When I removed the rear axle nuts I bolted a 3' length of angle iron onto the hub and placed it on a jack stand. I attached a socket on one end of a breaker bar and used a floor Jack on th other side to break it loose.
I don't have a torque wrench that breaks at the value called for in the Haynes book which I think is around 160ft#. I doubt that most of us garage guys have this tool.
What do you all recommend for tightening the rear axle nuts.
Thank You,
Jack

I used a breaker bar with a pipe on it, while the wheels were on the ground and the brake was on.

The best I can find is that you need ~220-250 ft-lbs.
If you target 250 ft-lbs (3000 inch-lbs)

Get a cheater pipe for your breaker bar at least 3 ft long (unless you weigh less than 83 lbs).

Take your weight (W) and use some algebra.

Torque(T ft-lb) = Length(L ft) X Force(W lb)
T = L X W

If your weight is ~170lbs and you target torque is 250 ft-lbs:

250 = L X 170
solve for L
L = 250/170 = 1.47 ft = 17.64 inches =~ 17 - 5/8 inches

Make a mark on the cheater bar exactly 17-5/8 inches from the center of the socket.
Torque by standing on that spot.

(Math check => 17.625in * 170lbs = 2996.25 in/lbs)

I take no responsibility if your foot slips or the socket slips or your breaker-bar snaps and you break an ankle.

Buy a Texton 250 lb. torque wrench on ebay for $59.00 with free shipping.

..... Superhero ?
Female versions available now.

Or on Amazon for $49 using the $10 coupon shown on the product page.

Nothing at all wrong with this method. How you originate the required torque is of no consequence. Yes to being careful to not let the socket slip off the nut (You can put a block under the socket).

Andys

Thank you all for your responses. I'm going to start with the formula provided by stugray and do my best to remain uninjured. Plan B will be the Texton.
Jack

I added an extension to the socket to clear the side of the car, then used a car jack stand to rest the extension on close to the center line of the wheel/axle, thus optimizing the bar, extension and socket leverage.

Great suggestion. It worked perfectly. Here's the setup I used. Please no lectures about the lever style jack stands. I have others and always back up with floor jacks. ;-)
Click to view attachment

jack20,
I noticed the black/yellow limited edition in your avatar picture, do you still have it?

The one your working on is different...just curious, always liked the color combination.

Dave

Hi Dave,
I no longer have the Bumble Bee. I sold it in '82 after my wife and I got married. She's in the picture. I always regretted selling that car although I've owned several other Porsches. The orange '74 you see got me back in the 914 game. I bought it 1.5 years ago and have gone completely through ir. The engine will finally go back in today.
Maybe I'll change the avatar.
Jack

If you have the info still, and haven't yet communicated with Jeff Bowlsby about your LE, I am certain that he would love to know about it! He maintains the "unofficial LE register" and a great LE info page at:

http://bowlsby.net/914/CanAm/

You can contact him through there or on this BBS.

--DD

If you know someone with a McLaren, the single center lug wrench goes to 300lbft

What? No McLaren on your street?

Pfft.. the 911 GT3 Center locks get tightened to 420+ ft/lbs. Basically, if you come to the track and the locking "pin" isn't locked out, we send you away, back to find the nearest Porsche dealer to have them torque them and make sure they lock. Pissed off more than a few people on their Saturday mornings, but it's PCA regs.

Thanks Dave. Jeff has my vin info on his site.

George, I'm not saying the McLaren TW will not go to 420+ft/lbs. I'm saying it will do the torque spec for our cars...

I still have a fantasy of creating an adapter that would fit the VW torquemeister tool.

If you are re-using the existing hub and nut, I dimple the hub and use a permanent maker to mark the nut with #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, & #6, prior to disassembly since you have to tighten the nut so the cotter pin will have to a clear hole. Also count the number of turns for removal of the nut. So when you reassemble, you know how many turns to tighten it in. YMMV, but this is ballpark guide if you don't want to buy a 300 ft. lb. torque wrench

Very good!

I broke a no-name breaker bar while using a 4-foot cheater pipe to remove a rear axle nut to change out CV joints. I replaced the no-name bar with a 1/2 inch Craftsman breaker bar which did the trick. I reinstalled the nut using the body weight x distance torque technique. No ankles were broken in the process.

Years later I was looking for my 4-foot cheater pipe, which in the meantime had been loaned to two home mechanic friends on occasion, and I realized it had been left in the attic of a house that we had sold. Now I need a new cheater bar.

I did that exact thing removing my axle nuts on my karman ghia, but I broke a craftsman breaker bar.
Took it into Sears and the salesman looked at it and said "Looks like you used about a 4 foot breaker bar to snap that" I said " no it was more like 6 feet".
He handed me a brand new breaker bar and said "have a nice day!"

That's a great idea! At the dealership, we found that on an old Bug where the torque spec was also 250 ft lbs more or less that the axle nut castellation would be showing two threads past the axle cotter key hole. After many times doing this, we never had a problem with them coming loose or being overtightened. This method was also confirmed by the local VW aftermarket repair haus... they'd been doing it for more than 20 years with no issues. Of course, the usual disclaimers are to be taken into account and I assume no responsibility for injury or death resulting from this method...

...The method I've always used..... (also taking it off!)

Sorry Rob, I realize now that post kinda came off "know it all"-ish. Yeah, either torque wrench would work. But 420 ft-lbs? Are you kidding me Porsche?

On the original topic - again, my torque wrench only goes up to 150 ft lbs. So I take it up to 150, then I go to the next castellated nut position. Typically that's at least another 70 ft-lbs or so, which is right in spec. No way to be "perfect" on this one because of the castellated nut limitation. Just needs to be in the torque range provided.

I take them to the local truck repair shop for loosening and retorquing.
Those places (two near me) have really big wrenches, never an issue.

They seem to be all over the place repairing large box trucks and school buses, just ask around.

Done the pipe deal for decades till I found I could get it done for 10 bucks and a smile, these guys love to show off