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Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:47 am

i cannot get the rear hub nuts lose on my 73 super. i bought a toolfrom JC Whitney that is suposed to take them of with a few whacks of a hammer. aparently a sledge is not enugh. i have been soaking them with WD 40 for weeks. there is not a pin it it ether. when i bounce on the breaker bar it just spins the wheels. i have to get the hubs off to fix the E brakes. i dont have a torch.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:57 am

Hate to tell ya this, but soaking rusty nuts/bolts in WD-40 is as effective as soaking them in green tea.
Get some PB Blaster from FLAPS or Walmart, or Kroil from Eastwood.
Don't waste your money on one of those little propane torches. Won't get it hot enough. You'll needs someone with Oxy-Ace set-up to put some REAL HEAT on the nut.
Get a Torqu-Meister or something similar.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:09 am

If it will drive, drive it to someone that has a "big meat" impact gun. Tire shop or a decent repair place would have one. Then tighten them up some and drive it home to do your repairs.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:15 am

Air-Cooled Head wrote: Hate to tell ya this, but soaking rusty nuts/bolts in WD-40 is as effective as soaking them in green tea.
Get some PB Blaster from FLAPS or Walmart, or Kroil from Eastwood.
The guy that invented PB Blaster is my hero! I should buy some stock in that company...

Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:15 am

I bought the tool from Cip1 that Air-Cooled Head linked to up there. Sure, it's $60 for a tool you probably won't use all that much, but it works great! I'm totally happy that I sprung for it.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:18 am

There should be a good sticky for this common problem. There is a thread on the Ghia forum on the same topic:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=218600&highlight=rear+nut

This one worked for me, but it might be what you ordered.
http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ACC%2DC10%2D7040

I lowered the drum down on a junk rim and it sledged off.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:20 am

Bugs'n'Pugs wrote: Air-Cooled Head wrote: Hate to tell ya this, but soaking rusty nuts/bolts in WD-40 is as effective as soaking them in green tea.
Get some PB Blaster from FLAPS or Walmart, or Kroil from Eastwood.
The guy that invented PB Blaster is my hero! I should buy some stock in that company...

Amen to that! PB Blaster is the best stuff ever!

Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:36 am

PB Blaster, huh? I saw it at the store along with all the other "it'll come loose with some of this" products. I dismissed it. I'll have to give it a shot when my current can of pee in the wind runs out.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:11 am

here's how I had to deal with my run-in with sticky nuts. :?

Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:20 am

the car does not drive. i can make it drive in no time but i wont bea able to stop it. the brakes are out and the E brake dont work. i have to pull the drum to put new adjusters in there cause i stripped the teeth off. PB blaster didnt work. i have tried to get the hubs off 3 times. first time a few years ago i used liquid wrench. last fall i used PB Blaster now im using WD 40 and alot more torque. im really up a creek :cry:

Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:44 am

You need to come up with a way to apply differential torque to the tire/hub while you're trying to loosen it. You could try a piece of angle iron with holes drilled in it match the lug nuts. A simpler solution might be to get a wheel chock and a large cargo strap. Place the strap around the circumference of the tire tread, and around the chock and cinch it up. Basically strap the chock to the tire so the tire can't slip against it and the car can't roll and "climb the chock" while you whoop on it with a cheater bar.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:45 am

Well if it were me, I would try to back off the brake adjusters with a chisel to see if you can get the little star adjusters to move and not get hung up in the brake drum.

Squirt your favorite penetrating fluid on the big nut. Apply some heat to it if you have a torch.

I would see if I could borrow, rent from Home Depot or someplace, a big meat impact gun. Some work on electric, some air pressure. A neighbor who has old tractors would be nice to know pretty well.

I used to use a 3/4" drive SAE socket that fit pretty well and used a 3/4" breaker bar with a big cheater pipe, put the car in low or reverse if it spins on you.

