Why you need a torque wrench

[GDA]

Cheap tools do that to you.

Get a 24 inch 1/2 drive breaker bar from the 70s - truck brand. Also get a old 50s or 60s vintage 3/4 drive ratchet and breaker bar. Those will pay for themselves tenfold when you encounter crap like this. Bring out the big boy and off it comes.

[15Michaeljoseph]

Why you need a torque wrench

if you search in the members rides section, you should find my 87 325is... she's pretty nice hahaha. That being said I need all kinds of bushings and rear shocks and front struts and new rear brake lines (old ones rusting kinda bad).... BUT, its a work in progress, and at least she looks minty. Not to act full of it or anything but I'd probably say it's a better than average MA car, considering its my all season daily, and has been through 28 winters. hell. well taken care of NE cars are usually fine untill you look at the underside anyway hahaha. I'd love to someday do a full out balls down restoration, but whatever. maybe when I'm a millionaire right?


--Mike

[e30onBBSs]

man oh man.... my car's been in springfield and longmeadow MA all it's life, and down here they salt the shit out of everything for every half inch of snow.... yet my car looks no where near as bad as the stuff you post. I feel terrible when i see rust damages like this. broken bolts are the work of satan.


--Mike

Is the body nice? My body is probably worse than average for MA but it's not horrible. It's really just the suspension and everything not on the body that is bad rust wise. Post up some pics!

[e30onBBSs]

I'd get both breaker bars

Okay so will I maybe I will get a smaller 3/8 than before. I went to HF while on break a few mins ago and they were closed. At 6:13 probably because of memorial day. Was like Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh and now I can't even do my other side brakes diagnoses to see if anything needs to be replaced. On that thought Walmart might have one!

[DrJosh]

I'd get both breaker bars

[15Michaeljoseph]

man oh man.... my car's been in springfield and longmeadow MA all it's life, and down here they salt the shit out of everything for every half inch of snow.... yet my car looks no where near as bad as the stuff you post. I feel terrible when i see rust damages like this. broken bolts are the work of satan.


--Mike

[e30onBBSs]

Why you need a torque wrench

I have used my 1/2" drive Harbor Freight breaker bar for this application many times. No need for 3/4" drive.

As far as the sockets your boss has, they are probably the same as the ones I posted, these:

I'm going to pick up a 1/2! How do those work?

Also, should I have a 1/2 and a 3/8? Will the 1/2 to 3/8 adapter break if I use it with the 1/2?

[AndrewBird]

I have used my 1/2" drive Harbor Freight breaker bar for this application many times. No need for 3/4" drive.

As far as the sockets your boss has, they are probably the same as the ones I posted, these:

[DrJosh]

Yeah 3/8ths isn't going to cut it. You'll need a 3/4s at least. Harbor fright is fine. I use a 1inch drive with a jack handle for extra leverage.

[e30onBBSs]

I went outside to see if I can loosen the axle nut. I don't have a lot of time so I just wanted to do something simple! Get my breaker bar, and my 3/8 to 1/2 adapter and my 36mm socket I bought for this purpose. Grab a cheater because just the bar won't do it. Hear a CHUNK and WTF!

Half inch breaker bars are probably a better investment? not from HF?

[estoguy]

If you can get that race out a few millimeters, you can get a 3 jaw puller on it too. That's what I did when I had that happen on both my front bearings.

[e30onBBSs]

i dunno man, that doesn't look like surface rust that'd go away with a few hard applications of the brakes though... guess you'll find out after a test drive, eh?

also, people sink money into boats, cars and shitty houses, never tools. tools are investments. sure, unless it's some vintage shit you'll never get 100% of what you paid for it, but a guaranteed 70-80% is a superior depreciation rate to almost anything else you can buy

you'll also need to prepare yourself mentally (and tool wise) for if/when an inboard inner race gets stuck to the spindle (pictured)



if you DO run into this issue, go out to harbor freight and buy this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/bearing...set-93980.html

and you'll be on your way to replacing the bearing/hub without a hitch

Thanks for the info as always! I helped my friends dad move out and he had lots of "chemicals" and one of them was this rust dissolver, and I just brushed it onto the rotor and shibam ;D quite clean. I will post a pic up if I have time before work tomorrow. My boss for the music gigs has a killer tool set and I was telling him about the lug bolt thread thing and he said he has a $150 set of sockets that somehow magically thread themselves on or something? Maybe like the flower looking ones posted earlier by someone?

And you are right about the tools being investments, but financially I think it might be the smartest to just do them, never have to worry about these stuck threads, and never have to worry about removing the studs if I go that route, which I'm highly likely doing. I just recieved http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Inst...+torque+wrench this in the mail. Very very excited to torque everything nice. :D

What tools/tool would you invest in at this point? Heat is out. Also do I need to replace the lube on the axle nut? It melted then boiled away into smoke earlier. Well I guess I will try and catch my boss at a time he's free so I can come pick up the sockets and see if he can come and show me how they work.

Ben

[jalopi]

i dunno man, that doesn't look like surface rust that'd go away with a few hard applications of the brakes though... guess you'll find out after a test drive, eh?

also, people sink money into boats, cars and shitty houses, never tools. tools are investments. sure, unless it's some vintage shit you'll never get 100% of what you paid for it, but a guaranteed 70-80% is a superior depreciation rate to almost anything else you can buy

you'll also need to prepare yourself mentally (and tool wise) for if/when an inboard inner race gets stuck to the spindle (pictured)



if you DO run into this issue, go out to harbor freight and buy this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/bearing...set-93980.html

and you'll be on your way to replacing the bearing/hub without a hitch

[e30onBBSs]

Why you need a torque wrench

I may just get wheel bearings and hubs. This is a big nuisance and I don't feel like sinking more money into tools. Heated it for probably 10 minutes and it still won't budge, it's like part of the hub at this point. It was melting to form to the vice grips, and nothing! I don't need rotors because the rust on them was super surface so thats basically the cost of a new hub/ bearing saved right there.

And I want to go to studs so a fresh hub would be grear because of loctite

[jalopi]

hrm.... brazing ~might~ work... but it's a big might

i don't think tin/silver or tin/lead solder would work though, considering how stuck that bolt is you'd probably have to braze with a brass rod or something similar