How to tighten the outside RTAB Nut

#1

My car has the adjustable toe and camber kit installed on the subframe. I noticed one of the nuts on the outermost drivers side was a bit loose.

Whats the secret for tightening it. The bolt w/ adjuster slides in from center to outside on the driver side. So if that gets turned I loose my adjustment. So I need to turn the bolt on the outside. The bolt if obstructed by the subfframe itself and the subframe bushing. I cant even get a wrench in there no less turn it.

Whats the secret? My car is an 89 if that maters.

Thanks,
Jason

#2

http://spece30.com/component/option,com_kunena/Itemid,94/func,view/id,48152/catid,16/

Grinding down a standard wrench to make it thinner is another option I’ve heard about.

#3

That’s what I did. Works just fine.

#4

Anyone have a picture handy of their modified wrench that worked well so I can get a feel for how much need to be ground off to make it thinner. Trying to lessen the trial end error portion of this effort.

A 15 minute bolt check task is now turning into a lot more time and running around.

Thanks a bunch.

#5

Get this in both SAE and Metric. SAE because you can’t always depend on aftermarket stuff being Metric. http://www.amazon.com/Grip-90122-Piece-Metric-Wrench/dp/B001PTF9MY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1297785890&sr=8-3

Then figure out which wrench fits that nut and cut it down so it’s ~5" long.

#6

Ranger wrote:

[quote]Get this in both SAE and Metric. SAE because you can’t always depend on aftermarket stuff being Metric. http://www.amazon.com/Grip-90122-Piece-Metric-Wrench/dp/B001PTF9MY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1297785890&sr=8-3

Then figure out which wrench fits that nut and cut it down so it’s ~5" long.[/quote]

bike shops carry those too, they’re usually called cone wrenches. or at least they used to, back when hubs had cones and races instead of sealed bearing assemblies.

#7

mahoneyj wrote:

[quote]Anyone have a picture handy of their modified wrench that worked well so I can get a feel for how much need to be ground off to make it thinner. Trying to lessen the trial end error portion of this effort.

A 15 minute bolt check task is now turning into a lot more time and running around.

Thanks a bunch.[/quote]

How close to Paul Poore’s shop are you? You’re welcome to borrow my wrench to use and/or copy if you like.

#8

If you ever have a reason to drop your subframe again, I’d flip the outer bolts around so the nuts are on the inside. I’ve had mine on both ways and the bolt pointed in is much easier to deal with…

#9

…except you have to drop the subframe to replace a trailing arm or bolt. Probably not that big of a deal though.

#10

rsott wrote:

For most of my life I lived about 20 minutes from Pauls shop. As soon as I started to get involved in SE30 I move to Chester County and am well over an hour away now. Thanks for the offer though.

I may get the Amazon wrenches or find a cheap 18mm someplace and start grinding. Still not sure if I will have enough room to get in there but I need to get back under the car again. I could not even get my 18mm wrench remotely close to fitting at all.

I do have the rear of the car supported on the subframe with jack stand and that may be compressing the subframe bushing a bit and further limiting access as well. So I will look for an alternate location to support the rear end of the car and see if that gets me any additional clearance for the tool.

#11

The best solution, in my opinion is to replace the hex buts with aircraft 12 point nuts. They are a lot smaller diameter, giving more room for the wrench, and being 12 point they work better for wrench angles. Starter wrenches or locally bent wrenches work a lot better than straight wrenches. Trimming the subframe bushing on the side that faces the nuts will give more room for the wrench.

#12

The aircraft bolts are an interesting idea. One of my buddies also mentioned trimming the bushing if necessary.

Thanks for all the input guys.

#13

We just put our new AKG RTABs in a couple weeks ago. The nuts are on the out side of the through bolts. Also the adjustment head of the bushing adjustment bolt is on the outside. I think our tighting nut is a 19mm. I put an open end wrench on it and tighten the bolt with a 1/2 drive socket and ratchet. Then switched the breaker bar to really crank down on it. The bolt will tighten enough and you have more leverage than you will get with the wrench on the nut. The tighter things get the less risk there is of movement in the setting. The biggest challenge on the adjustable set-ups is getting them tight enough to hold.

We will also trim inside edge subframe bushings next time. With that you could almost get a ratchet wrench over the nut as long as the bolt isn’t too long to prevent removal of the wrench when you are done.

Best wrench for adjusting the AKG adjustment is MAC Tools carb wrench S-141. Check ebay or craigslist.

#14

I ended up getting a open wrench and started grinding. I eventually got it to fit and the outside RTAB’s are now tight. Both sides needed tightening.

Thanks for the tips.