A pulley holder and a breaker bar will get it done nicely. (and a pipe if it's really tight) Probably be alot cheaper too.

 

Sounds like good advice to me. I think that, because of their location, axle nuts are going to be far more susceptible to seizing up due to road salt corrosion, etc.

The rotation is not the right direction on our Accord, so the starter method of removing the crank bolt could not work. But even if it would, I think the risk of shearing off the head is too great.

I just got another e-mail from the Ridgid wrench seller. Here it is:

Tony,

I took your advice and used the wrench for longer periods of time and I was able to get both axle nuts off. The passenger side nut came off yesterday after applying the wrench on setting 1 for about 45seconds to 1 minute. The driver’s side nut still didn’t want to come off after a couple of minutes so I applied some more penetrating oil overnight and tried it again this morning on setting 1 and it still didn’t want to come off. I switched the wrench to setting 2, which increases the number of impacts per minute, and then the nut came off pretty quickly. Needless to say I’m much more impressed with this wrench now than before .................. Thanks for your advice!

The Ridgid tool is definitely back in the running!

It may be cheaper IF it works without shearing off the head of the bolt, but I'm going with the safety of a good impact wrench.

BTW, here's a photo of the victor and the vanquished sent to me by the Ridgid owner:

 

Excellent chioce. That's what I have myself.

 

i had to replace my harmonic balancer on my 91 accord and the only thing i had was a four way, a breaker bar and a friend. lol also one of those crank ully chain tools. i dont remember the name but ive always been a shady tree mechanic guy. i hate taking my car to a shop, mainly because i usually never have the cash for labor. but if youve got the time, patience, and almost all the right tools you can do anything in ur yard man.

 

Desert or anyone else,

After I repalced the front brake shoes and checked the rear brake shoes for wear, I wanted to bleed the brakes on our 92 Accord, but as I tried to loosen the bleed valves, I was putting so much force on them that I thought I was going to break the "stem" of the valve - that solid tube between the part of the valve that's suppused to turn and the body of the caliper or brake-cylinder.

In my youth I did indeed break some off and then I had to replace brake cylinders.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I sheared the head off a small bolt that holds the protective cap on the stem of the ball joint on the driver's side rear upper arm. Now I've got a stainless steel hose clamp holding it on.

So I need some advice on how to loosen old, stuck, brake caliper and brake cylinder bleeder valves and I think I think it's quite possible, exactly as Desert has recommended, that a small, 1/4" drive air ratchet may be the way to go to loosen those valves without breaking them.

What I'm hoping is that my present compressor - 4.1cfm @ 90psi - can supply enough air to drive a small impact-ratchet for small jobs like this. Here's a relaively cheap, low-torque wrench that may be appropriate for the job:
http://cgi.ebay.com/AIR-RATCHET-1-4-...QQcmdZViewItem

As you can see, the max torque is 18 ft-lb. Even though that's pretty low, I think it's too much in this case, and will break the stem of the bleeder valve.

But, as Desert has said, maybe if I lower the pressure on the compressor (or maybe some valve on the ratchet?), this will lower the torque on the ratchet enough to NOT damage the valve, but bang and vibrate enough to "free up" the "something else" that's preventing the valve from loosening.

Also, what do you think about heating the valve very briefly with a propane torch?

 

DONT GO FOR THE ELECTRIC, NOT ENOUGH TORQUE THEY BARELY WILL DO LUGNUTS, I'VE HAD ONE FOR PROBALLY 20 YRS JUST FOR BACK-UP. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT USE THE STARTER TO TURN ENGINE OVER IT ROTATES THE WRONG WAY AND WILL BREAK THE BOLT AND A FEW OTHER THINGS. EITHER GO TO A INDEPENDENT SHOP OR A HONDA DEALER AND HAVE THEM LOOSEN IT, THE ROTATION OF THE ENGINE WHEN YOU REINSTALL IT HELPS TO KEEP IT TIGHT BUT MAKE SURE TO TORQUE IT TO SPECS, REMEMBER SAFETY IS YOUR 1ST CONCERN!

 

You are correct that the vibration and the impact vs. just straight rotational force works better. In theory it's kind of like when you get a vehicle stuck in a rut of sorts. If you just apply gas it's going to spin but if apply then let off and get the vehicle rocking you can get it out (I hope that makes sense...) In the past I have used a breaker bar and actually almost "Sat" on the breaker bar then lightly tapped on it with a hammer so it would vibrate.

 

sir_nasty,
You must have run across a thousand of those stuck bleeder valves. How'd you deal with them?

 

To be completely honest with you I've just been very lucky... I assume you're talking about the bleeder valves on the brake caliper... I simply remove the brake fluid resevoir lid (just to make 100% sure in my mind that there is not any extra pressure to fight, I know there shouldn't be but whatever...) hose it down real good with wd-40 wait a few minuts then back it out with a wrench (never used a socket on them since I was worried about it applying pressure in a funky direction cause I'm weird like that) I've also never really held back on them, just used a small open ended wrench and went for it, WD-40, open ended wrench and time is all I've ever used.

 

TONY.......... DO NOT use air tools to loosen up the bleeder screws,, if they are frozen you will brake them........
Do as Sir- Nasty said,,spray some wd-40 or some other lubricant, let it sit a bit and then get a box end wrench , 10mm frt or( 8mm on rear if you got drums )and slowly loosen up the bleeder screw,, keep a close look at the bleeder screw to make sure it is loosening up and not twisting off.....