Hub unit nut issues

[Al]

I have just finished replacing the right rear wheel bearing on my 88 ITA integra. The task took about 45 minutes, most of which was spent looking for different sockets and the manual. In the end, it was a piece of cake.

Then I went for the left side. The wheel and brakes came off without a problem, but the 'hub unit nut' will not budge at all.

There are three possible situations right now:

1) it is reverse threaded.

2) Paul Bunyan torqued the nut on there.

3) the bad wheel bearing has deformed and caused the nut to get jamed in position.


I hope it is not #1 because my friend gave %100 to get the thing off the standard way (by jumping on the breaker bar till it broke (craftsman 1/2 inch)). Is the same true for Hondas?

If the spindle itself is deformed, it can be removed, but I have not tried that yet.

[Yooformula]

Spray some penetrant all over the nut and let it sit overnight then come at it. I stood on my wrench when trying to get my spindle off and in the end I needed a big hammer.

[Al]

I did the penetrant about an hour ago.

One of my ideas was to use a wrench or breaker bar, then use a floor jack to get that extra leverage. I ended up lifting the whole back half of the car off both jacks! I probably should not do that, but it was sad/interesting to see.

[wikked]

torch?
dremel it off?

[JohnnyT]

Impact wrench???

[Teufelhunden]

Just give up Blueballs.

[petej]

some autoparts stores will rent out electrical impacts wrenches, otherwise, try using the jack handle (or somthing similar) and slipping it over the wrench handle , giving yourself a big ass breaker bar

[wikked]

I bought the best breaker bars ever...
Home Depot sells iron piping in various widths/lengths for those cramped spaces, cheap too

[Berettaspeed]

fire is your friend....torch it. if you can an impact gun works the best of course, because the TQ is centered better.

[Al]

I ended up borrowing an impact from a friend, after my own failed to have enough torque. It was one of those 900 ft/lb ones and it took about 20 seconds to finish it.

When the nut fell out of the socket, it was smoking. Also, it browned the lawn where it landed. "the nut really burns the grass. . . I was like 'whoa'"

BUT...
Because I was getting impatient with the nut, I went ahead and tried to remove the 4 bolts holding the caliper bracket and spindle bracket off. The nuts holding those on came out without a problem, but because the bolts were the type with the splined shaft at the head end, they needed some extra motivation. I only made matters worse this way because I ended up making the bolts wider at the end due to the hammering.

One more problem is that not all of the bearing came off. There is a small inner portion which decided to stay behind on the shaft. To make this situaiton worse is that the spindle is a bit wider at the end.

I'll get a puller set tomorrow and hopefully get the last piece of the bearing off. I also need to figure out where I can get four of those weird bolts and nuts. I think the bolts are 10mm wide with a 1mm pitch.

[pnad]

Dealer is usually a good place to get those 'odd' parts
Do you honda guys have any discount setup at the local dealerships?

[Al]

Went to a few honda dealerships, but the people there "needed a product code." I was a bit pissed because it was a standard metric bolt, who needs a code for that! I ended up at acura of brookfield and ordered the parts, but I have since repaired my current bolts

Anyway, all is done now.

[SlowAccord]

Sounds like allot of work for an 1988 Integra, how competitive is that car in ITA?

[Al]

I raced my integra for the first time this past weekend at the Milwaukee Mile. The track was %80 of the oval plus the infield.

I found out very early that my tires were crap because everyone was able to outbrake me and almost all could take my car in the turns. Even the other drivers reccomended that I get a new set of tires. When I mentioned that the tires spent all winter outside, they knew they were a major issue. A temporary fix for the tires would be 'tire magic,' but it is not a true substitute.

Beyond that, I came in third from last out of 8 or 9 cars. The cars in front of me were all spec miatas, a VW scirocco (very well built engine), and a 90 integra LS.

My list of improvements for my integra coming soon will be new tires ($500), a removable steering wheel, mount the seat farther forward, and possibly find a way to get some toe-out on the rear axle, which is a beam axle. For that, I could possibly shim two of those 4 bolts to aim the tires out. Also, I could possibly fabricate my own spindle brackets with toe-out integrated into them. I have access to a lathe and a CNC mill, so all I would need to do is figure out what metal to use.

I also found out lately that other cars which had been categorized with my integra back in the early 90s are all ITB cars now. These include the early civic Si and CRX. I am about to make a push to have the car placed in ITB and possibly add some balast so that it can be more evenly matched to these cars.