Trying to get get the barrel nut off my LMT upper to install my Larue handguard, and it is tight tight! Any suggestions to get it off? I don’t have the special wrench, and suggestions short of taking it to an armorer or buy the wrench for a one time deal?
When dealing with $1000+ itmes, I usually try to use the right tool for the job.
The times I don’t, I usually wind up regretting it.
Every AR owner should at LEAST have an armorers wrench! You will tear up that bbl nut if you try to use any other tool bro. What have you even been trying to use anyway???
Rarely do I post in any forums, but in this case as someone who has a new upper on the way due to a barrel nut being ridiculously tightened, I will offer this:
AR barrel wrench - $20
Vise from HD (I don’t really have a place to mount a vise, so attached to about 4 feet of PT 2X12) - $40
Can of penetrating oil
Plastic cutting board to make clamps for A3 upper in vice $5
Smell of penetrating oil in freezer for days after trying to loosen nut by freeze and heat methods suggested on forums- Free
24" Breaker bar
Add on that the new A3 upper from nice people who support this forum who could express ship it after ruining it trying to use unsuitable clamping blocks and it torqued the upper way way way out of spec - $140
Upper clamp I should have bought initially - $50
Final cost somewhere around $270+ bucks for shipping etc., which is way higher than the cost from several supporting stores of this forum for installation.
Now to be fair, I always love trashing something, as I enjoy fixing things. But I would recommend a good vice, the upper plastic clamping blocks, a quality barrel wrench, and a breaker bar. You could just ship to adco, I think they charge 50 bucks+shipping.
In hindsight, I should have had someone else do it, or gone all the way with the upper blocks. On the plus side, I’ve got the tools for the next one now.
Got it off with a pipe wrench… :rolleyes:
Good job, I tried that too!
So, you took it off with a pipe wrench. Ok.
Now what is the plan for installing the LaRue barrel nut to correct torque specs without trashing it?
Ok, let me get this straight…
You have a top of the line parts like an LMT upper and LaRue rail, and you are using a ghetto ass tool kit to work on your AR?
This is like putting $4000 in wheels on $2000 worth of car. De’ spin! De’ spin!
I gotcha I gotcha, got the DPMS one, so where are you putting your torque spec? 30-80 ft/lbs is pretty broad.
Using a DPMS barrel wrench to torque down a LaRue barrel nut is a good way to fubar the LaRue barrel nut. You should use a PRI barrel nut wrench or a YHM barrel wrench. See this thread: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=7463
Also because you have to align the barrel nut with the upper receiver so that the gas tube will pass through barrel nut you can’t just pick a torque. That’s why the broad 30 to 80ft lbs (the receiver has coarse threads). This is one of the reasons I like the Daniel Defense Lite Rail best. It doesn’t have a barrel nut that the gas tube passes through thus you can pick a torque (DD recommends at least 55ft lbs) I torque them to 65ft lbs.
Take a look at the relationship between the bbl nut and the gas tube. You will notice that gas tube must go between the teeth on the bbl nut. This is where a bit of craftsmanship will come in.
You will want to set and break torque 3 times. Each time, try to get an idea of how the teeth are lining up in relation to the gas tube. You will want to use a lower torque setting (30-40?) as to not over-torque the threads if you need to advance the nut a bit in order to fit the gas tube.
now it is a demo only, but on the Larue website there is a video, and the demonstrator doesn’t use a torque wrench. he tightens the nut hand tight and turns it a bit more to align the gas tube. wonder if this is Larue’s recommendation, or is a specific torque setting necessary?
Once you’ve done it awhile, you can properly torque without a torque wrench.
The first barrel I changed I did with all of the proper tools, minus. . . you guessed it, the torque wrench and receiver block.
The results were, shall we say, non-positive.
Your mileage (and monetary loss) may vary.