Axle nut drama

[phluge1]

I broke a Craftsman 1/2" breaker bar trying to remove the front axle nut on my '90 Legacy AWD. Following that I asked a mechanic about the possibility that the nut might be left-hand threaded but he said it was normally threaded--that it must be extraordinarily tight. Is there a trick to this I don't know about?

I need to replace a cv boot and was hoping to do it myself--I would hate to pay a shop approx. $50 to do it over one stuck nut. Thanks

[entirelyturbo]

Have you unstaked the nut from the axle? There is a little indentation in the axle threads that the lip of the nut is supposed to be peened into. That locks the nut in place. Loosening the nut without unstaking it would indeed be very difficult...

[phluge1]

Yes, I did unstake it. I had a reply suggesting I take it somewhere to have it loosened with an impact wrench. I guess that is the best route to take. Thanks for the help.

[ciper]

I used a 4-5 foot pipe on an 18 inch breaker bar and had to jump a few times. Just pay a visit to home depot and BRING THE BREAKER BAR WITH YOU to make sure the pipe fits. Should only cost 5-10$

[eastbaysubaru]

I actually had to take the car to a shop with MORE powerful air tools than I had. I've got a fairly gnarly compressor, but the impact wrench I was using was clearly not up to the task. He didn't believe me that it wasn't going to come off with a breaker bar...until he tried for himself . He was able to get it off, but it was a PITA. Good luck!

-Brian

[phluge1]

The way I broke the breaker bar was by jumping on a long pipe as Ciper suggested. Luckily it was a Craftsman (20 years old) so I got a free replacement. All things considered I have decided to spend the $50 so the shop can be responsible. I was surprized about all this because I have found many Subaru fixes are set up to be pretty simple (I guess with a 650 ft/# impact wrench)

[entirelyturbo]

I wonder if there's a safe way to put a long pipe extension on the nut, have it touch the ground behind the tire, and then try to go in reverse against the nut. Maybe that would break it loose? Or cause other unspeakable amounts of damage???

[legacy92ej22t]

Did you spray it with any kind of nut breaker? PB blast works pretty well, may be just enough to get it to break.

[phluge1]

subyluvr2212: That would be something one would try if they broke an axle out in the boonies. It would be my luck it would dig in and my front wheel would be raised six feet off the ground.

legacy92... : it's pretty much beyond penetrating oil but I would have tried it if the nut was yertical so it could seep down in.

Thanks

[vrg3]

Penetrating oil seeps in through capillary action just as much as through gravity. If you haven't shot it with PB B'laster, I strongly suggest giving it a try.

[Brat4by4]

He said "capillary" .

[vrg3]

I don't get it.

[phluge1]

I tried it again using the penetrating oil--then I took my spanking new replacement 1/2" breaker bar and jumped on it BUT jumping on the bar is way less than the original 6' pipe I used first, which broke that bar. Then there is a flange on the back of the bolt that spreads out that both makes it hard to get the oil in, and gives it more purchase to resist turning.

Capillary action would have a tough time drawing the oil in just from the front or at least take forever, I think. It's possible the thing was worked on before and somebody torqued it with the impact wrench from hell.

All things considered, I'm taking it in to the shop. As it is I had to drive over into Canada to get a boot kit because the parts stores computers in town did not even list a front inner boot kit (but they could get all the others). I live far enough out of town that any further snags might cause me to have to get it towed in to the shop anyway. This is one of those times I guess where it's worth fifty bucks to let somebody else worry about it.

I'm glad I found this group, it's great. Thanks to all of you.