MacGregorSailors.com

Any clever ideas to get the nut loose from the tilt tube before I cut it off? I've tried penetrating oil, hitting with a hammer to break it loose, and heat. I've cranked on it so hard using a large Crescent wrench and pipe wrench on the tilt tube that I've now rounded off two corners of the nut. I'm about to lug my benchtop vice out there to get a good bite on the nut and some extra leverage. Any other ideas?

Have you tried a mechanical or pneumatic impact wrench? Alternate tightening and loosening with a lot of penetrating oil. Sometimes the trick to loosening a nut is to tighten it a little first.

If the tilt tube is still salvageable try a nut breaker, cold chisel, or a grinder with cutting wheel depending on what you have room for.

Be Free wrote: ↑Wed Sep 17, 2025 3:42 pm Have you tried a mechanical or pneumatic impact wrench? Alternate tightening and loosening with a lot of penetrating oil. Sometimes the trick to loosening a nut is to tighten it a little first.

If the tilt tube is still salvageable try a nut breaker, cold chisel, or a grinder with cutting wheel depending on what you have room for.

I got it last night! I don't know of an impact that is designed to slip onto a nut from the side. I do have a normal impact wrench, but can't slip a socket over anything since the cable runs perpendicular through the nut. I did try lots of penetrating oil, heat, tightening then loosening, smacking with a hammer, letting the oil work overnight and spraying more. What finally worked was using two medium sized pipe wrenches with two cheater bars (extra 10"). The nut was stripped anyway, figured I didn't have anything else to lose. Even that was a grunt, but it did come off; doesn't appear that they used any anti-galling lube either, but the threads appear to be okay.

Good thread = good news! Glad to hear you got it off without having to destroy the tube.

Open-end impact wrenches do exist but it's unlikely to have worked given the deformation of the nut you described. I was actually thinking of a standard impact wrench because I had forgotten that the cable was going through the nut you were trying to remove.

For future reference.

Hi SlowSL!

Glad you were able to get that nut off!
That was an awkward thing to contend with for sure!

Might I suggest, that while the thread looks good that you take a moment and chase the thread with a thread die a couple of times to ensure that any thread galling is removed before reassembly with a new nut. Use a liberal amount of cutting oil or 3-in-1 oil to flush out any debris and finish clean with something like WD40 aerosol.

Often there can be galling on the threads that might not be readily apparent at a glance but can cause problems when the new nut loads the threads making it a problem in the future….

Best Regards,
Over Easy