Bearing retainer nut...

[H2ONUT]

I need to replace a seal and the u-joints on my Alpha drive. I bought the special wrench to remove the spanner nut. Well, all the little tabs sheared right off when I tried to remove it...

now what??? do you think I could air chisel it out, or make some small cuts to relieve some of the torque on it?

 

[fc3]

You tore the fingers off the bearing retainer? Holy crap what were you using to put that much torque into it?

If this is what you broke, I think you're limited to the heat wrench. Aluminum expands faster than steel, so you should be able to heat the housing a little bit and then use a pair of punches to turn the retainer. The retainer needs to be torqued to 200 ft-lb, so it's not going to come out easily. Trying to break it up will most likely damage the threads. On the other hand an upper unit housing isn't horribly expensive, just terribly.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[H2ONUT]

Yep, those little tabs that the wrench fits. I bashed the hell out of my hand when they broke. I was using a 2' breaker bar on the end of the wrench. Not all of them broke, but now the wrench won't fit right.

I'm going to first try making some small cuts with the dremel.

If using the heat wrench, I should heat the outside of the housing?

 

[fc3]

Two foot bar on a one foot tool? Yeah a 3 foot lever will put a lot of torque on the retainer. Did you have water or corrosion in this area? It should not be that tight.

The retainer screws into threads cut on the inside of that cylindrical housing. Looking at the photo from the FSM, heat the area just to the left of the wrench. That's the area painted black. Heat all around evenly. Don't heat one spot. That could distort the housing. Work all around the retainer, but don't put heat directly on the bearing retainer. You want to expand the aluminum and not the steel.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[H2ONUT]

OK, gotcha. In the book for the torque settings on that retainer, the torque reading is based on the length of the torque wrench. My tq wrench is all of 20" long, so a 2' breaker bar I didn't think was too crazy.

The retainer is not steel, it's aluminum also.

 

[penbroke]

Are we turning it the right way??

Just a thought...


Frank

 

[H2ONUT]

Yep, "righty tighty / lefty lucy"

This is my goal for today to get this out. I'll take pics of the carnage :grin:

 

[H2ONUT]

:thumbsup: Got it out. (forgot the camera)

I had my son hold the torch and heat around the outside. I used a hammer and punch and it didn't move, actually sheared off another tab :smt021

Heated it up some more and got the air chisel, on the remaing 3 tabs, a little on each and it broke free.

Cleaned it all out, new seals, and I'm good to go! It's been holding 10psi for 3 hours now.

 

[penbroke]

:smt038:smt038:smt038:smt038


Frank :thumbsup:

 

[fc3]

:thumbsup: Got it out. (forgot the camera)

I had my son hold the torch and heat around the outside. I used a hammer and punch and it didn't move, actually sheared off another tab :smt021

Heated it up some more and got the air chisel, on the remaing 3 tabs, a little on each and it broke free.

Cleaned it all out, new seals, and I'm good to go! It's been holding 10psi for 3 hours now.

Glad to hear that you got it out. Sounds like you're good. Have fun on the water.

Best regards,
Frank