Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeR
I have an old Sears Craftsman "nut splitter" that's worked good for stuff like this. It will literally split the frozen nut on 1 side, making it much easier to get off.
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That is a cool tool. I tried 3 Sears stores until I found one ($15), but there is no room to get the top of the nut splitter (nut cracker?) over the bolt due to the clamp and muffler pipe being in the way.
A cool tool nonetheless....
It's a real bear to get those bolts off, and the pipes tend to stay stuck onto the rear muffler and front cat. I ended up cutting apart the welds on the old muffler in order to get better leverage to remove the two pipes from the back of my cat.
I used a combination of vise grips, air chisels, grinding wheels, and cut off wheels to get those 4 bolts off. I am told that a torch might help loosen up these very tough bolts. They appear to be copper plated.
All I have left to do is to get a 4" section of the center muffler off the inside of the rear muffler pipe. My air chisel/weld ripper has gotten stuck inside the pipe!@#@# I have gathered new respect for techs...
A call to Phil at Partsshop should get me the few remaining parts I need, 4 nuts and bolts, a new clamp for the rear muffler, and a cat hangar that I noticed had failed. (I want to replace as much hardware as possible.)
I'm tempted to find softer bolts at the local hardware store (easier to cut next time?) but I will stick with OEM just on principle.
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Bob Roe
Lehigh Valley PA USA
1973 Olds 88, 1972 MB 280SE, 1978 Datsun 280Z, 1971 Ford T-Bird, 1972 Olds 88, 1983 Nissan Sentra, 1985 Sentra, 1973 230.6, 1990 Acura Integra, 1991 Volvo 940GLE wagon, 1983 300SD, 1984 300SD, 1995 Subaru Legacy L wagon, 2002 Mountaineer, 1991 300TE wagon, 2008 Murano, 2007 R320CDI 4Matic 52K, some Hyundai, 2008 BMW 535xi wagon, all gone... currently
2007 Honda Odyssey Touring, 2014 E350 4matic
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