CV axle flange bolts?

[nthach]

I'm having a bear of a time attacking 6 bolts that hold a CV axle onto a diff. It's a 10mm Allen, and I've tried wailing on it with a impact wrench with no avail. Should I grad a long extension at Sears and a breaker bar and have someone sit in the car and hit the brakes while I attempt to break them loose?

 

[Eddie]

I never had a problem with those bolts. I assume we are tuning them the correct way to loosen?

 

[punisher]

I hate those bolts. When we had a Merkur in the shop, and had to pull halfshafts, we ended up going through 2-3 good Snap-on torx bits by the time we were through with it. One old tech told me to hit the bolt heads hard with a ball peen hammer a few times to "break them". Still ended up breaking torx bits on them.

 

[nthach]

It's on a Lexus LS400, so I'm betting they are right-hand threads. I can see the threads on the diff side, I'm calling the local boat yard for some Penetro 90.

 

[onion]

The bolts would likely come out with little effort if you heat the heads nice and red with an oxy-acetylene torch then let them cool. Of course, that wouldn't be a nice thing to do to either the bearing or the bolts... so this would only be an option if all parts are being replaced.

 

[nthach]

Oh yeah! Got the axles off after a trip to the commissary(Sears and the local boat yard). Penetro 90 did help with getting the axle bolts off, along with a 10" breaker bar and a cheater pipe.

Only causality was a 10mm hex bit, I was able to get a new one. Sears rocks...