All of those guys who change tires on big trucks via their little service trucks have that stuff on board and they may do it for a nominal fee.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:56 am

Before I ordered the sledging tool from CIP for $8, I was on the road to another method that was going to work... but the tool finally came in the mail.

You can...
Carefully <<< use a metal drill bit and drill out the side of the nut. Basically go in to one of the "valleys" that the cotter pin goes and drill horizontally toward the drum. Close as possible to the axle threads WITHOUT damaging them. Get enough holes next to eachother and you can chisel/pry it the rest of the way open. Just don't damage your axle threads or you can't get a new nut on. The grinder method in my prior posted link works, too but I'm no good with a grinder. Drilling little dents in the drum won't hurt, but destroying those axle threads would sorta suck.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 1:00 pm

I took mine off the other day with kroil that I picked up at a local gun shop and and 1" drive ratchet with 4' fence post. came right off after breaking a 1/2" ratchet and breaker bar.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:28 pm

I couldn't get mine off either...

heat w/ a torch--- no luck
pb blaster for a few days--- no luck
4' breaker bar and sledge--- no luck (tire spun)
impact wrench--- no luck

What I had to wind up doing was as follows:
1. jack up that side of the car
2. get two 2x6's about 3-4' long and stack them on top of each other
3. wrap a ratchet strap around them
4. lower car back down on top of the 2x6's
5. loop the ratchet strap up and over the tire
6. tighten the heck out of the ratchet strap
7. get your breaker bar and sledge out
8. place the breaker bar horizontally and put one foot on it to apply some pressure
9. while standing on the breaker bar (one foot, you don't want to fall off :wink: ) pound on the end of the bar.

This did the trick for me. I used a 4 lb sledge on a 4' piece of sprinkler pipe that I used as a cheater pipe and a 2 foot long breaker bar for 3/4 inch sockets... And that wheel never spun on me. :twisted:

Mon Apr 09, 2007 7:05 pm

got them little bastards off. it took 2 people and left some dents in the wheels. lots of soaking and about 5 feet of pipe and breaker bar. i will not put them on nearly as tight. besides they have a pin in them. whats the worst that could happen?

Mon Apr 09, 2007 7:16 pm

Dub Owner wrote: besides they have a pin in them. whats the worst that could happen?

They need to be tight enough so that the drum doesn't have any lateral movement on the axle shaft, which would, in time, start rounding off the splines on the axle shaft. (If I remember correctly).

I remember when I finally got a tough axle nut to break loose on my '69. It made such a loud squealing noise, my neighbor's dog started barking.

Mon Apr 09, 2007 7:57 pm

[quote="Twiggy"]here's how I had to deal with my run-in with sticky nuts. :?

[
/quote]

Same here i had to take a small drill bit and drill in on about a 45 degree angle to the nut on one of the sides... ofcoarse i had to becareful not to hit the threads but after that and a sawall work and a propane torch and a 5 ft cheater bar... a broken extention that was a 3/4!!!!! i finally had gotten that bastard off........ lol that is one of those days where you are so pissed that you want to hit the fucking project with a hammer and never stop !!! lol that is went i had to get an ice cold moutain dew ( or beer if some perfer) and stand back and scream YAH YAH i got the bastard off.... lol

just my experience... i hate that they are 8 bucks but after that i am going to replace both lol

Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:06 am

Dub Owner wrote: i will not put them on nearly as tight. besides they have a pin in them. whats the worst that could happen?

Your axle splines will strip out and you'll be set to walking. The factory torque spec is 250 ft lbs.

BTDT

Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:59 am

Its really worth investing in the torque master. It multiplies the torque by nine times. You only need about 25 pound feet to deal with this. Its makes this job so easy.

Even VW recognized this was challenging. As I recall, the Bently says not to remove the nuts while the car is up on a lift. The torque needed can pull the car off the lift.

If you do not torque the nuts back properly, you will quickly have other problems.