saves the stress on axle/diff and really helps break it free...Peter

[Gil]

Winstontj is right, you need a 3/4" breaker bar to loosen those nuts. You'll also want a long pipe to slip over the bar for more leverage. If the nut was put on with 200 or so ft-lbs, you can bet that it is gonna take a lot more than that to free the nut. One of the best investments I ever made in tools is a 3/4 drive socket set that I got at a used tool place.

When it comes to re-installing the nuts, if you still have the 3/4" drive ratchet (or breaker bar), if you can't get a large torque wrench, you can use the breaker bar. Slip a pipe of known length, like say 5', and add an appropriate weight (measure on bathroom scale) and balance it at exactly 5' from the center of the wheel. For ex/, 40lbs x 5' = 200 ft-lbs.

All of the above needs to be done with the car on the ground. If the car is on smooth concrete, you might even need a volunteer sit in the back seat, or added weight in the trunk.

I you are planning to take the hubs off, you will need a puller (basic 3-leg will do), unless the splines are worn. These hubs can get REALLY stuck on, and you may very well need some heat to coax them loose. A word of caution - if they are really stuck on, even though they are hardened steel, you can bend the flanges with the puller, so be careful not to do damage.

Gil

73 02

[BarryA]

may not be able to get the nuts loose without some way of immobilizing the stub axle - probably the best bet will be drilling a set of holes to match the rear flange in a good sized piece of bar stock, bolt it tightly across the rear flange (use at least 4 of the bolt holes, preferably all six) then lock the trailing arm down (like jacking up one wheel on a car, slide the trailing arm under the tire and lower the tire gently down on it to hold it down). The long lever on the stub axle will keep it from turning while you get the nut off.

If the nuts are rusted on, it may be easier to cut the nut off with a Dremel tool or die grinder - the nuts are easy to get, and you won't risk damaging the stub axle with too much heat. Just cut a pair of deep slots lengthwise in the nut (on opposite sides - be careful NOT to cut into the threads) and then drive a cold chisel into the slot until the nut splits. Once one side splits it should be easy to get off.