Stubborn Nut broke my torque wrench. Tips?
 

Hey folks.

having an issue with the honda. The CV joint is bad on the passanger side, i got a new passanger side half-shaft driveshaft assembly.

my only problem is the goddamn spindle nut is not coming off.

I have gone through more bullshit with this spindlenut than i did replacing the clutch.

I broke my 200ftlb tq wrench trying to get it off. I wasnt able to get it to loosen so i used a 5 foot breaker bar and ended up twisting off the nub that fits in the socket. Im freaking pissed, that torque wrench ran me $75.00 im gonna see if it has a lifetime warranty, im hoping so.


Anyways here is my problem. I have to get this piece of shit bolt off. Normal tricks are doing nothing. Im half tempted to cut the freaking thing off with some cutting discs and my electric chisle (basically a $250 high powered dremel on steroids, lol) . I expect i can get it off in about 1/2 hour of grinding, but im worried about damaging the surrounding area.

Does anyone know of a special tool that maybe i can check if Checker Auto will rent that is made for those extra stubborn bolts?

well first off, your not to use a tq wrench to take bolts off, only to put them on. second, if you can find an electric impact wrench, i would use that. my buddy has one and it works great for stuff like this.

What size drive was the torque wrench. The only thing I can think of is a bigger drive if possible and continue to use the breaker bar. This one has a 750 ft. lbs load rating http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=98270 I wouldn't think it could break that.

200ftlb rating, about 2 feet long.

Purestang, hindsight is a bitch. Ive used to take off stubborn bolts before. This sucks, i liked that torque wrench.

Maybe ill just drive to Checker Auto tomorrow and see what they have for rental.

Yup, first thing that came to mind was to never use a Tq. wrench to unbolt anything, but you can't do anything about it now. If it has a warranty just don't tell them that you were trying to un-do a stuck nut.

If you have any way to heat the nut up like a torch, use it. Just heat the nut up, not the stud, and give it a good turn with a breaker bar. I'm sure you've thought of pb blaster. I don't know what you have access to. Try a impact wrench, a huge ass breaker bar with a pipe fitted over the end to make it even longer. I have a few different lengths of electrical conduit that I use to slip over the ends of wrenches the gain a little leverage when I can.

I have a propane blowtorch..

i guess i can see if i can rent an impact wrench.

as for as the torque wrench went, all the guts and internals held up just fine. it was the actual nub that fits in the socket that twisted off.

I certainly learned something though.

:(

PB blast

http://www.autoparts2020.com/rsdev/p...FZJM5Qod5zOfAg

and a half inch impact gun.

and jack... Im surprised you ever used your TQ wrench to un-do anything...thats a big no-no. well at least now you know.

its worked fine in the past.... the . The nub that fits into the socket literally ripped off. i dont think it would matter which direction it was going. The actual torque wrench components held up just fine.

:mad:

You need air tools to take those nuts off. I just did my roommates clutch and to get his axle nuts of his 97 civic I had to use 165psi on my air tool and PB blaster to get his nuts to come off. Your not gonna do that shit by hand.

It doesn't have a carter pin in it does it? For some reason I want to think my civic had a gold keeper over the nut and a carter pin. Other than that a big ass breaker bar or an impact is what I would use.

nope... it is pretty straight forward. The Spindle does have a slot where they pounded the nut into it in order to lock it, but all i needed was a screwdriver and a hammer andi got it pushed out of the slot.

So your poor torque wrench died needlessly?

I have a 1/2 inch ratchet that I have taken a few axle nuts off with. But yeah, normally I use my 1/2 inch impact gun.

If that nut is tough make sure you have a decent amount of leverage with the impact gun. Shit can snap your wrist in half.

I'm sure its possible, but fuck wasting my time when you have air tools :D

Air tools make life so much easier.

Agreed. The times I used the big ass ratchet, my gun was down for the count. I didnt feel like borrowing. As far as BMW is concerned, we arent supposed to use air tools of any kind, ever.

Perhaps not...if it was used to remove nuts in the past, it's likely it lost it's accuracy.

id agree on air tools, go and buy some military grade lubricant or liquid wrench, make sure you also have right sockets for the impact gun, from the sound of it , ud just breaka a normal socket, just make sure they are specific for impact gun. Otherwise if that doesnt work idk

Problem one: never use a torque wrench to loosen anything.
Problem two: $75 is exceptionally cheap for a torque wrench. I paid over $85 for my SK and that was Amazon.
What I would try is:
-Torch it
-Cut it (either the nut off or slot it to make it turn easier)
-Get an impact.
-I'd also check to see if the threads are reversed (as in clockwise loosens it).

pwd72s, it always worked fine in the past. as i said, the internals of the torque wrench were fine, the post that it uses to secure into the socked actually twisted off. the internals are STILL fine. lol.

Bassman,

send me some snap-on torque wrenches and i wont have that problem anymore.

75 bucks is still 75 bucks.

;)

I finally got it off, bought a breaker bar, soaked the thing in pb and let it sit for 10 min, soaked it again, waited 10, soaked it again waited 10.

put the breaker bar on with the socket and put on the 5 foot long bar from my jack over it and it finally came off.

what a pain in the ass.

CV joint has been swapped though.

Found out my shocks are shot too, but im not overly concerned, i plan to get another car in the next 2-3 months.

yeah, your tq wrench broke cause it was cheap piece of crap...no question there. but you're still not ever supposed to loosen anything with them. ;)

yer a cheap pice of crap







fucker


lol

Spend the loot on one of these...you'll then use it only for it's intended purpose, which is measuring torque when you tighten.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

Wow, looks pretty nice!

i can still use it to clean my grill right?

Sure...put a rag on the 1/2" fitting, so you could pre set the cleaning torque. ;) My rollaway contains some snap-on, but is mostly Craftsman. Craftsman more than adequate for most home wrenchers. But I did opt for the snap-on torque wrench. It has a lever you can flip back after use that "zeros" the internal springs, and it retains it's accuracy better than others out there.

The most accurate torque wrench is still the "beam" type...problem there is you can't always see where the needle is pointing. You can hear and feel the click.

I once told a local mechanic that if I ever won a lottery, I'd give my Craftsman tools away, and buy a complete snap-on set. I loved his truthful response. He said if he ever won a lottery, he'd give me all his snap-on tools, because he'd never work on a car again. :D

Lol.. thats pretty funny!

i have an 11 piece standard snap-on wrench set. i looked it up one, it was about $350.00. Got it as a bonus prize in a "roomate from hell" situation. he kept stealing my mustang.

Unfortunatly my car is all metric. But you can definatly feel the quality of snap-on just by holding them.

Not when it comes to the tools I have to use every day. I totally get why the at home mechanic would not drop $300 on a torque wrench... If it weren't my job, Id be going with the craftsman for bigger items like a tq wrench and air tools. Nice tools are way expensive and it sucks.

Alright Jack, so what type of torch wrench do you need... I can get you one easy, just PM me a mailing address.

Snap On and Maco and others are nice, but for a weekend warrior I have been loving Home Depots Huskey line of tools. I have only broken one wrench ever in 6+ years of wrenching with them. And that is because I used my 3/8" wrench on a bolt with a 3' piece of pipe and jumping on it to get a bolt loose and it snapped under that. They gave me a new one no questions asked.

But no denying how good the Snap on and Matco and others are. There is a reason they cost so much money, and its because they are really good tools.