Marcel, I have used the large hammer and a big screw driver a few times. As=20 I became more experienced I moved on to the large hammer and big cold=20 chisel. After I had been in the trade for about two years or so I bought=20 the largest 3/4 inch drive air impact gun that I/R made. I could whip=20 the axle nuts and generator nuts on VWs off in just a few seconds. I=20 would soak them down with 3M penetrating oil first. I had also started working on Mazda Wankel engines and the gun=20 would pull the flywheel nut off without hardly working at all. I had=20 this gun for over 20 years and the only thing I had had to do to it was=20 lubricate it every time I went to use it. It never had to have any other=20 work done on it. The flywheel nut on a Mazda Wankel is tighten to 450=20 LB-FT of torque. This is the largest amount of torque that I have ever=20 had to apply in the automotive field. You have to work on heavy trucks=20 or larger to find things that are tighten with more torque. At this time I was also building sand rails. Most of these used the=20 VW trans-axle from a Bug and were powered with VW Bug engines. My rail=20 was powered with a turbo Wankel putting out 500 HP. I saw rails with=20 Chevy and Ford V-8s, Corvair 6s and turbo 6s. I even saw one rail that a=20 guy started with a Lambo v-12 and built the rail around the engine. It=20 was cool to look at but it was too heavy to be very practical. Thanks, rich! On 7/24/2014 10:07 AM, Marcel Duchamp wrote: > The "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step > Procedures for the Compleat Idiot" > > http://www.amazon.com/Keep-Volkswagen-Alive-Step-Step/dp/1566913101 > > suggests a procedure to used for tough nuts: hammer and large > screwdriver or cold chisel. I've used it in an emergency once and it > worked perfect. 217 ft-pound torque on fan nut - backed it off, > replaced generator, pounded nut back on to exactly 217 ft-pounds, + or - > a bit... > > Rear axle nuts also were specified to be 217 ft-pounds (is that some > exact metric amount?) and I kept two tools under the seat of my van: a > pipe wrench and a four foot long breaker bar (galvanised pipe). Never > failed. > > Maybe that book worked well for me because I qualified as a 'Compleat > Idiot' ;> > > --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .