Curse my weak t-Rex arms!

[OldManSTI]

I've been upgrading the bushings on my rear drivetrain and differential, and I cannot seem to break free the nuts holding the front of the diff in place!

The part I'm referring to is the rear differential, front mounting point. It connects to the bottom of the diff with two 17mm nuts (those I got loose) and the mount connects to the chassis with a 17mm nut and bolt combo on each side. These are the nuts I can't seem to break free, and I've spent over two and a half hours on these suckers! I've sprayed them with a penetrating spray, I've used a breaker bar, heck I even tried using the breaker bar lifted by my jack! (I have the back of the car up on jack stands, and the rear suspension is unloaded. I've tried lifting the diff with my jack to relieve some of the pressure. I'm at my wits (and arm's) end. I've read that a torch can be used to loosen stubborn nuts, but I'm not sure if that would endanger the factory bushings. I live in Nevada (high desert) so rust isn't a concern, but at this rate I'm wondering if the factory soaked the nuts in Loctite before installing them!

So is fire my next option, or do y'all have any other suggestions for freeing a stubborn nut?

Hope that's enough info.

 

[IGOTASTi]

What penetrating oil are you using?

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[Raven32]

What penetrating oil are you using?

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Was just gonna say that. A good penetrating oil like PB blaster works wonders when you soak them overnights. Also get your self a cheater bar. Something like 5' long and put that over your breaker bar. I have a cheater bar that I use a lot that's like 7' long. And when I say cheater bar I mean steel pipe that is sting and ridged, like 1" steel bar or equip ant to slip over breaker bar.


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[OldManSTI]

Was just gonna say that. A good penetrating oil like PB blaster works wonders when you soak them overnights. Also get your self a cheater bar. Something like 5' long and put that over your breaker bar. I have a cheater bar that I use a lot that's like 7' long. And when I say cheater bar I mean steel pipe that is sting and ridged, like 1" steel bar or equip ant to slip over breaker bar.

It's called "Liquid Wrench". I've used it multiple times on these nuts to no avail, but it's worked on others.

As for the cheater bar, I've done that as well. I have a 24" breaker bar, and I added a 36" cheater bar to that. Unfortunately being up on jack stands I don't have much room to work with. I used a couple of extensions to get away from the suspension components, and wrenched up on the cheater bar, and there was a loud ping and the wrench and everything fell to the floor. Not quite sure what gave, but the nut wasn't any looser and it seemed a bit rounded off. I didn't mention it in the original post because I'm kind of embarrassed by that particular event. :?

 

[Raven32]

It's called "Liquid Wrench". I've used it multiple times on these nuts to no avail, but it's worked on others.

As for the cheater bar, I've done that as well. I have a 24" breaker bar, and I added a 36" cheater bar to that. Unfortunately being up on jack stands I don't have much room to work with. I used a couple of extensions to get away from the suspension components, and wrenched up on the cheater bar, and there was a loud ping and the wrench and everything fell to the floor. Not quite sure what gave, but the nut wasn't any looser and it seemed a bit rounded off. I didn't mention it in the original post because I'm kind of embarrassed by that particular event. :?

Nothing to be embarrassed about here. I have broken many a wrenches trying to get stubborn bolts free. Try not to use a wrench but a breaker-bar and don't use extensions either. Extensions will twist instead of breaking the nut/bolt free. Might need to find a shop that will either break the bolts free or let you use there lift. Additonally, when breaking stuff like this free it helps to have someone holding the socket on the nut so it does not come dislodged.

Now which one of the bolts are stuck in this picture and what t# does it have next to it. This is from the 2011 FSM not the 2010 sorry don't have that one but should be the same.

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[OldManSTI]

Hmm, this pic doesn't include the problem nuts. On the left side there is the piece labeled 16. In the gap above the label t8 is where the drivetrain goes. On the pic, on each side of said gap, are the holes where the problem bolts are.