Quick question on rear hubs...

[mginty]

maybe should be posting this in technical but...on a UK RHD van, is the offside front and rear hub threaded left?
thanks!

 

[davidoft]

maybe should be posting this in technical but...on a UK RHD van, is the offside front and rear hub threaded left?
thanks!

All 4 are right hand thread

 

[mginty]

thanks @davidoft , I could have sworn I read that they were threaded opposite but guess not!

 

[mginty]

looked into it further and the nearside bearing clamp nut/ front hub lock nut is left threaded by the looks of it?

Reason I ask is I was trying to remove the nearside rear castle nut and managed to break my breaker bar and wondering if I was going the wrong way - anti-clockwise to loosen?

 

[davidoft]

looked into it further and the nearside bearing clamp nut/ front hub lock nut is left threaded by the looks of it?

Reason I ask is I was trying to remove the nearside rear castle nut and managed to break my breaker bar and wondering if I was going the wrong way - anti-clockwise to loosen?

The rears are 100% right hand thread but now you have me wondering about the front

 

[Graham L]

All 4 are right hand thread

Not quite
The rears are a right hand thread, the front nearside hub is a left hand thread, the fronts tighten in the direction of travel, the rear are standard thread

 

[Graham L]

looked into it further and the nearside bearing clamp nut/ front hub lock nut is left threaded by the looks of it?

Reason I ask is I was trying to remove the nearside rear castle nut and managed to break my breaker bar and wondering if I was going the wrong way - anti-clockwise to loosen?

Unless you are using a 3/4 breaker bar forget it, a 1/2 will never break it free, buy a slogger if you havent got access to an impact gun or air tools, its definitely righty tighty, lefty loosy on the rear
https://www.amazon.co.uk/46mm-Slogg...d=1681969341&sprefix=46mm+,aps,76&sr=8-5&th=1

 

[mginty]

Thanks @Graham L for keeping us sane At least I was attempting to loosen!
I was using a 1/2" with the bar also inside my jack handle for extra leverage. Do you think that slugger would fit inside a jack handle, looks quite big?

 

[Bundy]

you fit the slugger over the nut and then beat seven bells out of it with a mallet...works a treat!

 

[Mechanoid]

Can I just say, Don't use a slugger to loosen the nuts! Every time you belt the slugger, it transmits a lot of shock force into the transmission via the drive shafts potentially damaging the diff/gearbox bearings. Buy a cheap 3/4" drive breaker bar and 46mm socket.

Before removing the nuts, mark the position of the nut and the end of the drive shaft. That way you don't need to use a torque wrench to tighten it back up. You can just tighten back to the mark. This assuming you are using the same hubs and don't mix up your nuts! (Oooer missus!)

 

[mginty]

Can I just say, Don't use a slugger to loosen the nuts! Every time you belt the slugger, it transmits a lot of shock force into the transmission via the drive shafts potentially damaging the diff/gearbox bearings. Buy a cheap 3/4" drive breaker bar and 46mm socket.

Before removing the nuts, mark the position of the nut and the end of the drive shaft. That way you don't need to use a torque wrench to tighten it back up. You can just tighten back to the mark. This assuming you are using the same hubs and don't mix up your nuts! (Oooer missus!)

would an impact gun do the same thing?

Annoying about the 1/2 vs 3/4" as I've now got a redundant 1/2" 46mm socket

 

[67panel]

3/4 drive impact might undo it but have had some that were still way to tight, 3/4 bar and a scaffold pole works.

 

[Clem]

I used a breaker bar and scaffold bar combo one time. The knuckle joint on the breaker bar snapped and I fell over and the end of the scaffold whacked me in the face. Good times.

 

[mike202]

I used a 3/4 inch breaker bar with my jack handle as an extension. Nut wouldn't budge!

Used the flogger tool and it came off. I appreciate the advice above though, and hopefully next time the nuts will come away with the breaker bar, and not having to whack it with a hammer.

 

[Mechanoid]

would an impact gun do the same thing?

Annoying about the 1/2 vs 3/4" as I've now got a redundant 1/2" 46mm socket

Yes! but not to the same degree. Would still advise using a breaker bar and socket.

 

[ozziedog]

I went on eBay a couple of years back and bought a 3/4” drive socket set for twenty odd quid delivered. They are really cheap and nasty and the pin regularly fell out of the breaker bar until I peined it over. Very very hard to break something that big. I’ve used a scaffold tube on the breaker bar at over eight feet long and still couldn’t get one nut to crack. In the end, I jacked up the van a bit further and trapped the scaffold tube under the weight of the van and jumped up and down in the back of the van . Then I put the bar onto a hydraulic Jack and It still didn’t crack Re assessed the situation and put the van back on its wheels and with my full weight on the eight foot scaffold tube on the bar on the socket I jumped up and down to tighten it and it didn’t feel like I’d moved it but when I went to try and loosen it, it gave up fairly easy. But I can’t remember how I kept everything else from moving, maybe the Mrs on the brakes?

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,, my memory now days

 

[ozziedog]

would an impact gun do the same thing?

Annoying about the 1/2 vs 3/4" as I've now got a redundant 1/2" 46mm socket

Hopefully, they will be friendlier next time especially if you used assembly paste before tightening, helps find that elusive next hole too.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,we likes our nuts ‘Tight’

 

[purpledog07]

Just my two penneth for anyone yet to go through this:
I went through all sorts of methods trying to get 50 year old 200lb/ft+ nuts undone: slogging, big bars and scaff, jacks (just lifted the van), crying, stamping my feet.
I'm not big on hammering at nuts.
If you can get hold of a torque multiplier and long 3/4" drive ratchet or breaker bar it will be a delight.
I borrowed a 4 to 1 torque multiplier and a 4 foot long 3/4" ratchet. It is a geared unit that fits between ratchet and socket which gives 4 x the input effort at the socket. The nuts came off by just gently leaning on the bar.
If you know anyone or have a friendly local tyre place, most carry big 1" impact guns on their mobile units. These will undo anything, they normally don't even rattle, they are that powerful.
These tools are expensive but are likely to be at any business that repairs trucks, tractors, heavy garden machinery etc.
If your bus is on the road, be cheeky, rock up and ask, people love VW's.
Get them to undo and then just nip up and refit the pin so you can get it home to work on.

 

[mike202]

Another way if it’s jammed on tight is just to cut it off. Replacement castle nuts are not expensive. That way there’s no stress on the gearbox.

 

[T2t25]

I used an air gun on mine, whizzed them off with no trouble at all handy bit of kit!