Staked Nut and Steering Gear

[ToolBoy]

Hello to all,   I have two issues that I'm putting out there in hopes of some guidance  (maybe from the old school?).  I have entire rear end and diff out of my series 1 car and I'm  trying to remove the staked nut from the stub axle. I've cut away a good deal of the staked part of the nut and now hearing I need to put most of it back in the car to remove the 240 ft lb nut. Is there another trick to breaking this nut loose?  The nut is also on the inside of the hub and I'm wondering how one gets a good position to crank on that nut? It seams to be regular threaded but a confirmation of that would be appreciated too. 

I'm also having trouble locating a used rack and pinion gearset that doesn't catch in the middle as badly as the set that came in the car. Already sent one back from ebay.  I have the bearing and seal ready to go but my gears are worn in the straight ahead position. Anybody have a source of these parts used?  Thanks to all . . .   Andy   

[Zed Head]

An impact driver might do it. 

Or, if you have some solid metal stock and a drill press you could probably build something to put over the lugs on the other side.  A couple of holes and some lug nuts and you'll have the two levers that you need.

[Namerow]

Try Z Cars of Arizona for a more reliable source of quality used steering rack assemblies.

Several years ago, our friend Mr. Hoover (  @240260280 ) produced an excellent photo-article guide on the topic of replacing the Z rear wheel bearings.  It includes his secret tips for getting the staked nut off.  I just checked and the full article is still available (along with all of his other great 'tech tip' guides) on the Atlantic Zcar website.  Go here...

http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/rearwheelbearings/index.html  

[Patcon]

I put the wheel studs back into the wheel laying on the ground. then stand on the edge of the tire and use an impact to back them off

[zKars]

I have a bunch of old used racks if you can’t find something closer.

[Zed Head]

The illustration also shows the nut thread orientation.  It's a normal righty-tighty.

Edited June 19, 2020 by Zed Head

[ToolBoy]

Thanks a million to all!! That reference to Mr Hoover's photo step by step is awesome. I need to pick up a few things but now I'm dying to get these stub axles apart. If I'm unable to find a suitable rack and pinion replacement I'll contact zKARS too. As I have the entire housing bead blasted and meticulously painted I'm hoping I can just swap out the better gears when I find 'em. Jan 71 # 19500. Also need to check if my torque wrench goes to 240?  Thanks again!!  Great to have you guys as a resource!!

[ToolBoy]

One final question. . . (for now). What does it mean "do not release caulking" when breaking the nut loose? 

[ToolBoy]

Anybody know how is it possible that these two parts aren't mirror images of each other??  I thought someone made a mistake and then I looked at photos and the FSM. 

[Zed Head]

Your question is all over the internet.  Functionally, they are mirror images.

Way back when, a smart manufacturing engineer realized that they only needed to make one part, and just flip it.  The Z cars were the economical man's sports car.  They saved money where they could.

[Captain Obvious]

8 hours ago, ToolBoy said:

What does it mean "do not release caulking" when breaking the nut loose? 

That means "Don't cut off the staked in portion before taking the nut off. Just put a big enough wrench on it and spin the nut off. The staked over portion (caulking) will bend out of the way as the nut comes off."

That's what they meant, but don't believe it. People have done that and it messes up the threads. Not sure why they recommended that. Maybe they thought it was less risky than trying to cut off the staked over section and accidently cutting into the threaded portion? In any event, even though they said to leave the caulking in place... Don't.

[ToolBoy]

To Zed. . . I was just surprised to see it. The savings in manufacturing hundreds of thousands of one part vs two held against the aesthetic of looking at the underside of the car and seeing one "upside down". Is it the same thru the entire S30 line? That might have been an interesting decision to witness. Does it show up anywhere else on the car?  Just curious.