Air Impact Wrench in Seattle?

[ggzilla]

Anyone have a high-torque air impact wrench?

Or know a shop I can go to that will do such a small task?

 

Running into a bit of a problem with my newer car. I cannot get the driveshaft/spindle nut off. It's only supposed to be 180 lb, but I've put 400 pounds on it and it won't turn. Supposedly a high-torque impact wrench is what the dealer uses, as most impact wrenches are only 350 lb type.

 

I have the 1/2 drive impact socket, just need one zip to get this broken free.

 

Thanks,

David 'ggzilla'

[thisismatt]

Honduh? Have you clearanced any peened over spot?

 

I took mine to a wayne's tire once for such a purpose. So yeah, try a tire shop.

[mklotz70]

This is a front wheel drive axle shaft? You can try putting the tire back on so you can step/jump on the breaker bar.

 

Any chance it right hand threaded?

 

When you say you put 400lbs to it....is that your impact rating? Turn your compressor up to 100 or run the gun with no load until it kicks on again and completely charges. If you are getting any "bounce" in the assembly it's probably absorbing the impact. The stroke is really short, so if it moves at all...anyway.......try to turn the assembly counter clockwise(assuming left hand thread...normal) until it's tight, then hit it again. That might be enough. I don't own a fancy impact and I've always gotten them off with one of these methods.

[mklotz70]

....I re-read yours....doesn't sound like you have any impact...just the socket. So....if you can't get it jumping on the breaker bar....try this.....have someone stand on the bar, the you can give the bar a sharp rap up closer to the head end.

 

I seriously doubt they'd use a right hand thread....those pretty much went away years ago :)

[ggzilla]

Thank Mike, Yes I bounced on a pipe at 2-ft mark, and hit the socket with a 12-lb sledge at the same time (shade tree mechanic's impact tool?). Why do people overtighten these things? I have the stake/peen part of the nut pounded out I think.

 

Matt yes, I own two Datsuns but this is my mother-in-law's Honduh. How'd you guess? One time I used a 6-foot long pipe to break loose the Datsun differential pinion nut, after that I didn't think anything would stop me...but this is a "foreign" car to me.

Edited March 10, 2009 by ggzilla

[mklotz70]

....so are you saying Thanks Mike, that got it, or Thanks, already tried that and it didn't work ???

[ggzilla]

Still can't get it loosened, tried that. I don't actually have air tools. Either way I'm glad you commented.

[mklotz70]

Are you hitting down on the bar or on the socket? Stand on the bar to preload it so that it won't absorb the impact....then about 4" from the head end, smack the bar with the hammer. If that's what you're already doing, try doing it in the clockwise direction to see if it will break the hold it has. Used to be fairly common to tighten a bolt to break it's grip, then remove it.

 

I gotta get some sleep.....but...... ya or nay on having an impact gun?

[mklotz70]

Tryin' to be nice so you'll leave me your 1200 truck in your will :)

[thisismatt]

'Cause I've done it a number of times and recognized the torque value ;) I don't know if it's over torqued, they just get pretty hard to remove after years of being on and thousands of heat cycles from the brakes. Plus, they do kind of hold the hub in the bearing. You did drive the peened in part of the nut out, right? Agreeing with Mike, you should leave the tires on and have the car on the ground, rather than letting the tranmission hold it. After I got a decent impact I haven't had a problem removing them, but a tire shop should be able to do it, and for free if they're cool, though they may ask you to come back right before closing time (or you might suggest coming back at that time as to not inconvenience them). You could also heat the nut with a propane/mapp gas torch.

 

Are you replacing the shaft, wheel bearings, or what? I might have some other advice depending on what you're doing.

[ggzilla]

I'm just replacing the bearing it is pretty noisy, she got too scared to drive it any more, I been driving it everywhere it's a fun little go kart. I was thinking of going to pick-a-part and getting a good used hub with bearing since I don't have a press. The bearing is only $31 at Schucks.com, but then gotta pay a machine shop to install it is what I understand.

[thisismatt]

What year is it? I just did the front bearings on my 92.

