Rear tranny flange retaining nut removal. HELP!!!

[Tinkerman]

Merry Christmas to all:

Working on the tranny/OD for my TR3. Last thing that I have to do before I fill it with gear oil and test it, is to replace the rear flange oil seal. I am following Nelson Reidel's fine searies on the gearbox rebuild and I made myself a rear flange retaining tool. (see Pic) I have soaked it with Kroil, am doing that now as a matter of fact. Tried my heavy duty impact wrench, my breaker bar and the breaker bar with cheater, all to no avail. And yes I did pull the cotter pin! Even tried a mid size hammer, no luck. What need I do to get the darn thing off?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I have visions of getting too robust and breaking something I really dont want to.

Thanks, Tinkerman

 

[TR3driver]

Looks to me like your tool isn't long enough. I had to use my 24" breaker bar (the one that's too long to fit in the tool box) and my 'tool' is a 36" bar. Still took all my strength (and I'm a big guy). Position the two so you can pull on one and push on the other along nearly the same line.

Or set it all on the floor so you can stand on the handle.

 

[AltaKnight]

Just a dumb question here....
you're sure it's not left hand threaded?
Don't mind me, I've not had one of those apart.
However; I have twisted the head right off a wheel bolt that was LH.

 

[TR4nut]

I persuaded mine off with an impact wrench. Took a while to release though. Sounds like Randall's more leverage approach will yield the results you need.

Randy

 

[TR3driver]

Using an impact wrench around gears and bearings always makes me nervous. Too easy to cause invisible damage to bearing races or gear teeth.

Learned the hard way on a FWD Chevy; removed the CV joint nut with an impact wrench and the wheel bearings failed dramatically less than 10,000 miles later.

 

[aztvr]

I guess that I will ask the same kind of question as AltaKnight. Looking at the nut, are you turning it clockwise or counter clockwise? Just looking at your picture appears that you have braced the flange in order to turn the nut clockwise which would only be for loosening a LH nut. I don't remember whether it was a RH or LH thread on my car, and I would have figured it would be RH if they used a cotter pin for a safety. Just a thought.

 

[TR3driver]

That is a good point. They are definitely right hand threads, which means the lever in the photo would be being pulled up from the bench.

 

[Tinkerman]

Yep it is right hand threads. did check that out. I moved the retaining rod on to the bench because I kept whacking myself when I walked around the bench. Plus it took a better picture. I do have a cheater bar, I guess I will just have to put more force on it. If this was an old Chevy or Ford tranny I wouldn't be so sensitive about it.

By the way Graham, not such a dumb question, Left hand threads show up in some interesting places. I broke a cam bolt on a 1927 Lasalle because it was left handed and nothing in the manual gave me a clue.

Thanks for the thoughts, Tinkerman

 

[Tinkerman]

Well, as they down heah in the South, I "got er did"! I did a 180 with the assembly so that I had more room and wouldn't crash into my finished body with the cheater bar. Also re-soaked it with kroil overnight. It came off quite readily this morning. Cleaned it up, installed a new seal and I'm ready to go. Again thanks for the thoughts.

Tinkerman