Staked Spindle Nut Removal

[harriw]

Hey folks,

Wife's Toyota Sienna (I know, sorry...) needs new rear bearings (sealed hub assemblies $$$$). Should be fairly straight forward, but it's the AWD version so it's got axle stubs going through them with staked nuts on them. Never had to deal with these before.

As I understand it, the nuts are made fairly soft so that they can be staked/unstaked. Are they soft enough that I can just throw my impact gun on them and let the axle shaft shred/flatten out the staked portion while removing it? Or is there a risk of buggerin' up the threads of the axle shaft by doing this? I have read posts cautioning against doing this (I think they were more against tightening the new nuts with an impact than removing the old) for fear of damaging the bearings, but I'm replacing the bearings anyway. I already have brand new nuts as well, by the way so no worries there (**insert your own punchline here**).

If I go the "tyipcal" route of unstaking with punches, chisels. screw drivers, etc., do I need to worry about damaging the inside threads of the nut in the staked portion? Or again, is the axle that much harder than the nut that it's not an issue?

I'll probably give the local 'yota dealer a call and ask them as well (they've been pretty good about looking up torque specs and such in the past), but thought I'd ask you guys too.

(by the way, I seem to be having typing issues tonight. My appologies if I missed any typos).

Thanks a lot guys!

 

[USMCFords]

Throw your impact on and let her rip.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Yup, give'r bullets with the impact. They will come right off.

Technically you are supposed to replace the nuts every time you take them off, but if you zip it back on and the previously staked part of the nut doesn't line up with the groove, just punch it with the chisel and call it good.

 

[adsm08]

You can also throw a thin chisel down in there, tap it a few times, and it unstakes.