Nut Splitter Failure

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Kevin Lang

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I used a nut splitter to smash the rusted shock nut off of my front passenger shock.



The thing was a "one time use only" tool, for while it split the nut, the shaft with the bolt & chisel broke. Inspecting the pieces, I found that the bolt and the chisel were 2 separate pieces of metal cheaply welded together, and that the bolt shaft was basically hollow (So in the defense of the Chinese guy who made it, there wasn't much to weld the chisel on to--sarcasm).



The nut splitter also required vise grips to hold it in place (it kept riding up off the nut), an extended resting on the tire so that I could work outside of the wheelwell, and a 1/2" drive extended-length socket for torque. That wasn't mentioned on the box for this POS, luckily I had them lying around.



For the new shock, I used anti-seize on the threads of the top bolt of the shock (hopefully that works), and I tightened the top nut down until the shock shaft began to spin. I substituted poly bushings for the stock Rancho rubber ones, but the current tightness is not enough to bulge them out to the width of the washers. I'm not sure if I've taken the nut to the end of the threading on the bolt, but I may have. Do I need to crank them down further? I'll take the ST on a test drive and see.



So now I'm left with one rusted shock still on there, and a broken nut splitter, which means short of a VERY long time with a hacksaw, I'm not getting that sucker off. Maybe I need to finally give in and get a Dremel that can cut this stuff. Any recommendations?
 
+4 for the dremel...LOL



Also borrow a Recipricating or jig saw. Cut the shaft.



I have used vise grips on the shaft and deep sleeve on the nut. Twisted the rusted threads off the shaft.
 
I have several Dremel tools and never tried to cut off a nut or bolt. I have always used a pneumatic die-grinder with a cut-off wheel or an electric 4" grinder. I have also used torches, and reciprocating saws depending upon the location of the bolt/nut and the access to it.



About 40 years ago I bought a Nut-Buster from JC Whitney's (long before everything came from China) and it worked fine especially when access was limited. I loaned it to a friend while station in Germany and that was the last time I seen it..:angry: Not really angry since I'm sure he forgot he had it, and I never asked for it....I valued the friendship much more than the tool. :haveabeer:



...Rich:
 
I have always used a pneumatic die-grinder with a cut-off wheel or an electric 4" grinder. I have also used torches, and reciprocating saws
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4 tools that I don't have at hand :cry: Anything is better than trying to hand saw through the nut. That sucked. My reciprocating saw was borrowed by relatives. The only power tools I have at hand aren't very useful ATM--drills, circular & table saws, chainsaws, etc. I'm pretty leery about using a powered saw on my ST.



I have used vise grips on the shaft and deep sleeve on the nut. Twisted the rusted threads off the shaft.
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I'd thought about doing something like that, but I wasn't sure it'd work (I don't know how rusted the nut is to the shaft of the shock).



I'll give the other nut splitter I still have (2 per pack) a try before I splurge the 60 bucks or so to grab a dremel and play with power tools :grin:



On another note, I went for a test drive with just the one new shock installed and the truck drove so much better. I just hope that the rear shock top nuts aren't this rusted when I replace them later on, as that would be truly brutal.
 
Dave is correct...You do not use the hammer and chisel to cut the nut off, but you can use it to get the nut to turn by letting the chisel dig into one of the corners of the nut and use the hammer to jolt the nut loose by sticking the chisel to force the nut in the lefty-loosey direction. Works great if you have room the swing the hammer. Once you get the nut cracked loose you can use a regular wrench to completely remove it as usuall.



...Rich
 
You do not use the hammer and chisel to cut the nut off, but you can use it to get the nut to turn by letting the chisel dig into one of the corners of the nut and use the hammer to jolt the nut loose by sticking the chisel to force the nut in the lefty-loosey direction.
Click to expand...



Once I got the setup to use the nutsplitter all rigged up, I thought about doing that, but the nut splitter would catch on the wheel well liner.



To be honest, by that time I just wanted to have fun with it and smashed it into submission with the nut splitter :grin:...I just didn't know that it'd be a "fun once" due to cheap Chinese construction. My POA is still to use the other splitter first, and failing that, go splurge on some better tools. I might just do that anyhow, as a ratcheting box wrench for the rear shocks would be nice to have this time around.



Interestingly, once I had smashed half of the nut off with the shoddy splitter, I did have to chisel the other part off as it was affixed to the shaft with rust. I can understand how the PB Blaster didn't work on this, though I don't understand how I got so much rust. I live in MD for crying out loud. It's not like I'm in the heartland of the Rust Belt.
 
If you want I will lend you my Ex-wife There isn't a set of nuts made she cant BUST!
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Okay, that is hilarious, but I think I'll pass. :banana:



I had luck with the other Taiwanese (I said Chinese before, but this is what the box says. I guess there's a difference.) nut splitter I had. 5 minutes and the rusted nut was gone. It goes a lot faster when I have some idea of what I'm doing :grin:
 

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