Sometimes things just won't undo or come free when you want them to. It's often a question of the right tool or the little trick.
Removing a rear hub from the halfshaft
Removing a spinning rear wheel nut
Changing the SE5A speedo cable
This was something I had to do for AOX a few years ago.
Jack up the back of the car and support on axle stands so that the rear wheels are clear of the ground. For safety, I suggest you chock the front wheels.
Start the engine and let it idle until it is warm and the fan is cutting in and out. Switch off, select 3rd gear, and start up again.
Run the car in gear for a few minutes to get some warmth into the gearbox, and then let the car idle and try bouncing the clutch pedal. The clutch may free straight away.
If not, gently speed up the rear wheels, then press the clutch pedal down and gently dab the brake pedal. You may need to do this several times.
This method assumes that the clutch release arm is being moved by the cable or cylinder enough to pull the release bearing away from the centre plate. It also has some inherent risk, so do be careful.
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This can be a real pig of a job. The important thing is to get the right hub-puller. Don't use a hydraulic one, you should have a mechanical puller that will bolt onto all 4 wheel studs.
Start by removing the brake drum and shoes. Undo the split pin and remove the large castellated nut, then refit so that the flat face is outwards and wind it on until it is flush with the end of the threads on the halfshaft.
Now fit the hub puller on. If it has a hole in it, try to fit this so that it is in line wih the keyway. Tighten the puller evenly onto all 4 studs.
Now wind in the central puller bolt until it contacts the halfshaft. Rotate the assembly so that the key in the shaft is uppermost, then put the car in top gear.
Start tightening up the puller bolt until it doesn't want to turn any more. Give the bolt head a sharp blow with a good sized hammer, and see if you can get some more rotation on the puller bolt. Repeat.
If all goes well, you should hear a distinct click, and feel the hub come loose. If this doesn't happen, first check that the hub hasn't surreptitiously come loose and snuggled up to the castellated nut, (been there, nearly spent all night)
If it is still stubborn, try using a drift to get some hammer blows onto the hub in the vicinity of the keyway, either through the convenient hole in the puller, or into the inner face of the hub.
(I was supposed to have put this post up for someone I spoke to at Drayton Manor. Sorry for the delay, but I only got the trailer unpacked last night - pressures of a one-man-band, you know )
Having got the hub off, you might want to spend a little time making sure it doesn't get stuck on so tightly in the future. Tap out the key, and smooth the taper with emery cloth. Copper-slip the key and taper before re-assembly.
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This is an awful job and unfortunately happens too often on early Scimitars. Wolfrace nuts can be hacksawed off in a pinch, but the Dunlop chrome-alloy and Princess Anne wheels cannot. I've had three spinning wheelnuts on my own cars, and one on a friend's car to deal with. The methods range from cunning as a Fox to pure animal that should be shot on sight. The head of the stud is no longer gripping the hub and is turning as one with the wheelnut. The brake drum is concealing all four stud heads.
In case you're in a hurry, here's pure animal. Undo the other three nuts, and get a big friend with a big bar; put the stubborn stud towards front of car, insert big bar behind wheel lodged against rear radius arm anchorage point on the chassis, and lever outwards. The stud will snap if you and your friend are big enough. Please do not drive round and round to help the stud to break.
Before going on to the next method, I'll describe the cunning as a fox approach, because if it fails, you have no other option but to go on to the next method. You need a device like a giant tap-wrench; two parallel bars with V-notches in them, and bolts to clamp them together. Grip the nut tightly between the bars, then pull hard out from the wheel while turning the bars. If you are lucky the stud will grip the hub just enough to let you start the nut turning.
Finally, when all else fails, dot-punch the centre of the wheelnut and start drilling in. Use a small drill to make a pilot hole all the way through the stud into the cavity inside the brake drum. You will need to use the ring end of a combination spanner to lock the nut to prevent it turning with the drill. Then, with a large drill at least the diameter of the stud (1/2"), drill into the wheelnut until the interface between the threads is fully exposed. Get a smaller drill, possibly 3/8", and start drilling through the stud. It might be worth squirting penetrating fluid into the thread interface, because when I was using this method, the action of the drill catching in the stud as it bored in suddenly loosened the thread, and I was able to spin the stud out from the wheelnut held in the spanner. If that fails, you will end up drilling through the stud with a 7/16" drill and drifting the remnants out
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I didn't know the answer to this when a gentleman phoned up a few months ago, I'd taped the old cable to the new cable and pulled it through when I had changed one on my first car. Recently, I had to do another on HTX, and found the trick. It is of course blindingly obvious when you know.
Remove the air filter completely, putting rag in the carb tops to prevent dropping bits down. Then undo the screws holding the plenum chamber cover behind the rocker boxes. Reach in to the right (car right) of the exposed hole and you will find the speedo cable easily to hand. Doh
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