What Did You Do with Your 80 This Weekend? (49 Viewers)

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jcardona1 said:
Those look like standard-issue 6 ton jack stands. 6 ton jack stands look like toys sitting next to the 12 tons. The ones I have go past 30".
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Nah, they are stout. No way standard, they are twice as beefy as the cheaper ones and go higher. Just saying not all 6 ton are created equal. Pics are always hard to decern though ....past 30 is nice.
 
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Installed my OME 2.5 lift kit and my window visor.
 
Having fun with a seized nut on my Fox shock. I'm absolutely dumbfounded on what caused this to happen. I took it off to let my axle drop to install new front springs. I put the nut back on with ease. Realized my spring wasn't seated in my spacer so I went to undo the nut again and it had been welded on to the shock threads. I've never encountered something like this in my 20 years of working on cars (old, new etc).

So far I've tried to hold the shock with vice grips and used a 3ft 3/4 inch drive breaker bar. I got the nut to turn about once. Now I can't hold the shock anymore. So I decided to use a torch. Nope. Nylon melted. Started to cut with a Dremel, nope. The thing won't budge. I tried my pneumatic impact wrench and my electric one. Not a chance.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and split the nut with a chisel punch. I just don't think this thing is going to turn. Trying to figure out also another tool or method of holding the bottom shock mount to hold it in place. Maybe a bigger vice grip? I need some sort of c clamp or something that I can torque down with a big wrench!
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bajaphile said:
Having fun with a seized nut on my Fox shock. I'm absolutely dumbfounded on what caused this to happen. I took it off to let my axle drop to install new front springs. I put the nut back on with ease. Realized my spring wasn't seated in my spacer so I went to undo the nut again and it had been welded on to the shock threads. I've never encountered something like this in my 20 years of working on cars (old, new etc).

So far I've tried to hold the shock with vice grips and used a 3ft 3/4 inch drive breaker bar. I got the nut to turn about once. Now I can't hold the shock anymore. So I decided to use a torch. Nope. Nylon melted. Started to cut with a Dremel, nope. The thing won't budge. I tried my pneumatic impact wrench and my electric one. Not a chance.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and split the nut with a chisel punch. I just don't think this thing is going to turn. Trying to figure out also another tool or method of holding the bottom shock mount to hold it in place. Maybe a bigger vice grip? I need some sort of c clamp or something that I can torque down with a big wrench!
View attachment 1454178 View attachment 1454179
Click to expand...

Take a razor and cut the rubber bushing and remove. Then take a vice grips and hold the bolt.

Replace the bushing with a new one.
 
Put in a new oem radiator and hoses. What a pain in the ass job. Of course now that I've done it I'd fly through it a second time.

So the transmission radiator is built in there too? Huh.
 
LS1FJ40 said:
View attachment 1454180

Take a razor and cut the rubber bushing and remove. Then take a vice grips and hold the bolt.

Replace the bushing with a new one.
Click to expand...

IMO if he's having that much trouble a vice grip isn't going to cut it. Plus trying to force things may tear up the threaded portion of the shock shaft even more.

Personally at this point I'd be trying to avoid further damage to the shock shaft and would be splitting the nut. If you remove the rubber isolators it'll give you a lot more room to work.. my tool of choice would be a 4" cutoff wheel in an angle grinder and be careful not to get into the threads of the shaft. With so much suspension/axle stuff around the work area you have a lot of opportunities to brace and can actually be quite precise. Do that on both sides then a cold chisel in one of the cuts will finish it off.

Then run a tap down the shock shaft and put new bolts on. Fox can provide new isolators and washers.
 
bloc said:
IMO if he's having that much trouble a vice grip isn't going to cut it. Plus trying to force things may tear up the threaded portion of the shock shaft even more.

Personally at this point I'd be trying to avoid further damage to the shock shaft and would be splitting the nut. If you remove the rubber isolators it'll give you a lot more room to work.. my tool of choice would be a 4" cutoff wheel in an angle grinder and be careful not to get into the threads of the shaft. With so much suspension/axle stuff around the work area you have a lot of opportunities to brace and can actually be quite precise. Do that on both sides then a cold chisel in one of the cuts will finish it off.

Then run a tap down the shock shaft and put new bolts on. Fox can provide new isolators and washers.
Click to expand...

Yep, that is where I am at. I have been cutting the nut with a Dremel ever so carefully. I have cut down to the threads in 4 locations and the thing still doesn't budge. I went to Sears last night to grab a nut splitter but they didn't have any in stock. So I grabbed a chisel type punch and will be trying that today to split the nut off. If that doesn't work I'll just use my cut off wheel and go straight through the lower washer and bushing. I actually might have a spare that would work until Fox sent replacements.

I am concerned that if I keep trying to turn the nut, it will literally twist the shock stud clean off. The size wrench I am using is providing at least 250-300 ft-lbs of torque. Coupled with knowing that both my impact wrenches are capable of that torque as well.

I can't wait to get this thing off and inspect what the HECK is going on. There is no indication that it was cross-threaded since theres a good 10 threads showing, and I hand threaded it on until it hit the nylock portion. Even if it was cross-threaded, I feel like it would turn off. I heated it for 5 minutes with a propane torch and watched all the plastic melt off, so I don't think that is the problem. Maybe galling? I didn't think it was capable of this much force.
 
bloc said:
Or: Amazon.com: 2 Piece 2-15mm & 15-22mm Nut Splitter Set: Home Improvement

That might work and not ruin the isolators
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x2 ^^. I had to use a nut splitter on the TOP bolt of my DS front shock. Took a bit of time, and I had to rotate the shock so as to be able to split the nut in 2 different places, but it did the trick.

Also, @bajaphile , you might try using a pipe wrench to keep the shock from turning with the nut. If you get it on there just right, it will tighten on itself allowing you to put as much force as you can to turn the nut. Just be sure to protect whatever part of the shock you put the pipe wrench on (with some tape or whatever), as it will probably leave some scratches or gouges where the pipe wrench was.
 
bajaphile said:
Maybe galling?
Click to expand...

Bingo.

Fox must be using some kind of steel for these shafts that isn't playing nicely with the coating on the nut and the conditions they are exposed to. Like I mentioned earlier mine didn't gall, but they felt very "dry" and had a powdered rust in the threads when I removed my front springs for this engine swap. It just didn't feel right.. but I figured I'd just pay attention in the future. Then the day I put it all back together I see two or three posts about the nuts seizing... I addressed it the next day. I'll do the uppers and rears soon as well.

I hoped the different coating on a grade-8 nut would help.. and no nylon lock portion to grab any crap in the threads and pull it upward with the nut when tightening. plus a coating of anti-seize.
 
Well I just got it off. Nut splitter to the rescue! Look at those threads! Gonna drop off at down south motorsports and see if they can replace the stud for me. No idea how that happened.
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