Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:47:58 -0800,
wrote:

Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Jim wrote in message
...

Maybe if you could wedge the nut away from the ball the threads would
bite?
jsw

I imagine that the nut is now riding on a gravelly
bed of metal shavings. The lock washer is still fully
compressed so I don't have a gap to place a chisel.

Get a bigger hammer.

That'd damage the economically designed bumper, methinks.

Secure the ball from rotating with Vise-Grips, jack up on the screw and turn
the nut.

Could be. That compressed lock washer is probably
providing a lot of force axially so I figure if the
nut was going to engage and unthread, it would have
done it by now. The nut just turns and turns with
no movement along the stud axis.

The locknut isn't very stiff, comparatively. Use a jack under the stud
to raise it, wedge in a couple crowbars, remove the jack, and use the
impact to really spin that suckah. She'll separate.

I've become curious what failed and why, so I'll do my best
to separate the fasteners whilst leaving as much evidence
in place as possible. When I run out of patience, I'll just
slice the nut and stud off from behind and do some artful
cutting to free the remaining bits.

Thanks everybody! Your suggestions are valuable and thought-
provoking.

--Winston