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Tips for the U-Pull yard?


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Any tips for removing the castle nut of a rear axle while the car is up in the air at the U-Pull-it yard??

 

I won't have access to air/power tools. I was thinking maybe using a pipe wrench somewhere on the axle to keep it from turning???

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if the driveshaft from trans to rear end is still in, you can ram one of those

 

tire irons into the ujoint and it will lever against the body of the car.....

 

 

stick a tyre on it and have someone hold a bar in the rim holes

 

 

use a pipe wrench on the axel itself, underneath, while someone else

jumps on the axel nut

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A ball joint tool does it for me. I put the "Y" portion around one stud and prop the rest of it under the opposite stud and hold the whole thing from turning by putting a wheel underneath the tool while I wrench off the nut. An electric impact driver would do the trick also.

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Wedge 1 breaker bar across two lug studs and put a wheel under the hadle end of it. Then use your other breaker (with a cheater pipe) on the axle nut. Now...while cranking away on the cheater pipe, it is IMPERATIVE that you swear as loudly and as continuously as possible. The more swear words you can string together, the better it works. If the yard manager doesn't come out to make sure you aren't killing someone, you aren't doing it right.

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Get one of these:

 

http://www.busdepot.com/busdepot/details.jsp?partnumber=5748

 

Best tool for the job hands down. Most times it will take off the nut with a couple hits EVEN with the hub spinning freely - you just set the tool on the hub and whack it with a hammer - sure the wheel will spin, but a couple smacks and the nut will spin off anyway - inertia baby. Believe me - I use mine all the time.

 

These tools are intented for older VW buss rear axles where the torque is 250 lbs. Makes short work of the measly 150 lb torque of a Subaru axle nut.

 

Light, small, cheap, easy to use - what more can you ask for?

 

Won't hear me curseing in the yard - I get the job done and get the heck out. It's just a matter of learning what works well. Take rear axles for instance - often frozen to the splines with rust. If I don't notice movement after 5 hits of a BFH, I move on to the next suitible car. If I HAVE to have that specific one, then I'll either beat the stub out of the wheel bearing and deal with it later, or dismantle the inner joint, pop the grease cap from the bottom, and unbolt the stub axle from the diff.... if it's a front DOJ..... well, your just screwed I guess - never come accross one of those that was rusted tho, as there is generally a liberal quantity of grease in the vicinity of the transmission.

 

GD

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I have found that "gentle" use of a propane torch to heat the problem works wonders, exhaust studs, oil pump pressure port, axle nuts, parking brake cables, ....

just use one of the soldering types, not the cutting type a good jy should have

 

you can tell you are getting good when you can string together at least 7 !!(*^$!!, don't forget the ... rotten ... dirty... poop happens... ahora :dead:

 

ahora is one of my favorite, it means now

 

I personally use a 150 psi 3/4 air supply 3/4" drive impact socket and wrench, and it takes them off every time

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I aint carrying a freakin compressor or even a propane torch to the JY with me. That's just crazy. The more stuff I carry in, the harder it is to hump it all the way to the Subaru's and hump it all the way back to the counter. Some yards have wheelbarrows, but even then - the more I carry in, the less I can fit in the wheelbarrow

 

Everything I take to the yard fits in a "wide mouth" canvas tool bag (except my BIG breaker bar). I also have a folding canvas chair for the times that I'll be sitting by a wheel for a stretch. Both have sholder straps, cause the arms get tired humping that crap back and forth without a wheelbarrow.

 

I have yet to be defeated by a part I couldn't get removed....

 

Generally speaking, a propane torch (the small bottle kind, not a full blown shop model) won't get a part hot enough to do anything but burn you. You need oxy/acetelene or oxy/propane to get the torch hot enough to really do any good, and that's just too big to be bringing with you to a yard. If you have a real hot torch, it does work quite well though as a technique to remove stuff. The trick is to heat it up FAST, before whatever it's attached to has a chance to equalize in temp, and then remove it.

 

GD

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GD, my small propane torch has saved my hide many times, it's not the rate, but control, heat a small area, not the whole thing

 

if you need more heat, try mapp gas or one of the pocket butane torches

 

you need a frame type backpack, or bring your own wheelbarrow, a small one to put on the roof!

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Yeah - depends on how big the thing you are heating is. If we are talking about a small bolt, then mapp gas or possibly even straight propane could work, but talking axle nuts or DOJ cups..... there is just too much metal for a small torch to work fast enough. Sure it will get hot eventually, but so will whatever it's attached to, and you will negate any benifit.

 

GD

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Well, I didn't have to curse nearly as much as I thought I would...

 

 

I used a pipe wrench on the outer CV knuckle in the area where the pin drives through, and then just turned the wheel until the pipe wrench got caught in the suspension and bit in to the axle. Then just a little bit of pressure at the end of a 3 foot cheater and they were spinning off.

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Take rear axles for instance - often frozen to the splines with rust. If I don't notice movement after 5 hits of a BFH, I move on to the next suitible car.

GD

I use a couple squirts of YIELD (thanks again Ed!) in the roll pin hole and a sledge/prybar against the cup and diff. that stuff eats rust for breakfast!
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Just so happens I was removing the front disks on my 89 T-Wag last nite. Judging by their condition, and the difficulty in removing them, they were probably never touched.

 

Anyway, I ran into the "castle-nut problem". Tried the usual leverage, breaker bar, cursing etc. Don't own a 36m pneumatic socket, and didn't want to risk breaking my expensive chrome one off the air wrench.

My "Alley" Solution - Heated up the castlenut real well using a propane torch, then sprayed PB all around it as soon as the flame was removed. I noticed air bubbles as the penetrant worked its way into the threads. After it cooled off, the castle nut came right off with nothing more than a 1/2 ratchet.

I agree that a simple propane torch has its' limits, but I have found it very useful for removing fasteners using the method I've described above.

good luck, John

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Last time I had to do this, I put a lug wrench out of a full size van into teh lug studs on teh drum, and jammed this to teh ground with a piece of exhaust pipe. I then put another piece of exhaust pipe on my craftsman breaker bar and it came right off.

 

Other time I did this I just had a buddy stand on the brakes, but in the above instance the front brakes were gone so it didn;t work.

 

Although I think my engine removal method takes teh cake. Needed to pull a motor, so Russ (Caboobaroo) and I hunted around for something big, finally found a piece of a steel rack (Like what teh JYs use to put engines and stuff on in their shed) and we used that + 4 lift gate gaskets off 4 Toyota Corolla wagons, and one of us on each end of the steel rack piece and we lifted and sidestepped it out. Got a good laugh out of the forklift driver lol

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