Scott,

I had a lug nut that way once. Some yahoo at a tire place must have
turned the air way up when the tires were put on, cause nothing would
back it off when I needed it off - which was after a flat in purt'near
the middle of nowhere. Even my four foot cheater in the back seat
wouldn't budge it. There was a little house across the road and a fellow
there had a small grinder. We strung one long extension across the road
and I ground and ground and ground on that nut. Took me all afternoon
lightly grinding to finally  cut through so I could remove the nut then
the wheel and change the tire. Couldn't grind hard because with the long
run of extension cord - the breaker kept popping. That is when I learned
about the nut back-ring being case-hardened on Vanagon lug nuts.

Drove home with one missing lug nut. Had new stud installed next day.

I really appreciated the fellow that loaned me that grinder.

John

On 9/29/2013 3:38 PM, Scott Daniel wrote:
> hi ..
> actually thinkingabout this more..
> it's been so long since I had to do any 'backyard' method on holding the
> wheel from turning while undoing that big nut.
> Back in the 70's it was put it in gear,
> have a friend stand on the brakepedal..
> put the parking brake on ,
> and chock the wheel ..
> that often was suffeicient, but not always.
>
> these days i have an actual holder tool ....a section of an old wheel ..
> a mercedes steel one actually ..with a stout T-section bar welded to it,
> about two feet long.
> Things ain't goin' anywherewith that setup.
>
> as Isaid ..I have seen that nut on their just tightern' you can imaginea
> few times.
> for sure ..
> make sure the whole shebang works now rather than later .
>
> scott
>
> On 9/29/2013 1:01 PM, Stephen Grisanti wrote:
>> I do have an old Triumph motorcycle fork tube that has served well as
>> my cheater in the past, but it may not be long enough for breaking
>> this nut loose.  I probably need to try it to make sure the whole
>> shebang works.  Don't want to find out in a crunch that I'm not as
>> prepared as I thought I would be.
>>
>> Stephen
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>>   From: Scott Daniel <scottdaniel@turbovans.com>
>> To: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
>> Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2013 2:37 PM
>> Subject: Re: tool find
>>
>>
>>
>> nice find.
>> nowyou need a good long, about 3 feet, solid cheater bar to use with
>> your two new tools.
>>
>> even standing on the end of a very stout 3 1/2 long cheater bar
>> sometimes in not enough to unscrew that mutha.
>> I've had to heat a few of those nuts ( like one out of dozen or so ) ..
>> in one extreme case ..even with heating ...the nut galled the threads
>> on the stub axle taking the nut off.  Both nut and stub axle were
>> ruined. That only happened once in dozens of years though.
>>
>> it's good to take things like the rear axle nut and flange apart once
>> in a great while ..make sure their not seized badly with rust etc.
>>
>> scott
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 9/29/2013 4:01 AM, Stephen Grisanti wrote:
>>
>> I'm not looking forward to ever needing the 46mm socket for the big
>> rear axle nut, but have always kept that measurement (and its standard
>> 1 13/16" equivalent) in mind in case I trip over one, which I recently
>> did.  Of course, after buying I find that NAPA stocks the non-metric
>> one for $25 (on sale this week for $16!) but that Ohio antique mall
>> was fairly boring until I hit a huge booth full of tools and the $5
>> find that is now living under the back seat of the '87 Westy with its
>> new Harbor Freight 3/4" drive breaker bar.
>>
>