I’m removing the drivaxle on my '03 Eclipse as one of the final pieces of replacing my clutch, but both of the hub nuts that hold the axles in place are completely stuck, and will not budge, regardless of the breaker bar, heating of the bolts, penetrating oil, etc. I’ve gotta get this done today. What else can I do?
Serious heat (oxy torch), impact driver, try turning in the other direction, back and forth, until they pop loose. They were probably lock-tited at the factory.
None of those have worked… Any other suggestions?
You can’t reuse the axle nut anyway, so you might try a nut splitter - to basically break the thing off.
Some possibilities.
Run it down to a tire shop, etc. and have them break the nuts loose with an air wrench and then retighten them a bit. Once home they should come loose easily.
As far as breakovers go, try a cheater bar on a 1/2" tool. You might also consider purchasing a 3/4" breakover to keep around for stubborn jobs. That extra 1/4" makes a lot of difference.
You need serious torque to break these loose. I have a 4-ft cheater bar (pipe) I can slip over my 1/2" breaker bar, and get anything loose or broken off. My typical method is to break them loose before jacking up and removing the tires. Using the weight of the car and the parking brake to prevent the axles from turning while breaking these nuts loose is very helpful. With the tires in the air, the engine doesn’t have enough resistance to keep the axle from turning as you try breaking those axle nuts loose. If this is the case, you need someone to stand on the brakes to keep the axle from turning. A serious air-powered impact wrench can do the job as well. Not a cheap one, though.
I agree with BustedKnuckles, time to break out the Bubba wrench (few feet of pipe) and the air wrench (torch).