Nut splitter

[RalphVa]

Was helping a friend by removing a raised commode seat because she's trying to sell a friend's condo given to her. Thing had 2 wingnuts and 2 other nuts, 1 each on the 2 screws/bolts. Got the wingnuts and 1 nut off, but the last one refused to yield to my impact screwdriver (phillips head on top the about 6 inch long screws/bolts).

Thought I had a nut splitter but could not locate it. So, I bought the attached one from Lowes. Awful. There is no way to keep the cutter in the right position. It has a groove in it, but there is nothing in the rest of the tool to keep it from rotating. Soon as we tightened down on the screw bolt on the end, the thing would rotate and become almost parallel with the top of the nut.

Tried my impact driver again. Didn't budge, but when I turned it with some channel locks it turned at last. Got it off.

Will return the splitter to Lowes and hope they offer for me to do a review of it.

Anyone have a source for one where the cutter will not rotate? Impossible to tell in the ads online.

 

[Oaktree]

Never had much luck with nut splitters myself. Had a set I'd bought years ago, IIRC there were 3 sizes for different size nuts. Didn't slip off, but it was a cheap one and the splitter cracked before the nut did!! Maybe the one you had was too big?

 

[Xfaxman]

The nut splitter body is square so you can hold it with a wrench and keep it from rotating.

 

[JJT]

I use a small diamond blade mounted in a dremel for the small stuff. Die grinder for the bigger stuff. I never had much luck with a nut splitter.

 

[RalphVa]

The nut splitter body is square so you can hold it with a wrench and keep it from rotating.

The body is not the problem. It's the cutter that is the problem. It is very hard material that contacts a flat on the nut. Needs to be perpendicular to the nut.

 

[flyerdan]

There should be a hole in the splitter body that would have a pin driven it that engages the groove in the cutter to keep it from turning. It could be missing, or not in far enough.