Rear axle nut(s) - the battle begins

[vanis13]

My experience with the above about propane/mapp is same.

That being said, it takes longer and it heats more stuff around. the Oxy is nice since you can often get the nut red w/o boiling the axle grease.
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83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make

[Wildthings]

I bought my first oxy-act rig right after I first entered the job market. Not a particularly expensive purchase and it has paid me back many times over. I can't imagine trying to heat an axle nut with a homeonwer style propane torch, it would probably take 50 times as long and boil the heck out of the grease.

[insyncro]

[atomatom]

jed has a great video on this


Link

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84 Vanagon Westy, 1.9L, California raised but defected to Canada.

[Sodo]

Perfect, thanks! 61Scout thats all I needed, good luck with your project. If you have anything to add (for me or other members) who just hafta git'er done the forum needs this useful content.

So the axle is a tight fit in the bearing inner race, but not a press-fit. We'll see what's next.

Hope it's not "knackered"!
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[Reck]

I've got a stubborn one. Have tried a 3' breaker bar, MAPP canister heat, a big brass slug wrench and small sledge, a 3/4" impact wrench, an EMPI thingamajig. I'm starting to like the Dremel approach. Do I understand people are cutting a slot in the nut perpendicular to the axis of the axle? Or are they cutting along the axle axis, as far as the arc of the disc will allow before hitting the thread? Then hitting the slot with a chisel? Thanks for clarification.

[Tom Powell]

I used a six foot pipe over the breaker bar and jumped up and down on the end. That worked for one side. For the other side I cut the nut, parallel with the axle, down to the threads. The last part I did with a hand file trying not to damage the threads. Then I used a chisel and the breaker bar and six foot pipe to bust the nut.

Aloha
tp

[Abscate]

Heat, 3/4 46mm socket, 3/4 breaker bar.

Never used an extension. It's all about the heat.
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.ssS!

[Reck]

Nothing worked for me, granted I don't have acetylene, only MAPP, and my breaker bar's a puny 3' (plus 18" cheater). But I did try two types of slug wrench. Finally got it off, here's what it looked like after it lost the battle. I'll write up a little blow-by-blow here when I get the chance, for other resource-deficient driveway mechanics.

[Wildthings]

[chrissev2]

[Wildthings]

[Sodo]

[T3 Pilot]

http://burleysmotorsports.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_36&products_id=121

Impacting the axle spindle nut is not going to harm the bearings.
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1988 Vanagon

The most important part in every vehicle is the nut behind the wheel......

[Sodo]

[Wildthings]

The dynamic loading on the bearing and hub probably exceeds 5000# at times, over and over and over when going down a rough dirt road. With the slug wrench I linked to the blow is going to be applied about a foot out from the center of the bearing. Assuming the nut yields at 1000ft/lbs then you will be applying about a #1000 pound load to the bearings and this load is only going to be applied once or twice per removal cycle.

[Abscate]

Oxy-acetylene >> bashing, every time.

It also has many other uses, unlike the bash tool,which can only serve as an ashtray
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.ssS!

[Merian]

or as a defensive weapon

I agree that impact (used correctly) will not harm anything. I wonder about what heat will do in terms of altering material properties of the axle nut, and whether it can be safely reused.
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[wesitarz]

socket and 7' cheater pipe worked on one side,but not the other. EMPI tool and sledge didn't work. Only had propane torch. Took it to a VW mechanic - impact wrench no, torch + impact a few times worked.

[chrissev2]