That combo spark plug/axle tool? Broke it!

[bobhamlin]

I got my Nomad as salvage, with extensive front end damage. I remember looking for the front axle nut when I started putting it together. I also remember thinking "What the hell?" when it dawned on me that installing the front axle required a special tool--which I didn't know I had.

Then I found the spark plug tool was a perfect fit (may have read it here). I installed and torqued the axle. Six months later -- this past weekend -- I had to remove the wheel.

With my handy wrench, I couldn't budge the axle. With the help of a cheater bar, I twisted/sheared the tool in half. "This is great," I thought.

Ran to the local hardware store with one of my sockets that was a perfect fit. After determing that a 1/2" bolt head was too small and a 5/8" was too big, I calculated that a 9/16" hex bolt was what I needed. Of course, no local stores stock 9/16" bolts. He suggested an auto parts store.

I went to Napa and they didn't have 9/16" either. But then, in one of those inspirational moments, he asked, "Would metric work? We have 14mm." Why, yes it would. I got a bolt and two nuts. I had to run back for a third nut since the direction to remove the axle is the same direction to remove the nuts and I really had to super jam the nuts together.

When I went to reinstall the axle, I realized that my initial install might have caused the problem. I know this because I tried to torque this time to 108 ft. lbs. rather than 108 newtons. The tables in the Nomad's shop manual reverse the columns from the torque tables in my Classic's manual. (Voice of experience: Read column headings).

Live and learn.