Stubborn nut

[02nightmaregt]

Ok gents, some of you have probably seen my new progress thread I just put up in Talk, but I have a problem relating to it. This damn nut here is giving me hell.

I know I know its just a nut, but my question is this. Do I need to use my jack to relieve some of the stress on it to loosen it or just put some man behind it. I have it soaking in PB Blaster right now. I am trying to not have to cut it.

 

[trinity_gt]

There's no stress on it that a jack will ease.

An impact gun would spin that off in seconds. A breaker bar would probably work too. Let the Blaster work for a bit...it'll come.

 

[02nightmaregt]

Ok thanks. I wasn't sure if there was any stress on it or not. Its been a long time since I've had a chance to work on the ole' stang and I don't want to have to cut anything off. I tried with my air ratchet with no luck (its not real high power though) so maybe I'll have to try getting my impact in there.

 

[Blackone51]

I would either heat it up or use the freeze stuff, both of those have never let me down. The quick temperature change breaks the rust thats causing the problem.

 

[PoppyMod]

Ok gents, some of you have probably seen my new progress thread I just put up in Talk, but I have a problem relating to it. This damn nut here is giving me hell.

I know I know its just a nut, but my question is this. Do I need to use my jack to relieve some of the stress on it to loosen it or just put some man behind it. I have it soaking in PB Blaster right now. I am trying to not have to cut it.

There is a propane torch tip that emits a small pinpointed flame. I found it at Lowes in the tool dept near the torches. Your nut looks rusted to the point that unless you use a tight fitting socket you run the risk of rounding it. UGH! Therefore, the use of heat on the nut only, is the way I would go. I'm in the process of rebuilding my front suspension. This past weekend, I had a very stubborn lower ball joint that would not separate after using penetrate and a pickle fork. I applied heat (map gas -it's hotter) around the outer metal area to the extent the ball joint grease was igniting, at which point, after a couple of whacks it separated.
The small flame was instrumental in pin pointing the flame.
Good Luck!

 

[flstang65]

+! on the mapp gas and impact gun suggestions. Worst case scenario, you can go with an old school nut splitter.

 

[BurningRubber]

It's imperative that you heat the nut only if you're using gas.

If you want to try again before using that, find or buy a breaker bar. I actually used an old bike seat post. It was just big enough to slide over the ratchet handle and long enough to give some killer leverage.

 

[02nightmaregt]

Thanks I may look for that torch at Lowes. I do have a rather large breaker bar that I'll try first thoughI just had the front suspension worked on at the end of '08 so I am hoping that the chit isn't too rusted up.

 

[N8Dogg98]

Get yourself a nice torque wrench. I bought a Coleman Professional for about $50 at Menards and it works f'n awesome. Haven't come across a nut it couldn't remove. At the highest setting it's about 450 ft-lb of torque... yeah baby...

 

[trinity_gt]

FWIW, I wouldn't use a torque-wrench to remove tough fasteners. That's what breaker bars are for: just as much mechanical advantage but no critical calibration to screw up if you overdo it...

 

[patman0911]

Ah, sometimes it's nice to live where the bottom of cars don't turn to a solid mass of rust after one winter - I did my frontend last weekend and had no trouble breaking loose any of the 15 year old nuts, bolts, tie-rod ends or ball joints

I got a section of thick pipe from Lowe's for a cheater bar - probably 1-1/2" x 18". I flattened one end a little with a BFH so that it'll slip over bigger combination wrenches. That cheater bar on the end of a 18" 1/2" drive breaker bar will break most anything loose.

That nut is torqued to about 150 lbs-ft if I'm remembering correctly (check that spec before you put the new ones on though) so it takes a lot of effort to break it loose. Impact wrench or a lot of leverage is needed, even if it's not rusty. Heating the nut is worth a try too, anything to break the rusty bonds loose.

 

[02nightmaregt]

Well gents I got that biotch off. I just used my breaker to losen it and then Impact to spin it off. I may have jumped the gun on asking for advice on that one. Anyways now that its off the damn tie rod (is that what it is?) wont drop out. Damn North Carolina bought car. This thing spent 5 years in NC and two 6-7 month periods sitting in outside storage (thanks Uncle Sam) so there is a little rust but nothing real serious. It'll be nice to have it apart to bust rust and paint it.

 

[N8Dogg98]

Well gents I got that biotch off. I just used my breaker to losen it and then Impact to spin it off. I may have jumped the gun on asking for advice on that one. Anyways now that its off the damn tie rod (is that what it is?) wont drop out. Damn North Carolina bought car. This thing spent 5 years in NC and two 6-7 month periods sitting in outside storage (thanks Uncle Sam) so there is a little rust but nothing real serious. It'll be nice to have it apart to bust rust and paint it.

Do you have a tie rod separator (looks like a fork with a tapered end?). If not, get one along with a BFH. You need to drive the fork between the knuckle and the tie rod end to separate it.

 

[trinity_gt]

If you don't have a ball joint "pickle fork" (they aren't recommended because they can damage the ball joint seal) you can try threading the nut most of the way back on -- but not enough so that the stud sticks out above the top of the nut -- and give the top of the nut a few whacks with a BFH. It may also help to use that BFH to tap around the spindle where the rod end stud goes through.

BTW, patman said that nut is torqued to 150 ft-lbs: I don't believe that's right. My shop manual indicates that the tie rod outer ball joint nut should be tightened to 41 ft-lbs, then additional as needed to line up the hole in the stud with a gap in the nut for the new cotter pin.

 

[patman0911]

You can also put the nut back on where it sticks just above the threads a bit and pound on it with your BFH.

edit: Trinity beat me to it.

You may be right - I was going off memory and seems like everything under there was at least 150 lbs. That's why I said to double check before he put his new ones on though. Don't go off my hazy memory - I was pretty dehydrated

 

[Rusty67]

You can also put the nut back on where it sticks just above the threads a bit and pound on it with your BFH.

edit: Trinity beat me to it.

You may be right - I was going off memory and seems like everything under there was at least 150 lbs. That's why I said to double check before he put his new ones on though. Don't go off my hazy memory - I was pretty dehydrated

Don't do this unless you are replacing the tie rod. You can really eff the threads up.

If you are replacing the part use a pickle fork because it is the easiest. If you are going to reuse the tie rod then what you want to do is get your self a tie rod puller like this:
Amazon.com: Powerbuilt 648692 Small Tie Rod Puller: Home Improvement

Auto zone rents them out if I remember correctly.

I've got a quite pricey forged snap-on puller that works much better then these cheap cast ones (its never failed me) but the cheap ones are good for a few uses before the arms spread too much and they become worthless.

 

[02nightmaregt]

Yea Thats what I was thinking I would need (pickle fork), and of course I don't have one. Oh well just another reason to go tool shopping

 

[N8Dogg98]

Tool shopping FTW