Hey everyone. Just wondering if anyone has any good ideas for getting one of the front axle nuts off? Its been soaking in pb blaster and I broke my breaker bar using a 5ft cheater. It is seriously stuck! My u-joint is real bad and I need to get to it. Is it safe to torch it? I dont want to damage anything.

 

impact gun.
if you can't drive it to a shop to have them hit it with their gun, then you might have to bite the bullet and get yourself an electric impact gun.
i have a mastercraft 7.5 amp gun that has something like 240lb/ft of torque.
i've taken axle nuts off the oldest rusted jeep with little to no effort, every time.

and their good for lug nuts too.

 

try tightening it a little to help free up the rust. then just work it. impact could work over time. may take some time.

 

X2

Impact tools FTW

 

A breaker bar with a 5ft cheater will generate alot more torque than a whimsical electric impact, especially if he broke the break bar. I had to buy a 3/4 drive bar to stop breaking them when i had the same issue

If you want something to move you need one of three things, or combination of them:
1) heat
2) more leverage
3) bigger hammer

To bust it loose get it nice and hot then try using a breaker bar with the pipe. You can pick up MAP torch or propane torch just about every DIY place

 

Impact guns are more suited for breaking rusty nuts loose though. Don't really have to use all the tq that a breaker does because they are designed to break the rust loose, loosely stated. Impacts can get bolts off cleanly that a breaker would have sheared the bolt.

 

That said, in my experience axle nuts are not that type and just require a bunch of tq to get them off. What size was the breaker you broke? I can see 3/8 being just maybe a little stuck and mostly regular tq, but if it was 1/2" then you might need like Jerm said, some heat

 

Why are you taking the nut off? You don't need to, just making more work for yourself. Remove the three 12pt hub bolts and take the whole assembly out. Much easier.

 

True this will also work, however when I tried doing it I snapped one of the three bolts lol

 

Never had great luck with impacts breaking real stuck rusty nuts loose, I do have about 95% luck with heat and some elbow grease. Heat is your friend

Kinda hard to change ujoint without removing the bearing from it, unless you have a ball joint press or the like to remove it and reinstall the ujoint. Plus if the ujoint fails on the trail and you need it to get out then your kinda screwed if you cant replace the shaft.

tip: clean and antiseize where the bearing fits into the knuckle, you will love life in the future

 

I don't know one person that removes the bearing to change the joint, I have used 3 different presses. It's extremely easy. Plus, my spare shaft has a bearing on it.

 

I use sockets, hammer and a pair of vice grips, all i need on the trail is my yard bag. I'm gonna say right now, removing the nut now and making sure its easy to remove will be alot easier than removing it if/when the ujoint fails.

 

You do realize that you needed to remove the three hub bolts anyway even if you removed the axle nut, right?

 

I had the same problem i couldnt break with a 6FT breaker bar i used a friends snap on cordless impact gun 2 seconds it broke it right off

 

Broke the nut loose or broke it off?