[spiderrick]

Some day soon(?) will be pulling engine and transmission from 84 spider. Fighting with (4) U-joint flange bolts that will not budge! I am 1 for 4. Looks like it was recently disassembled because there is a new looking drive shaft carrier and fresh paint mark on the flanges. Nuts and bolts don't look rusted but maybe over-torqued? It doesn't help that the 13mm open end wrenches I am using are about 5 inches long and I can not get a socket on the nut or bolt. Any suggestions? Thanks Much
NH Rick

 

[sloboy89]

Some day soon(?) will be pulling engine and transmission from 84 spider. Fighting with (4) U-joint flange bolts that will not budge! I am 1 for 4. Looks like it was recently disassembled because there is a new looking drive shaft carrier and fresh paint mark on the flanges. Nuts and bolts don't look rusted but maybe over-torqued? It doesn't help that the 13mm open end wrenches I am using are about 5 inches long and I can not get a socket on the nut or bolt. Any suggestions? Thanks Much
NH Rick

With the rear of the car on jackstands at the jack points and the rear suspension hanging on the limit straps, when I rotate the drive shaft to the right location, I can get a 13-mm (1/4-in drive) socket on the rear side and use an open-end wrench on the other side. If that doesn't work, maybe get some longer wrenches, use a propane torch to heat the nuts, liquid wrench, etc.?

 

[144]

Pull the whole driveshaft and work it on the bench. Looks like it needs cleaning and repainting anyway.

 

[spiderrick]

OK, I'll take it out if I have to! What the heck, I am in way over my head already! 3 nuts in the front, 4 in the back and a support in the middle? Mark everything so it goes back together the same way it came out? No special tools needed? No worries about trashing soft parts as this comes out? Good project for tomorrow. Thanks Much,
NH Rick

 

[sloboy89]

OK, I'll take it out if I have to! What the heck, I am in way over my head already! 3 nuts in the front, 4 in the back and a support in the middle? Mark everything so it goes back together the same way it came out? No special tools needed? No worries about trashing soft parts as this comes out? Good project for tomorrow. Thanks Much,
NH Rick

You've got the same basic flange/U-joint setup at the back end of the drive shaft, just before the differential, so removing the entire drive shaft may not be as easy as it sounds.

 

[spiderrick]

I took a look and it looks like I can get a socket on the rear. The problem I am having is that I cant get a socket on the flange bolts so I am stuck using a 13mm open end wrench and cant get enough torque on the 6-inch long wrench to turn it. I am going to try to find a longer wrench today. (no luck at Lowes last night, maybe sear?). Also going to try Sloboys move from above again today. Wondering if I should get over my fear of fire and just hit this with a torch?

 

[sloboy89]

Wondering if I should get over my fear of fire and just hit this with a torch?

If you do, you will melt the nylon insert in the nuts, so make sure that you use loctite when you put it back together. Or better, you could replace the nuts, but they are a special size and probably need to be ordered from an overseas supplier, such as:

GB032 PROPSHAFT NUT - Classic Alfa

 

[144]

If you do remove the driveshaft, mark it so that all the pieces go back oriented the same. You don't want to throw off the balance. Inspect the Guibo (rubber donut) carefully. In fact, it not looking real good/new, I'd replace it as a matter of preventative maintenance.

 

[Norseman50]

Two GearWrench 81670 (long-handle 13mm combo)

Some day soon(?) will be pulling engine and transmission from 84 spider. Fighting with (4) U-joint flange bolts that will not budge! I am 1 for 4. Looks like it was recently disassembled because there is a new looking drive shaft carrier and fresh paint mark on the flanges. Nuts and bolts don't look rusted but maybe over-torqued? It doesn't help that the 13mm open end wrenches I am using are about 5 inches long and I can not get a socket on the nut or bolt. Any suggestions? Thanks Much
NH Rick

Hi Rick,

I had the same problems removing my propshaft bolts - no access for box wrenches or sockets, nuts frozen, and I only owned short 13mm open-end wrenches. So I bought 2 of these off ebay:

GearWrench 13mm Long Pattern Combination Wrench 81670 | eBay

Less than $10 (delivered to my door within 5 days) for both of them!

Then I arranged them like plier handles (one on a bolt head, the other on the associated nut) and just squeezed. Voila!

Of course if your bolt or nut heads are rounded off too badly already you will probably need to cut them off with a small grinder, Dremel, or nut splitter, and then purchase new bolts/nuts from Europe.

These bolts and mating nylock nuts are only available new from Europe (Classic Alfa, Alfaholics, Alfa-Service, etc.) and they are a specially hardened material and a rare M9 size. Don't be tempted to use "something close" that you find locally. These fasteners get a lot of torque/stress applied to them so you want to use the exact OEM replacements on the driveline flanges.

Good luck,

 

[Cheburashka]

I understand why you wouldn't want to use heat, but you mention that it looks like it was worked on recently. I suspect that someone used loctite on the nuts. Heating the nuts may ruin the nylon inserts, but trying to remove the nuts if they're loctited will ruin the whole nut. You can always re-loctite them if they lose the grip of the nylon inserts.

I'd recommend heating one of them and seeing if that does the trick. Those nuts and bots are an odd size, and you can't just replace them with something from Home Depot.

 

[alberbat]

Frozen Drive Shaft Nuts

I also ordered some long 13 mm wrenches from Amazon. Then I noticed that "HarborFreight" has a set of long wrenches. Might try that if you have that fine tool provider nearby.

Good Luck

 

[spiderrick]

Went to Harbor Freight today. They actually have long pattern metric wrench sets. About 10 wrenches for about $20.00. But thankfully I looked close and the set SKIPS the 13mm size. I said something like "WHAT THE HECK?" and left with nothing.

Off to Norseman50's ebay link . . . . .

 

[alfaloco]

I found a 13 mm six point thin wall u-joint socket works pretty well, if you can find them. In fact, that's the only thing I found that would work without rounding off the hex nuts. Or a wobble extension that will clear the driveshaft, in the absence of the u-joint socket.

Last time I had it off, I swore I am going to find M9 socket head caps, or spline drive capscrews (grade 12.9). That would really solve the clearance issue, I think.