home made rear hub nut spanner

[GavinL]

Marked out, with angle grinder to show blade thickness

image.jpeg (3.16 MiB) Viewed 1672 times

I've read a number of threads on the forum about removing rear hub nuts, and one problem appears to be the cost of a tool for an infrequent job, which got me thinking how to make a simple tool for this job, and I came up with the one below. It is made of 2mm steel, on which I marked out the 48mm 'socket' and the holes for the wheel studs. I then cut out the 'socket' with an angle grinder fitted with a 1mm blade and drilled the 4 holes for the wheel studs. The tool then fits over the wheel studs and the hub nut, and the nut is undone by putting a piece of timber across the studs, alternatively you can fit a handle as I have done.

The shape and material of the tool is not important, mine is s/s and is only this shape because it was what I had to hand. The handle is a bbq tool surplus to requirements. Hopefully the photos are self explanatory, sorry I haven't worked out how to put them in the correct order.

[Sleeper]

Good old " Blue Peter ".

John

[philthehill]

Well done.
I would suggest that if available 5mm plate is a better bet - 2mm is a bit flimsy as that hub nut does have to be done up tight.
Put two wheel nuts on the studs (reversed) to hold the plate against the face of the hub. That will ensure that the spanner does not slip off the nut - the hub will still turn with the spanner so attached.
Phil

[GavinL]

Phil, agreed 5mm would be better, but as you said putting reversed nuts on the studs will prevent it twisting. I made it out of stainless because I had a bit to hand, but it is significantly stiffer than mild steel - the holes for the studs took some drilling! I also forgot to mention that if you mark the face of the hub nut and the axle tube, you can then ensure the nut is done up to the same torque when replacing, assuming nothing else is changed.

[philthehill]

You are correct that marking the nut and axle tube ensures that the hub retaining nut is done up to the same torque as before it was undone - what it does not do is guarantee that the nut had been tightened sufficiently or indicate that the nut had been overtightened before being undone.
Whilst there is no torque setting specified in the BMC wksp manual the nut has to be tight but without using gorilla tactics to obtain that tightness.

[GavinL]

Phil, agreed, not as I was once advised when I asked a mechanic about the torque setting for the front hub nuts on my MG Maestro, " we just do them FT mate".