Cal Club Autocross Forums

Trying to pull the rear lock nuts of our '99 Miata ... in order to change out the rear bearings. Used Penetrating oil, Breaker Bar with Long Extension, Karen on the brakes, sand bags in the trunk and last but not least, 225 Toyo R1R's.

They aren't budging. I've done front Bearings on three Miata's without any problems.

Is there someway to knock out the Staking on the Locknut ? Is that the secret ...

Mako Koiwai wrote:Is there someway to knock out the Staking on the Locknut ? Is that the secret ...

drift and hammer? have a picture?

internet suggestions include using a ratchet set in the correct direction, up agains the floor and driving a few inches.

A number of blow torch suggestions. 300 lb friends standing on 6' long breaker bars.

I was reminded that WD40 is not the best penetrating oil ... I should use PB Blaster ... I think mine is empty. Darn I should have bought more when I went to pep boys to but the 32 mm socket. (Front is 29 mm ... you would think the front would be beefier everything?)

Mako Koiwai wrote:internet suggestions include using a ratchet set in the correct direction, up agains the floor and driving a few inches.

A number of blow torch suggestions. 300 lb friends standing on 6' long breaker bars.

What could go wrong...

Impact gun?

Hard to see, but the Staking is perfect, darn japanese. Not much room to get anything under the lip of the bent in bit.

With the front Lock Nuts I've never had any issue getting the Lock Nuts off.

PB Blasted them but nothing but a strained back. Might end up being a job for Heine's Mazda Garage. Too bad Steve Lepper is so far away. My 12 V. Impact Gun probably won't have an impact on this.

Get 1/4" cold chisle and grind it down to fit in the slot in the axle. Knock the staked part of the nut back out and it should come off no problem.

I haven't found an axle nut that my IR 2131 didn't just spin right off...

+1 on the impact gun. Make sure you have a good supply of air/pressure. If it is really tough, make sure you have a good impact gun. (SnapOn, Ingersol)

^You'll need either a very very good 1/2" drive impact or a cheap 3/4" drive. Years ago I bought a cheap 3/4" drive impact gun and a set of deep 3/4" drive impact sockets from Harbor Freight for this exact reason. You won't find metric sockets but I think the 1.1/8" socket fits. Once you get the nut off, you get to see ...if... the axle will come out of the splines. Always good fun!

if... the axle will come out of the splines.

I've been warned! Plenty of PBlaster, and put the puller on and just leave it ... until it pops ... eventually. I think I might take it to Heine Mazda while I can still drive it ...

Mako Koiwai wrote:

if... the axle will come out of the splines.

I've been warned! Plenty of PBlaster, and put the puller on and just leave it ... until it pops ... eventually. I think I might take it to Heine Mazda while I can still drive it ...

You do realize it's spelled H-a-i-n-e-s, right?

I speel it as I pronounce it ... and luckily I know where it is and don't have to google it anymore.

Mako, the staking isn't the problem, the nuts are really tight from the factory, and they haven't been off in...
Back in the day when I worked for Mazda, we used a good 1/2" impact with a lot of air behind it. Sometimes you had to hit it with the impact for a while to get it started.
Tim

Haines, they used to be the competition when I worked for Alhambra Mazda back in the 80's, good to hear they are still around.

Once you've punched the staking up out of the way, a big pneumatic impact and socket (no extension) is the only way to go. Soak it, wait 5 minutes, hit it with the impact for a bit, walk away for another 5 minutes, try it again and it usually works.

Also, Sea Foam's Deep Creep is the best penetrant I've found. I've never had one of these fail to come apart, even from a rusty, east-coast car... sure, they take longer, but they always work.

One last thing: dont' forget to change the inner hub seal.

MazdaSpeed reminded me to get a new seal & retainer. They should have reminded me about a new locknut

If you are doing both sides you could reuse the nuts if you had to, just swap them side to side. I never bothered to unstake the nuts, the staked area will shear off when the nut starts to loosen.

