Axle nut removal and Broken drum splines

has a round stub to put a

hammer against - and I adjust

driveway. Before actually using

loose just by jacking up on

rear bumper and humping it

set an axle stand under the

I use a thirty-whatever mm knockoff (hammer) wrench - I've got one that has a round stub to put a longish piece of steel pipe on it rather than the big square lump to hammer against - and I adjust the brakes up tight, get it in first and leave it loewered onto the driveway. Before actually using the hammer on the nut as the tool is made for, I can usually get them loose just by jacking up on the end of the pipe extension I put on the wrench, then standing on the rear bumper and humping it down. Sometimes it's easier if I jack the vehicle up a bit first, then set an axle stand under the wrench bar.

HMMmmm, clean car!!! Good thing you never saw mine, neither outside nor under...

J.

I think the impact wrench is the cleanest way to go if you can get a hold of one somehow. Another option is using a fairly large monkey wrench about 1-1/2 to 2 feet long. The teeth on these things can grip round surfaces (like pipes of course) with pretty good force if you are able to fit them on nice and straight with the teeth facing the right direction. You could put this on the CV joint flange to hold it in place. The only thing is it might ruin your axle flange in the process when its teeth digs into the outer edge of the flange. Hopefully the flange sticks out enough for you to get a wrench on it as I just realized is not the case on my Bus. Good luck.

Brett

Karls Vladimir Peña wrote:

To avoid damage to the differential, CUT the nut off. Get an angle grinder witha cutting dusc and cut a section of the nut off. on two opposite sides. Make a straight cut, both parallel to each other. Don't cut into the threads, leave just a little bit of metal to protect them. You can then use an open end wrench of suitable size, or a big crescent wrench to try an open it. You can apply heat to it too, if the heat from the cutting didn't break it loose already. Hopefully, when you start turning it open, the thin section of the nut wall will give and the nut will split and fall off. You could perhaps help it split with a hammer and a sturdy chisel/screwdriver.

Jan

Yes there is the inner cv flange, but I don't think those small bolts could handle it.   Jim Busahaulic wrote: Okay, okay... I have never been under a '73 SuperBeetle

- Are they IRS? Is there not a flange on the inside of a stub axle that he can attach a leverage bar to?

and in

assume.

1/4" X

you

meter

news:bso799$f7au5$ snipped-for-privacy@ID-209996.news.uni-berlin.de...

in

drum

joint

now

drive

to

splines...    ;o)

Okay - so can you take the cv joints & shaft off, and bolt something across the inside of the wheel where you'd normally bolt the outer cv joint on - drill a piece of steel plate, about 6 mm oughtta do it - to fit 4 or more of the bolts in the pattern - and lock up the shaft that way, then proceed as described before? Or is this what Pearson suggested?

Whew it sounds like everyone is having fun here! lol

1. Brett has a good method of holding the shaft while loosening the nut. I like this pipe wrench method!

1. Heat up the nut is another method.

2. Others have said Chisel it off, or cut it off. Although I have never tried to "crack" the drum, I am sure you could do this to if you position something like a Jackstand under it so you possibly keep from damaging the bearings or splined shaft. Drill holes in the nut and then chisel there.

1. Have someone press the brakes down well and carefully put it in the proper gear to get the nut to spin CCW while YOU are holding that long cheater bar against the floor and socket onto the nut. You are only there to keep it from popping off the nut! If it is the RS it needs to be in first gear. If it is the LS it needs to be in reverse. THIS MAY BE THE QUICKEST AND EASIEST METHOD IF IT WORKS. I know that a lot of mechanics do it for some crankshaft nuts of different vehicles.

Let us know what you do and what works!

later, dave Reminder........ Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. Frieda Norris

Nope. Pipe wrenches work on the softer steels of pipes, but usually cannot get a bite into hardened steel like the types shafts are made from. You'll likely only scour the surface and probably leave burrs to catch your hands on next time.

i have done this BUT i don't recommend it at all....i did it and the nut was pretty darn tight so thecar actually "jumped" up and over the wrench once...was a good opportunity for anyone near the vehcile to get hurt...but it does work...

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug" reply take your PANTS off

This is how I did it when I gave my long-departed '72 Fastback new rear wheel bearings. I concluded pretty quickly that enough leverage to shift the nuts was going to break other things, so I ground one of the flats on the nut almost to the threads, whacked it with a hammer and chisel, and off it came.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..." ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte

Use an impact wrench... Borrow a friend with a compressor and a impact gun, or go to a tire shop... My Ingersoll Rand 231 pulled the nut NO PROBLEM in

10 seconds flat.... It'll budge anything up to around 450 lbs-ft... Don't cut the nut or keep endangering yourself trying to get it off other ways... the BEST way is with an impact gun.

as it should be...at minimum

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug" reply take your PANTS off

get a dremel out and cut some weak points into the nut, crankit and it will crack and fall off, voila

transmission -

Adjust the brakes all the way out, till you can't move the stars anymore, then block the wheels.

I use an pneumatic impact gun, but that's me... There is a potential problem with impact guns damaging bearings. If you get one, make sure its power is 500 ft/lbs. About US$95 at most FLAPS or Sears.

Mike.

Take off the axel, replace the CV screws, use a bar wedged into the screws to keep the axel from spinning. Buy new CV screws.

If you're in an agricultural area, hire the local wandering mechanic to stop by and remove the nut. They have the tools to completely dis-assemble most farm equipment. If you need to flag one down, in some ag communities, you call a mechanic by hanging a red flag (red shirt) on a post at the end of the drive way.

Cool place... Where would that be?

DR is pretty high on my places of "want to vacation there", but I think we're doing Baja California this March. My sisters boyfriend ran a guide service there for about ten years. That, and it's only about 600 miles away. DR is like 4,000 miles, and I can't drive that far and back on a two week vacation. And I heard driving across the Bahamas is pretty tough.

I would think the axel nut has to be made of pretty hard stuff. I'm sure you could find one in a junk yard, or on the internet if your FLAPS can't get them.

Mike.