- Location
- Vehicular limbo
No sense of adventure, that's your problem.
Road kill would totally leave the stuck ones on.
Anybody wanna help me destroy a set of wheels?
- Thread starter TurboMinivan
- Start date
No sense of adventure, that's your problem.
Road kill would totally leave the stuck ones on.
- Location
- The Village of Kay
I've read in a few places a 50 50 mix of acetone and atf is best at removing stuck nuts and bolts.
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
I'm feeling the 80's Nascar vibe too. The white letters are perfect.
Marc brings up a good point about heat. If they used loctite on the adapter/lugs, heat will absolutely help release the nuts. The heat kinda melts the loctite. I used this method on some motorcycle parts that came from the factory with loctite. I just used a propane torch.
Marc brings up a good point about heat. If they used loctite on the adapter/lugs, heat will absolutely help release the nuts. The heat kinda melts the loctite. I used this method on some motorcycle parts that came from the factory with loctite. I just used a propane torch.
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
No, they wouldn't. In fact, they didn't. Fast forward to 11:01.
[video=youtube;jc2mU_q6jH8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc2mU_q6jH8[/video]
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
My new steering gear arrived yesterday, as planned. This morning I went outside at 9:30 am to begin the installation. Things were going well until I found out the pitman arm is held on by a 1 5/16" nut. I don't have any sockets or wrenches in that size. I found a friend with a wrench, so I took a 40-minute break to drive to his house and fetch it.
Back at my place, things proceeded for a few more minutes until I realized the pitman arm had become very good friends with the steering box over the last 35 years... and, as a result, they didn't want to say goodbye to each other. I had a pickle fork on hand, but it wasn't really doing any good at all. I began calling all over town to see if anybody had a pitman arm puller I could rent. I finally found one at a distant O'Reilly Auto, so I took an hour break to go get that (and some PB Blaster) and also have lunch.
Back at home, the puller wasn't working very well. Out of the blue, my wrench friend (Dave) was driving in the area so he stopped by to see how things were going. He suggested I remove the gear box + pitman arm as a complete unit, which I did. In my garage, we struggled to remove the arm--I couldn't hold the box still while he applied sufficient torque to work the puller. I have no bench vice, so what to do? His gaze fell on my Jeep and its 35" tires. "Let's park the Jeep on top of it." So we did, and it worked great.
I began to install the arm on the new gearbox. Again, I couldn't hold the box steady to fully tighten the arm in place. We decided to install the new gearbox in the car, then I could finish tightening the arm. At this point, Dave had to leave... but my co-worker Mike showed up to take his place. With his assistance, I got the new gearbox mounted and everything was properly reassembled. We even got fancy and followed the suggestion in the instructions of flushing new fluid through the pump and the pressure line before attaching the lines to the new gearbox. I started the car to check for leaks. Everything looked good, so I shut it back down and installed the radiator fan and shroud. With Mike's help, I loosened the rest of the lug nuts on the left front, which let me remove the adapter and install alloy wheel #2 on that corner. The driver's side now looked completely Caucasian.
It was 4 pm. Just when I thought Mike was gonna want to leave, he blurted out, "let's get these other wire wheels off here." He was a bit incredulous that they were so difficult to remove, even though I had told him the story about the other night. I invited him to try it for himself. He grabbed the borrowed tool and a hammer, and he quickly understood what I had been going on about--the center caps wouldn't budge. Just like Wayne and I did the other night, Mike and I began a routine of spraying PB, hammering, raising and lowering the car, etc. Just when I thought he was going to give up for good, the right rear cap moved. Barely, but measurably. We kept hammering. The cap kept turning, slowly. It was fighting us every millimeter of the way. Just as we were riding a wave of confidence that it was (eventually) going to come off...
... the tool broke. It cracked all the way through, which then allowed it to 'open up' and slip around the cap rather than grab it properly. Now what? Mike has a mechanically-inclined friend who lives ~ 5 minutes from me, and that guy has a welder. Just as we were leaving to go there, Wayne called--he wanted to come back and help me finish the wheel swap. He lives 45+ minutes away, so I told him to head my way while we went to fix the tool. As I expected, we returned to my house before Wayne showed up. Mike and I got right back to work. After maybe 10 more minutes of hammering--and just as Wayne pulled up...
... the tool cracked. Again. In another spot. At this point, welding the tool seemed a temporary solution at best. Our anger levels were rising, so we abandoned the tool and got medieval instead: out came the punches and chisels, and we decided if the center caps needed to be destroyed, then so be it.
Mike taking out the day's frustrations on the right rear centercap:
Thankfully, our newfound tools of oppression were able to complete the removal of this cap, and soon I managed to have the third alloy wheel installed on the car.
