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Jeepjunk4 · 04-09-2014, 10:48 AM

This is the rear axle bolt, the end of the thread is about a quarter of an inch away from the tank shroud. Cut off wheel wont reach it torsion arm blocks front of bolt, open end on both sides aint gonna do it. Drop tank covers I'm thinking?? I hope the tanks are supported by something other than the cover. Any Ideas??

mimiandrews · 04-09-2014, 11:05 AM

Box end wrench (preferably six point so it's less likely to strip the flats off the nut) with longest cheater bar that will fit the space. Might have to grind the wrench down a little so it will fit between the end of the bolt and the tank cover.

If it won't turn, perhaps a Sawzall.

Good luck. Same project in our near future.

Jammer · 04-09-2014, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeepjunk4

This is the rear axle bolt, the end of the thread is about a quarter of an inch away from the tank shroud. Cut off wheel wont reach it torsion arm blocks front of bolt, open end on both sides aint gonna do it. Drop tank covers I'm thinking?? I hope the tanks are supported by something other than the cover. Any Ideas??

choices choices

1. you should be able to get a box end wrench on the nut and another one on the bolt head. May have to pry the tank shroud away a little bit to slide it over the bolt.

Use a real box end not one of those ratcheting ones; ratcheing ones are larger and might not fit. A six-point box end will shear the bolt before it slips

2. failing that you can try a fitting wrench which will give you quite a bit more torque than an open end wrench but not as much as a box end

3. should be able to get a vise grip on the bolt head too

4. cutting torch (using a wet rag to protect things that need it)

5. sawzall

With either the torch or the sawzall you have the choice of cutting through the nut or just shortening the bolt to the point where you can get a wrench on it.

perryg114 · 04-09-2014, 11:09 AM

It is a little hard to tell what is going on there. You are trying to remove that bolt that is blocked by the torsion arm? How is removing the tank cover going to help? A cutting torch will get that baby out. Are you replacing the axles?

The holding tanks are supported by the pans only. The tank pans are thick steel. You will most likely find that the bolts holding the pans will break before they come loose. Airstream must have done a lot of research into finding just the right alloy of bolt so that once it is put in that is rusts and won't ever come out. The same goes for the bolts that hold the bal jacks on.

Perry

**GCinSC2** · 04-09-2014, 11:13 AM

I'm not able to see all of the area you're working in, but a suggestion. Heat. Don't jump yet. Shield what cannot tolerate the heat with a steel heat shield like a plate of steel and use a butane micro torch. A rather small hot controlled flame MIGHT work. Remember I'm not seeing the whole thing clearly. Be careful busted knuckles hurt big-time. Also spraying with PB BLASTER or other repeating frequently for days might be enough.

Gary

Jeepjunk4 · 04-09-2014, 11:40 AM

What you don't see in that pic is the tank cover, which is just off the end of the bolt, I'm talking quarter inch. Don't have a torch, front axle used cut off wheel on back sie, cut thru nut and bolt flush to axle flange so pushin gbolt out wasn't a problem. So the back pan holds the tanks up, jeez, I don't want to break anything in there. I took off the front fresh water tank cause it had a leak, but that also helped access the bolts. Sawzall didn't seem to work on front bolts so used cutoff wheel, and the ones I could wrench, big breaker bar with my feet on it barely got em going, so open ends and vise grips won't cut it, ya need some big torque here.

Jeepjunk4 · 04-09-2014, 11:42 AM

Oh, and pb blaster for 2 weeks didn't seem to do anything.

perryg114 · 04-09-2014, 12:08 PM

You need a nut splitter. Yes that is a real thing. It is a loop shaped thing with a blade driven by a bolt. You tighten the bolt and it drives a blade into the nut and it eventually breaks it.

nut splitter tool from Northern Tool + Equipment

Perry

teebs32 · 04-09-2014, 12:14 PM

I second the nut splitter. They also have them at harbor freight ... Not the best quality but will do the job for sure.

Jeepjunk4 · 04-09-2014, 12:21 PM

I don't think a nut splitter will fit but even if it did the bolt will not come out past the torsion arm. It ideally needs to be torched, Im going to the tool store to find the toughest sawzall blade I can.

**Kevin245** · 04-09-2014, 01:53 PM

A sawzall with a bi-metal blade will take care of this in short order.

putback · 04-09-2014, 04:43 PM

If you jack up the trailer will the torsion arm still be in the way?

Jeepjunk4 · 04-09-2014, 05:44 PM

Yes the torsion arm is still in the way, and Kevin u were right the sawzall did it, but hardly in short order. I went to my tool guy and got a 5 pack of lenox 14 tpi blades and used em all, but got em. I would say a half hour per bolt, but wait, the saga continues.

Got all bolts out disconnected shocks, and the curb side axle didn't seem to want to drop. got a pry bar under the axle flange, but it still wouldn't come down. The street side was free, now on closer inspection, look at the pic. Remember ur looking up from the ground. The black and rusty thing is the axle tube, the oxidized thing is the black and grey tank shroud. Now look at the rusty axle flange that runs across the top. It appears to me,that when the tanks were installed, the shroud was notched out to clear the axle flange, which is also preventing the axle from dropping!!

