Wheel Bearing Retaining Nut Wrench Source?


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Posted by Mark on May 15, 1999 at 21:26:43:

Anyone have a source for a wheel bearing retaining nut wrench. NAPA and Grand Auto both have wrenches hanging in packages on the "Brake Tool" carousel, but the largest I've found (it's supposed to be for 3/4 - 1 Ton 4X4 Ford and Chevy "slotted" type nuts) is too small. This isn't a "socket" wrench, it's a cylinder with six "fingers" about an 1/8" tall around the rim of one end. The other end has a plate, with a 3/8" drive square slot, welded across the other end. If the distance between opposing fingers matched the distance across the flats of the Dodge retaining nut (i.e., for the Spicer 44 that would be 2 1/2" and for the Spicer 60, 2 9/16") it would work. I have large OTC (Owatonna Tool Co) truck socket wrenches, but they have very thick walls and are designed to go all the way around the nut. Because they go around the points, as well, the thickness of the walls doesn't allow them to fit inside the wheel hub. The Ford and Chevy wrench resembles the original Miller Special Tool, both for the older 44 and 60 axles (now obsolete) and for later models, which are a bit smaller. The main difference is the Miller Special Tool doesn't have six fingers, rather, it has two (I believe...I've only seen catalog pictures of it). Just in case I haven't beet totally clear, the design of the wrench I'm looking for is a cylinder, approximately the same diameter as the nut, when measured across its points; the fingers grasp the nut across the flats, and are capable of the minimal torque needed to tighten the nut(s). Because the wrench is about the same size as the nut, when measured across its points, it fits inside the hub.

There is something about using a "cold chisle", to "drive" the nut tight, that offends me.

v/r Mark


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