It laughed at my impact and then broke four half drive ratchets and one beaker bare. I heated for thirty min with my map gas torch until both the nut and the axle stub were dark red and with my last breaker bar and four feet of pipe it came free. What a sob this thing was.
In reply to dean1484:
I feel your pain. Did the clutch on my friend's '06 3 a few weeks ago and the drivers side axle nut was probably the biggest PITA of the whole job. Had to go buy a 4 foot section of pipe because I didn't have a big enough cheater bar handy, then torched the hell out of it. With me bouncing on the pipe, it eventually gave.
I believe the torque spec on that nut is something a little north of 200 foot pounds. Then throw in a few years worth of Road grit and minor corrosion. So, yeah.
In reply to Furious_E:
This was the passinger side. Although I did not damage the nut I am thinking of getting a replacement. If there was any tempering to it I torched it out of it.
Speaking of torque if anyone knew the spec that would be helpful. I got 178 ftlbs for a Mazda 6. But my quick search did not find a spec for a 2010 Mazda 3.
I experienced this years ago with my wife's '84 Civic. I ended up drilling holes in the nut and cutting it off. The nut was cross-threaded when installed.
This is my daughters car. She had it at a mechanic that is a friend of mine doing a pad and rotor replacement. He spent 4 hours trying to get the rotors off. He missed with a sledge hammer and broke the lower ear that the caliper bracket bolts to. He asked me to come in and see if i could get the rotors off. A pickle fork wedged between the knuckle and two hits with a 3 lb sledge and they popped right off. He was so pissed at it that I thought it was better if I take it home and replace the spindle / knuckle at home and finish the pad and rotor job he was doing. It was fun driving it home and trying not to use the brakes. Thankfully it is a standard and the e brake works. I had the right front caliper on with only the top bracket bolt so I am thinking that there was only one panic stop in the system.
So now that I got everything unbolted, and I checked to see that the axle shaft was free, tonight I change out the knuckle and finish the brake job.
I just did a CV axle in my 2004 TDI, and similar senario. 24" bar, 4ft of pipe and a 280LB guy bouncing on it.... POP it came loose after killing 2 Snap theif sockets and a Mac.... The Harbor Freight socket won.
In reply to dean1484:
Does Japanese stuff no longer come with the handy pair of threaded holes in the rotor to pop it off the hub?
My CV nut from hell was a old chevy K1500, it was learned that it takes north of 2000ft/lbs to strip out a heavy duty 1/2 drive swivel head craftsman ratchet.
Interestingly, Japanese stuff and Fords are the only times I've seen rotors stick to the hub. Worst was one on a friend's newer F-150. Took quite a few hits (and dents in the rotor) from a 20 lb sledge to get that thing off... Jeep and Chevy rotors seem to practically fall off the hubs when you go to remove them, however.
In reply to rslifkin:
Worst I've ever had was a 2001 Elantra. I had to drill holes across the face and hat to split it apart to get it off the hub. It was the original rotor with ~6 years of salt-belt winters. It took me an hour to clean the hub up enough to fit the new rotor on because of the rust.
On the bright side of things I went back to HomeDepo and they were willing to EITHER refund my $$$$ on the 1/2" ratchet and the 1/2" beaker bar or replace them with new no questions asked. (I purchased them yesterday)
Unlike Sears that will only replace with a rebuilt not new off the shelf. So if they don't have a rebuilt one on hand you are SOL.
Husky is now my new go to for basic hand tools. I have had there wrenches for years. To me they are as good or better then the couple of snap-on ones I have. Excellent balance and finish to them. The balance and feel of the Husky ratchet seems quite good. Much better then the Sears ones I have.
Oh, for the record, I had the tools replaced. I needed them as my two Sears 1/2 drive ratchets were also broken in this adventure (along with a no name 1/2 inch ratchet I also had lying around) and getting over to Sears is a bit of a nuisance.
For a 1/2" drive beater ratchet, grab one of the extendable ones from HF. I've jumped on mine repeatedly with it extended all the way (18"), hit it with a sledge when there wasn't room for a cheater bar, etc. and it just keeps working.
In reply to dean1484:
I've got hte husky ratcheting wrenches and I am very happy with them. I use them more than anything else now.
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