Remove the staked part of the nut. You can use chisel as mentioned above or a cutoff wheel if you're careful. Removing the nut without removing the staked part is a good way to screw up the starting threads on the axle. I removed staked nuts pretty much every week on old Datsun stub axles.

I have a friend trying to remove the axle nut on a 356 Cabriolet. He's been unsuccessful for over 20 years.

Steve Ekstrand wrote:I have a friend trying to remove the axle nut on a 356 Cabriolet. He's been unsuccessful for over 20 years.

Probably a 36mm like my old 60's-70's VW's. That was before I had air tools.

Socket on nut, 18'' pipe wrench (breaker bars got their name because they break when you use too much of a cheater bar) on socket, 48'' pipe on pipe wrench. Step up on pipe near socket, walk toward oppisite end. Usually nut would break loose before you get to the end of pipe. If still stuck when you get to the end just start jumping on the pipe.

Eric Clements wrote:

Steve Ekstrand wrote:I have a friend trying to remove the axle nut on a 356 Cabriolet. He's been unsuccessful for over 20 years.

Probably a 36mm like my old 60's-70's VW's. That was before I had air tools.

Socket on nut, 18'' pipe wrench (breaker bars got their name because they break when you use too much of a cheater bar) on socket, 48'' pipe on pipe wrench. Step up on pipe near socket, walk toward oppisite end. Usually nut would break loose before you get to the end of pipe. If still stuck when you get to the end just start jumping on the pipe.

+1 Used this method on the many late 50's and 60's VW's I had, too.

Eric Clements wrote:

Steve Ekstrand wrote:I have a friend trying to remove the axle nut on a 356 Cabriolet. He's been unsuccessful for over 20 years.

Probably a 36mm like my old 60's-70's VW's. That was before I had air tools.

Socket on nut, 18'' pipe wrench (breaker bars got their name because they break when you use too much of a cheater bar) on socket, 48'' pipe on pipe wrench. Step up on pipe near socket, walk toward oppisite end. Usually nut would break loose before you get to the end of pipe. If still stuck when you get to the end just start jumping on the pipe.

I know that method.

Mako, you need get the staked bit out of the way or you're just going to spin your wheels, literally and figuratively.

John Coffey wrote:Remove the staked part of the nut. You can use chisel as mentioned above or a cutoff wheel if you're careful. Removing the nut without removing the staked part is a good way to screw up the starting threads on the axle. I removed staked nuts pretty much every week on old Datsun stub axles.

No offense, John, but on a Mazda, the staked part is on the reduced dia., unthreaded end of he shaft, not in the starting threads. In ten years with Mazda, I never had a problem. As I said the staking isn't what's holding it, it's the torque and a little corrosion, the metal of the nut is fairly soft, so breaker bars, etc only increases the chances of roungding the nut. As someone else said, good 1/2" or cheapo 3/4" impact, a little oil in the gun will give it a little more power for a second or two. Or have Haines break them loose for you. The next problem is that the splines are likely rusted solid to the hub, and will take judicious application of a bmfh and penetrating oil to get out. Watch the end of the shaft for mushrooming, that can make it tough to start the nut on reassembly

No offense, John, but on a Mazda, the staked part is on the reduced dia., unthreaded end of he shaft, not in the starting threads.

OK, my mistake. As you said, hit it hard with an impact gun.

Handed the job off to Haines Mazda Alhambra - I wish Steve Lepper was closer to us. Steve did a very a nice job for us recently installing a new fly wheel/clutch and repairing our muffler/hanger, for a imo, discount price

So Haines took care of the rear bearings ... $200, probably a bit much? Wish we could have given the money to Steve Lepper ... but Haines is conveniently close. Haine said that I should have just jumped on the breaker bar to get the locknut loose. But he said it came right off with his air tool. I think he must have used the same device to tighten the lug nuts ... I could hardly get them off afterwards!

Put on Speed Bleeders, that I got from Steve. All performance cars should come with them pre-installed! Made it soooo easy to bleed the brakes by myself.