yenpit Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 510 Sedan.......what is the best method to remove the big "pinched" nut on the rear stub axle, on the rear swing arm/wheel bearing. I have now galled/stripped the threads on two, and I'm not a happy camper! I typically carefully grind away the "pinched" lip on both sides, then heat the nut, and then use an impact to remove. Help!! Quote Link to comment
hang_510 Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 i was able to grind mine. didnt need heat or an impact. filed the one thread i scored. Quote Link to comment
Boaty Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 I would find new nuts to replace the old ones, personally. They are out there. They even pop up on eBay once in awhile. FWIW, I used some off of a different vehicle and they worked great... would take a lot of googling to figure out what they came off of, but they were my only option as mine came off completely destroyed. I am hoping to *NEVER* do the rear wheel bearings in a sedan, *EVER* again. Biggest pain in my anus, them things. I didn't have the luxury of air tools at the time. And them puppies are ON there. That and the bearings and races are expensive... Quote Link to comment
yenpit Posted February 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 Thanks for all the input! Hang, you a lucky man!! This happened to me before a few years ago, but I figured it was a one time fluke back then. My machinist buddy suggested "splitting" the nut with a quality chisel, cuz even heating the nut to red hot didn't help on the last one. New nuts are available from Nissan, and I think Riley at Lynchburg sells the 280ZX nuts for the 510 (??). Cutting/burning the nut off with a torch is likely too risky, as that nut is recessed into the cavity of the inner flange, and I think would be difficult to do without other unwanted damage. From what I've gathered since yesterdays hell, it all comes down to the manufacturer ......Datsun....... and how the engineers designed it, and applied it. My guess is that moisture gets in there, and oxidizes the threads, thus adding contaminents, thus binding up when attempting to remove the nut, thus ripping (galling) out the threads, cuz the threads are the weak link. The other possibility is that the engineers didn't think far enough ahead to design these nuts to come off properly. Perhaps it's a design flaw, and a high percentage of them are already "galled" when installed, and simply rip the threads out when removed..........it may be a 50/50 gamble trying to twist the nut off. If I can successfully chisel the next one (I've PRE-sold a pair to a forum member!!), then that will be the method for the future! I will post my findings................. The second one I did last night, even with the nut red hot, ripped out ALL of the threads ON THE STUB AXLE! I have 2 where just the top 2-3 threads are slightly chewed up, but I can't send them to the buyer, so I need 1 more good one. I've got a few more swing arms to try! I will look into buying a new die later, to try to repair the other ones. Grrrrrrrrrrr!! Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted February 8, 2012 Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 Wow, that's crazy. I've never seen the stub axle portion get screwed beyond repair. I did however, buy a 20mm die to chase the threads, or was it 19mm? Can't remember. Anyway I just unstaked them with a punch, then sprayed some PB Blaster on it, put a 1/2" gun on it and backed them off like normal. Chased the threads, got new nuts at Nissan, never looked back. Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted February 8, 2012 Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 I've still never seen it. Got any pics? Maybe a PO overtightened the nuts, so they weakened the threads. Quote Link to comment
paradoxx Posted February 8, 2012 Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 I think as ggzilla says, it was overtightened. I cant really remember but I think those are torqued something around 60#......I had a hard time removing one once, that I had to use a solid bar and a lever to remove one of those same nuts. Quote Link to comment
Creepy Cruiser Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 My book says 181-239 ft lbs for the stub axle nuts. It takes a big torque wrench for that, lol. Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Yeah, how my Datsun guru does it is by grabbing the 3/4" harbor freight gun and going for it. Never had one come off, about the right end torque really. Short of getting a torque wrench that can go that high and having the control arm in an appropriate vise. I haven't had any issues using the gun as the torque wrench. Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 That's the same torque as a honda IRS front hub nut. Impossible to remove without a power hammer. Quote Link to comment
Creepy Cruiser Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 This is what I made to hold the hub side, while tightening the nut with a very large torque wrench. This way you can do them off the car also. I tapered the holes, so when I tighten some lugs on there, so it doesn't ding up the studs when cranking on them so hard I believe in correct torque specs, lol. Quote Link to comment
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