Now, options, drop the tanks,which I really don't want to do, or take cut off wheel and try to notch out tank shroud without cutting into tank. Im thinking there must be at least a half inch of insulation around the tanks??? idk whaddya think?? I do know beer makes everything better!!!

teebs32 · 04-09-2014, 07:28 PM

This is the best blade I've used yet to cut metal with

**Kevin245** · 04-10-2014, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeepjunk4

Yes the torsion arm is still in the way, and Kevin u were right the sawzall did it, but hardly in short order. I went to my tool guy and got a 5 pack of lenox 14 tpi blades and used em all, but got em. I would say a half hour per bolt, but wait, the saga continues.

Got all bolts out disconnected shocks, and the curb side axle didn't seem to want to drop. got a pry bar under the axle flange, but it still wouldn't come down. The street side was free, now on closer inspection, look at the pic. Remember ur looking up from the ground. The black and rusty thing is the axle tube, the oxidized thing is the black and grey tank shroud. Now look at the rusty axle flange that runs across the top. It appears to me,that when the tanks were installed, the shroud was notched out to clear the axle flange, which is also preventing the axle from dropping!!

Now, options, drop the tanks,which I really don't want to do, or take cut off wheel and try to notch out tank shroud without cutting into tank. Im thinking there must be at least a half inch of insulation around the tanks??? idk whaddya think?? I do know beer makes everything better!!!

JJ4,

Glad to hear the sawzall worked for you, sorry to hear that it did not move fast. Blade quality and saw speed is key to good cut success. We've used ours to cut 2" x 16" reduced section tensile samples from large W-Shapes with great ease and I am talking about 3/4" thick steel. We were cutting a sample out in 15 minutes while working with the tool overhead. Our sawzall was variable speed though and blade control was easy.

And yes beer does make everything better.

HiHoAgRV · 04-10-2014, 09:27 PM

If you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail...

i don't even own a sawzall, but I have done a couple of axle swaps and a cutting torch makes quick work of the bolt.

i guess it comes down to your available instrument of destruction!

Jeepjunk4 · 04-11-2014, 06:55 AM

Ya know what Kevin, u said saw speed, now that I think about it the saw cut real good initially, then when the blade heated up, it seemed to go nowhere, now I'm thinking I should have slowed it down abit, good point. And yes smoke wrench would have been the tool of choice for this job, but not for notching the tank, lol.

crispyboy · 04-30-2014, 10:59 AM

Let us know how you finally get the rear axle to drop down. I just looked at my trailer the other day and was wondering how I'm going to do this job. It is made the same way. It seems like the only options are to drop the tank pan or notch it out and patch with some heating duct galvanized metal.
I wonder if you could just drop the front of the pan down 1" to slide the axle out?

Jeepjunk4 · 05-01-2014, 09:23 AM

OK, Steve this is gonna get ugly, I just want u to know what ur in for. When I did my axles I wanted to dropthe fresh tank, because it had been leaking and the pan had been hit before, what rocket scientist thought it would be a good idea to hang the fresh tank lower than the axle, ok, I'll stay focused!! So I took the 14 bolts out pried off the gak holding it, and yes the whole tank comes down, disconnected everything, made the job waaaay easier.

I'm a guy that's turned wrenches my whole life, my garage is pretty well equipped, air, welder, gave up my torches years ago when acetylene became a pita to get around here, so the cut off wheel has become my best friend. The front axle came out pretty easy, I sprayed the bolts for weeks ahead off time, still those babies were tight. I'm talking, breaker bar, cheater pipe, 2 feet finally cracked em. Now the front bolt on the axles are doable, remember I got the tank out too, but the rear bolts wont come out past the dead torsion arm so ya gotta cut it, 4 1/2 inch cut off wheel just fit, from the back side of the frame. Having fun yet?? Front axle dropped out, on a floor jackjust like I planned.

Now since I have all this room, I' gonna block the trailer up from the back, and pullthe rear axle. The front bolts were a bitch but got em out. Now the back bolt on the curb side u can see it but ya cant get a wrech on the back side of it because the tank pan is snug to the framerail, the end of the bolt is about 1/4 inch away from the pan. So realizing theses bolts need to be cut anyway, theres no way I can get anything on the backside of this framerail, no room. I went to the tool store and got a 5 pack of bimetal sawzall blades, and probably 1 hour and 5 blades later, both rear bolts were cut from the front, cut the heads off.

Ok its not dropping!!! WTF!!!! See my other thread. All in all it's done. Was it a bitch??? Oh yeah!!! Right now I just have more time than money, and I really like to know how these things work. I would highly recommend torching the bolts off, that would have made this job a breeze, and I did snap 2 of the shock mounts off the frame, but welded new ones on, no big deal. I did have somebody pm me that they took delivery of the axles and drove straight to a trailer repair shop, and they installed them for $250!!! Now that's a smart man!!! But I'm in NY, and he lives in Texas, nobody's doing anything for 250 around here!!!

If you want anymore help or advice, just pm me. Good Luck.

Chris

Jeepjunk4 · 05-01-2014, 09:45 AM

Oh and one more thing, there is no sliding the axle forward, they go straight up and drop straight out, and as far as removing the grey and black tank shroud, I was told the tanks will come down with it after ur done snapping all the bolts off, that was a last resort. I also filled the void iin the corner of the tanks with expanding foam, I will seal it better at the end of the season, I'm in camping mode now!!!