86 Van Diemen help w/RIght Front axle nut

[lch Racing]

Good evening,

a friend of mine somehow galled the wheel nut when he removed it. Once he “forced” it off he had damaged the threads. So next he tried to remove the stub axle and cannot remove the nylock nut holding the stub axle onto the bearings.

1) any good suggestions to removing that nut. I have suggested cutting the nut or “breaking” the nylock nut with a chisel. Any other ideas,
2) any suggestions on a supplier for new front stub axle for a RF86.

thanks for your advise and ideas.
Larry

[BeerBudgetRacing]

http://www.medinasport.co.uk/MSSpares
Or
http://www.universalracing.co.uk/urs.htm#Parts

Cut the nut with a dremel.

[billtebbutt]

Many of us have been there, and the previous poster is correct - cut it off with the dremel......

However, we should look at the root cause of the problem:

- Many of us have not invested in a high quality 3/4" die to use to clean up the threads on the stub axle periodically.

- While I can't speak for the original VD stub axles, many of the repops have cut threads, not rolled. These have nowhere near the integrity (density?) of rolled threads, and are far more susceptible to galling w/o occasional attention

- Most folks use a crappy 3/4" nylock from the local jobber. Then they torque the pi$$ out of it w/o a torque wrench, and at some point it backs off a smidge and the damage begins. When I was restoring my 78B, I called up ARP for better nuts - turns out they had a box of leftover flanged 16 point nuts from some big bore project. I have used these nuts on 4-5 cars since, with a couple of drops of blue Loctite, and never had a problem over the last 15 years. It didn't cost me much, probably the equivalent of a repop stub axle...

Good luck!

bt

[BeerBudgetRacing]

- While I can't speak for the original VD stub axles, many of the repops have cut threads, not rolled. These have nowhere near the integrity (density?) of rolled threads, and are far more susceptible to galling w/o occasional attention

Since cut threads are so common, would REM treatment of the axles 'fix' this situation?

[stonebridge20]

Since cut threads are so common, would REM treatment of the axles 'fix' this situation?

REM-ISF will remove a maximum of .0002 of material in a single run.

On a threaded object, material will only be removed from the peak of the threads because the ceramic media used in the process to "wipe" the object is too large to get down into the root or even the face of the threads.

We use different shape and size media depending on the type of parts were processing in the run.

As an example, when we REM-ISF gearsets, we use a mix of 3 different size and shapes of media that we've found to polish three distinct areas of a gear the best. When doing Crankshafts, we use an entirely different media altogether.

Long story short.....there's no media fine enough to totally REM-ISF process fine threads like a stubaxle.

[problemchild]

I don't understand why you cannot get the nut off. Get a bigger impact gun, bigger wrench, or bigger levers. I have appropriately deep 6-point sockets for the hubs on every car in the shop. Cutting the nut off is a bad idea. The stub axle is probably serviceable with some repair, but will be junk if you slice into it with a dremel/cutter. I have "thread files" in metric and standard, that I carry in my everyday toolbox. They may be the best tools that I own.

[billtebbutt]

I don't understand why you cannot get the nut off. Get a bigger impact gun, bigger wrench, or bigger levers. I have appropriately deep 6-point sockets for the hubs on every car in the shop. Cutting the nut off is a bad idea. The stub axle is probably serviceable with some repair, but will be junk if you slice into it with a dremel/cutter. I have "thread files" in metric and standard, that I carry in my everyday toolbox. They may be the best tools that I own.

That is fair Greg. I assumed the OP wouldn't cut all the way thru the nut into the axles threads, but I didn't actually explain it. I would use the dremel to cut as far as I could into the nut WITHOUT hitting the axles threads. Then, I'd take my chisel, put it in the cut, and whack it with a heavy hammer as if i was trying to rotate the nut counterclockwise. The uncut portion of the cut will crack, and a few more hits with the hammer will expand the nut and it will come off the axle.

I have had the same problem as the OP, and no amount of leverage would get the nut off. When I took it off as explained above, it was clear why it wouldn't spin off as chunks of axle thread had been "picked up" by the nut and jammed the nut onto the axle.

cheers,
BT

[Rick Kirchner]

When I took it off as explained above, it was clear why it wouldn't spin off as chunks of axle thread had been "picked up" by the nut and jammed the nut onto the axle.

I had the same thing happen on the ball adjusters on a pinto. Judging from the fracture surface it appears the adjusters were really hard and brittle, and chunks of the threads cracked off jamming the nuts