'88 90q Rear Struts/CV Joints/Torque Settings (Long)

[Paul Heneghan]

Hello Bob.

It makes things much easier if you undo those axle bolts.  See below for
suggestions.

>Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 14:30:52 -0800 (PST)
>From: Bob Gregory <rggpa1 at yahoo.com>
>
>Currently replacing rear strut inserts.  Chose not to
>take off axle bolt because reassembly requires 258
>lb-ft of torque. Don't have a wrench rated >150. Yes,
>I know for 65$US HarborFreight has one rated to 500 or
>600.  But.......Replaced front wheel bearing recently
>and torqued bolt to 89 lb-ft -- that was tight and
>don't know how much more I would be physically able to
>do with 24" torque wrench.  After torque setting, bolt
>required additional 1/4 turn.  I barely was able to
>accomplish this with 24" breaker and 180 lbs (me)
>jumping.
>
>Question #1 - How do you get to 258?

258lb-ft isn't much - in fact, if you don't have access to a decent torque
wrench, and you know what you weigh, there is an easy way of setting this.

1. Get an axle stand (or similar) and set it to a height of the axle less
about 1/2".
2. Fit the socket onto an extension and then place the socket on the
bolt/nut and rest the extension on the axle stand.
3. Fit your 24" breaker into the extension.
4. If you weigh 180 lbs, then stand on the breaker bar (middle of your foot)
exactly 258/180 feet away from the extension.  I work that out to be just
over 17".
5. Note:  for this to be accurate, the breaker bar should be close to
horizontal!

Another popular solution is to do up these bolts/nuts to 150lb-ft or
200lb-ft (as high as your little TW can go) and then drive gingerly to a
garage which has a decent TW and pay them to do the final tightening.  You
must do them up fairly tightly before you move the car though - otherwise,
you could wreck the bearings.

>What about the
>360+ for the crank bolt?  Does the increased lever arm
>of a big honking wrench (48") make that much
>difference?  Never worked with torques this high and
>am feeling ignorant.

A 4' wrench can achieve (with the same effort from you at the end of it)
twice the torque as a 2' wrench.

>Question #2:  Rather than not removing axle bolt, I
>disconnected inner CV joint (sort of).  Was able to
>lightly tap the boot off the joint but the joint
>itself is stuck firmly onto the differential side of
>the axle assembly.  Any ideas on how to remove a 14-yr
>old CV joint?  There is nothing to pull on or spin.
>Do I need some costly tool?

Some CV joints have an internal circlip that pops off on its own.  Others
have a circlip that needs to be held open with a screwdriver.  They are
often very stubborn.

>BTW, I was able to compress the spring in-place enough
>to rotate the entire strut assembly out of the wheel
>well to disassemble the strut/insert.  PITA.  Would
>like a more elegant solution (big wrench for bolt or
>miracle CV joint unsticking tool) for the other side.
>
>Thanks
>Bob Gregory
>'84 4kq
>'88 90q
>'01 S4



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