Half Shaft Removal- Advice needed

nospark

Well-Known Forum User
1973 240z
I need to remove a half shaft. The outer flange nuts/ bolts (wheel side) have undone ok. They are 14mm nuts but no lock washers are present. Should they have washers ?

I can't undo the nuts on the differential side of the shaft. I can't get a socket nor a ring spanner over them and an open ended spanner is not fully on the nut. It looks like a previous owner has used imperial 11/18 ths nylon lock nuts (tiny bit bigger than 17mm). I cant feel a head on the bolt on the other (blind) side.

What nuts/bolts should be on the diff side flange ? Should they also be 14mm or are owners modding this diff side with bigger nuts and locking ones.

Any info and advice would be gratefully received. I don't want to pass this job onto a garage but either way I'd like to replace with the proper nuts/bolts.
Ta
 

johnymd

Club Member
I believe they should all be 8mm nuts and bolts with a 12mm head. All would have split washers. The inner ones do often seam harder to undo than the outer ones for some reason. I have on occasions used a pair of mole grips to start the nut moving.
 

moggy240

Insurance Valuations Officer
Staff member
Club Member
They should be the same as the others, m10 which takes a 14mm spanner and have a spring washer
 

nospark

Well-Known Forum User
Thanks Johny
I have done more reading over past couple of hours. I'm pretty sure the HEAD diameter on all the nuts/bolts should be 14mm. The outer wheel side nut and bolt is easy to get at.

It seems the inner diff side has a bolt which has a single flat but is mostly round (you can't really see it because its on the blind side). Nissan didn't use a conventional hex bolt here because access is tight. What you have to do is simply tackle the nut/washer that's facing you as the rear side'blind' bolt is not designed to take a spanner. Unfortunately for me rather than have a 14mm head diameter nut a previous owner has used a 17mm head diameter nut and getting a tool on it is very tight. Will try a thin wall box spanner on it tomorrow.
ta
Also read that best to try and reuse the oem bolts as they are well hardened by nissan.
 

SKiddell

Well-Known Forum User
M10 metric fine (1.25 pitch) the 14mm nut is called a "reduced AF" nut, IE they they are undersized

Reduced AF nuts are available in the interweb. (lock and full)
I use a serrated flange nut from ARP (part number 200-8683) as the stock spilt washer tends to lose its ability to "lock" after a while
The ARP ones state 12mm wrenching but that's incorrect they are 14mm
 

Mr Tenno

Digital Officer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Any advice for getting half-shafts off the diff generally? The nuts won't budge on one side of mine regardless of how much WD40 / Heat / Leverage I seem to apply.
 

MaximG

Well-Known Forum User
I just wonder if you could remove the drive shaft along with the flange spigot from the diff in one go. Then you would have better access to tackle the issue.
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
Any advice for getting half-shafts off the diff generally? The nuts won't budge on one side of mine regardless of how much WD40 / Heat / Leverage I seem to apply.
With the 14mm diff end nuts, if you take the wheel off you can get get a socket on them and with enough extension bars you can then get a long breaker bar in play in space outside the car.
 

nospark

Well-Known Forum User
Thanks for all the advice. I've learned a bit about Nissan fastenings and I guess learning new things is part of what owning an old car is about. Those 17mm nyloc (!) nuts have beaten me. A 17mm open end spanner is just about doable but a danger of rounding the nuts. So its off to a garage next week to sort out.
I then rang Mike easternauto to order the proper 14mm hex nuts (M10 x 1.25 )and missing split washers

A newbie fail on the passenger side shafts/ujoint job but will have a go on the drivers side ujoints when this job is done.
 
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