[ggzilla]

It's a 92 Accord EX, nice engine... if it wasn't anti-clockwise I'd be tempted to tell her the car is unfixable and swap that motor into my Datsun...

[thisismatt]

Okay, so yeah...I just did this. The front bearings are a funky proprietary housing with side by side ball bearings. Here's a copy/paste from a little write-up I did to help someone else on a Honda forum:

 

Unbolt (17mm) brake caliper from steering knuckle and hang with a wire from the upper suspension arm. You may want to unbolt (10mm) the first brake line holder so you're not twisting the line excessively.

 

Un-steak the axle spindle nut and take it off (36mm) using a good impact wrench.

 

Break free hub to rotor bolts (14mm) with impact since it's easy while still on car.

 

Remove the cotter pin from the lower ball joint castle nut and loosen castle nut (17mm) so that the top of the castle is about flush with the ball joint stud, leaving about 4mm of gap. Use a 2 prong puller to pull against the lower arm. My puller has a sharp point, so I get a washer that the point can sit in and set the castle nut just a few threads off the ball joint stud as to keep from collapsing the cotter pin hole on the stud. I put some tension on it and then tap the arm with a hammer and it usually pops without issue. I find the nubs on the arm difficult to grab with the puller, so I usually set my puller up where the ball joint boot surface is, which is much more square edged. If you have your car up high enough you can probably avoid using a puller and simply hit the stud with a hammer - again, leave the nut flush or a little above the threads to avoid damaging the stud. You could possibly also put a jack under the stud and lift it up and hammer the arm down.

 

Lift the spindle up to get the ball joint stud out of the lower arm. Pull the spindle away from the car so that the CV shaft pulls through the hub. If it's stuck I use my puller again to easily push it out. You could probably also pry it from the back but the puller works great.

 

Pull the spindle out and back, swiveling on the upper ball joint and the outer tie rod joint. The CV shaft can rest on the lower arm between the lower strut fork. You'll now see the 4 10mm 12 point bolts holding the hub to the steering knuckle. Remove these with a 10mm 12 point socket. The hub w/rotor is now free, but might be tight in the knuckle. Getting it out is up to you at this point, I don't know a very good way to do it. Tapping on partially inserted 12 point bolts will easily maul them, so I'd suggest using a wooden dowel or small enough block to whack the hub from the knuckle.

 

Once you have the hub, bearing carrier, and rotor off the knuckle you can take the rotor bolts out and slide the rotor off the back of the hub, leaving you with just the hub and bearing carrier. Here's where you need a puller of some sort. I just use my 2 prong puller and grab the ears of the bearing carrier and a large, thick washer pressing against the hub shaft. A 1 1/4" socket looked like the appropriate size as well. The carrier will pull off along with one race and then you're left with what you see in the pictures below.

 

 

To get the lower race off I believe the following puller is the correct tool:

 

 

Since I don't have one and the old race is just scrap at this point I took my cutoff tool to the race and put two notches in it on either side and then used my two prong puller. Set the puller, tightened it down a bit, then hit the race with a mapp gas torch for about 2 seconds and it popped and pulled off the rest of the way without issue. Even if you did have the split puller you probably need a regular puller to pull it off the rest of the way.

 

If you need any more info let me know. I bought new bearings from Carquest and got both sides for $110 with tax (I know a guy there so I got a slight discount). You can get cheaper ones for about $60 plus tax total from Kragen/etc, but I went ahead and got the good OEM, made in Japan bearings (NSK/MOOG/Federal-Mogul). I think it's worth getting good bearings considering how much of a pain they are to do. My ghetto bearing press consisted of a length of 5/8" allthread, 3 nuts, and a couple washers of various size to press the new bearings on - worked fine.

[Cuts metal like mad]

from my experience, if the nut is stuck, the axle is usually rusted to the hub as well... good luck

[a100addict]

i had a similar problem with a honda accord. i went out and bought the big daddy impact from ingersoll rand 500bucks but came with a free hat. got home and no joy. it turned out that my air hoses were about 10 years old and had collapsed in the middle. new hoses and my bluepoint impact took it right off. so maybe check that. p.s. i took the impact back and kept the hat.