It was just past 7pm, and I figured the other guys would want to stop since the tool was no longer usable. I guess I need to stop underestimating my friends, because they jumped right at the final wire wheel with a vengeance. Wayne got us started:
Taking turns, we managed to completely remove this final cap. Needless to say, we were all overjoyed. As darkness set in around 8:15pm, I installed the final alloy wheel on the car. At last, mission accomplished. I'll snap a photo or two in the morning.
Success hasn't spoiled me yet.
Back at my place, things proceeded for a few more minutes until I realized the pitman arm had become very good friends with the steering box over the last 35 years... and, as a result, they didn't want to say goodbye to each other. I had a pickle fork on hand, but it wasn't really doing any good at all. I began calling all over town to see if anybody had a pitman arm puller I could rent. I finally found one at a distant O'Reilly Auto, so I took an hour break to go get that (and some PB Blaster) and also have lunch.
Back at home, the puller wasn't working very well. Out of the blue, my wrench friend (Dave) was driving in the area so he stopped by to see how things were going. He suggested I remove the gear box + pitman arm as a complete unit, which I did. In my garage, we struggled to remove the arm--I couldn't hold the box still while he applied sufficient torque to work the puller. I have no bench vice, so what to do? His gaze fell on my Jeep and its 35" tires. "Let's park the Jeep on top of it." So we did, and it worked great.
I began to install the arm on the new gearbox. Again, I couldn't hold the box steady to fully tighten the arm in place. We decided to install the new gearbox in the car, then I could finish tightening the arm. At this point, Dave had to leave... but my co-worker Mike showed up to take his place. With his assistance, I got the new gearbox mounted and everything was properly reassembled. We even got fancy and followed the suggestion in the instructions of flushing new fluid through the pump and the pressure line before attaching the lines to the new gearbox. I started the car to check for leaks. Everything looked good, so I shut it back down and installed the radiator fan and shroud. With Mike's help, I loosened the rest of the lug nuts on the left front, which let me remove the adapter and install alloy wheel #2 on that corner. The driver's side now looked completely Caucasian.
It was 4 pm. Just when I thought Mike was gonna want to leave, he blurted out, "let's get these other wire wheels off here." He was a bit incredulous that they were so difficult to remove, even though I had told him the story about the other night. I invited him to try it for himself. He grabbed the borrowed tool and a hammer, and he quickly understood what I had been going on about--the center caps wouldn't budge. Just like Wayne and I did the other night, Mike and I began a routine of spraying PB, hammering, raising and lowering the car, etc. Just when I thought he was going to give up for good, the right rear cap moved. Barely, but measurably. We kept hammering. The cap kept turning, slowly. It was fighting us every millimeter of the way. Just as we were riding a wave of confidence that it was (eventually) going to come off...
... the tool broke. It cracked all the way through, which then allowed it to 'open up' and slip around the cap rather than grab it properly. Now what? Mike has a mechanically-inclined friend who lives ~ 5 minutes from me, and that guy has a welder. Just as we were leaving to go there, Wayne called--he wanted to come back and help me finish the wheel swap. He lives 45+ minutes away, so I told him to head my way while we went to fix the tool. As I expected, we returned to my house before Wayne showed up. Mike and I got right back to work. After maybe 10 more minutes of hammering--and just as Wayne pulled up...
... the tool cracked. Again. In another spot. At this point, welding the tool seemed a temporary solution at best. Our anger levels were rising, so we abandoned the tool and got medieval instead: out came the punches and chisels, and we decided if the center caps needed to be destroyed, then so be it.
Mike taking out the day's frustrations on the right rear centercap:
Thankfully, our newfound tools of oppression were able to complete the removal of this cap, and soon I managed to have the third alloy wheel installed on the car.
It was just past 7pm, and I figured the other guys would want to stop since the tool was no longer usable. I guess I need to stop underestimating my friends, because they jumped right at the final wire wheel with a vengeance. Wayne got us started:
Taking turns, we managed to completely remove this final cap. Needless to say, we were all overjoyed. As darkness set in around 8:15pm, I installed the final alloy wheel on the car. At last, mission accomplished. I'll snap a photo or two in the morning.
Success hasn't spoiled me yet.
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
Nice
RogueJeepr
Here!
- Location
- Utah
Yes, we got midevil on those wheels.
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
Is it morning yet?
It depends how liberally you define 'morning.'
As promised, another two phone pictures in its newly-current state:
Even if you've read the entire story, you still have no idea how significant these photos are. They represent over five hours of work. I am so happy.
And, again, a HUGE thanks to Wayne (and Mike) for all their help. This simply would not have happened without them.
mombobuggy
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Highland
Man a little anti seize could of helped so much.
RogueJeepr
Here!
- Location
- Utah
If only the previous owner had a brain. You should see what we did to the caps.