Loosening hub nuts with shafts out

Hi all.

I've had to do the clutch (the release bearing was getting really loud, +other issues) on little Peggy McPugface (2003 K11), and now I find myself with both the drive shafts outside of the car, with the steering knuckles on them. I need to replace the CV gaiters, but I'm really struggling to take the hub nuts off - they probably haven't been off since she was made. Haynes warns they are tough and says I should have my wife apply the brakes while I break the nuts off, but that's no longer an option. I've been spraying WD40 on them every few days for more than a week now, but that doesn't seem to have done anything either. Anybody has a trick up their sleeve?

Thanks!

P.S. By now I'm already frustrated enough to pay the 200+ quid to throw the rusty mess into recycling and get new shafts+hubs+knuckles, but unfortunately I cannot find the knuckles anywhere on the internet in stock :-(
 

pollyp

Club Member
clamp the hub flange on a big vice and then crack the shaft nut loose with a snug 6-sided socket & big breaker bar plus extension ?
 
OP
OP
K
Thanks for all the replies! I borrowed a big impact driver from a mate and it worked like a charm! I mostly struggled to hold the shafts down (stuck a bar of steel between the bolts, but that wasn't enough and my vice is rather tiny, I have to overcompensate just like with my small car, you know ;) ), but once the impact driver was on the scene, I could literally hold the shaft with my bare hand as the nut went out. Proper impressed!
 
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