wheel nuts

[bawjaws]

problem today, went to change the second wishbone on my grandads car (after first was done yesterday) and taking the wheel off, the locking nut was soo tight it stripped the key, got it off eventually after 4 hours trying everything, special locking wheel nut remover tool stripped its own threads, hammered on sockets just spun, welded nuts just bent and snapped, and lastly i had to oxy acet cut the bolt out without damaging the alloy wheel (slightly ) so now i need to get the other 3 out, dont really want to go down to the cutting route again, any suggestions ?

 

[madkayaker]

find a local huddy and ask them to remove the aloy! good soak of WD for a couple of days and maybe a bit of gentle heat

 

[shenion]

If you can get to the back of the rotor, grind/drill out the studs. Then put in new studs.

 

[bawjaws]

find a local huddy and ask them to remove the aloy

there all stupid gets round here, they would probably try to get a wheel off with a hammer, such as my pal, i asked him to "crack" the wheel nuts on the van ready to jack it up, so he took them all out

If you can get to the back of the rotor, grind/drill out the studs. Then put in new studs.

cant get to the back, only the front and the nuts are sunk into the hole by about 10mm

 

[shenion]

cant get to the back, only the front and the nuts are sunk into the hole by about 10mm

Had that and worse on my Jeep. Nuts are in a 2.5" deep hole in wheel. The nuts are hollow and will just collapse if too tight. Add to that they have cheap stamped metal covers that fall off leaving a nut that is not 11/16; just between any SAE and metric sockets.

Ended up taking a 1" hole saw, remove the center drill and drill out the mag wheel. Then it came right off easily

I was wondering if i could find a 1/2" hole saw and have it use the bolt as a guide, nut the nuts are longer than the bolts.

I'd heat them up to see if it will get looser. With mag wheels, mine just got tighter.

 

[bawjaws]

theyre not nuts there bolts, the only way i got the one off today was to cut small slices off the head of the bolt and eventually it was just the threaded part left, but i dont want to do that again, it took way too long and melted the wheels paint a bit, i might try it with the welder again tommorow, but with the mig this time

 

[gavuk]

If the wheel nut you struggled with was a locking one ,you may not have trouble with the others,which are proper nuts ,i like a proper cross brace(4 way)on nut and supported horizontally on an axle stand leaving the other 2 legs to pull and push on so all forces act rotating wheel nut not trying to skew off,never been beaten yet

 

[Paul.]

If they're bolts you might be able to drill them out, safer than a gas axe near those expensive wheels, and that flammable car.

 

[zzr1200]

Buy a set of wheel studs and nuts, then drill the wheel studs and then replace them.

 

[bawjaws]

i got the wheel off and the job done, the standard hex bolts arent the problem its the special unique ones that you get the key with, broke the key and cant find a good way to get them off, i tried drilling them but it just chewed up the bits, didnt melt like steel though, it went all bubbly and didnt go red until it was being sliced through

 

[Paul.]

Probably need a Cobalt drill mate.

 

[bawjaws]

well its getting taken to a garage tomorrow to get the allignment done so if they cant get them off ill have to get those cobalts, would i need a pilot first?

 

[Paul.]

Start with a smallish pilot, say 3 or 4mm then work your way up a bit at a time, say 6mm then 9, etc, use a cordless, they run slower than power tools, heres some drills, a cutting oil will make all the difference too, rocol RTD is my favorite

 

[bawjaws]

ive got some remms (i think) thread cutting fluid in a tall spray tin, will this work?

 

[Paul.]

Reckon so,

 

[Sam]

Hammer and chisel will work sounds crude but efficient. Bought a BMW and the locking wheel nut tool was not there, managed to get them off without damaging the alloys. other way to do it is, put the car on stands front or back only not all four wheels! take out the hex nuts and knock the wheel from the back with a mallet rotating the wheel and doing the same again keep on doing this the shock loosens the locking wheel nut eventually.

 

[peterd51]

HI,

I had a similar problem with my Mondeo so I welded a bolt onto the end of the locking bolt and took it out with a wheel-brace.

I even managed to cut the duff locking bolt off my temporary bolt and used it again for all four locking ones (so I only destroyed one spare 'normal' bolt).

I used the mig to attach the temporary bolt using the earth return on the temporary bolt to avoid arcing between the hub and the bolt.

Regards
Peter

 

[bawjaws]

sam - i tried the hammer and chisel but couldent really get it in the hole, if the bolts were out then id get them off no problem, ill give the mallet one a go


peter- i tried welding a bolt on and nut sverel times but the locknuts are soo tight that it twisted and snapped the welded on nut

 

[kev234]

Have you tried these from irwin tools. I have used them before on alloys where the locking nut is bolloxed and they did the job. http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/jhtml/browse.jhtml?catId=IrwinCat100511

Kev

 

[TVT]

I had the same problem with my Chrysler, mine was actually worse than yours, but down to my own dumbness.
I could not shift those things for the life of me. I used a 6 foot breaker bar (which broke the socket), I used heat - nothing. I used hammers, air chisels....everything.
I ended up drilling through the stud (as has been mentioned here, dremeling through bits of the nut, drilling bits of the nut, until finally it fell off, stud and all. Took me no less than 15 hours to get one nut off.
Why was mine so hard, and why was it my fault...
well, turns out that some Chrsylers up to 1968 have Left handed threads. Now, I`d half-heard that, so I`d actually gone round to the other front wheel and checked....Right handers.
No - it actually turns out that some Chryslers up to 1968 come with Left handed threads on the passenger side only.
So, there was never a way I`d get that nut off without cutting. Of all the cuts and drills I used, the one that was most effective was when I`d decided to sacrifice the stud. At that point, it was no problem really. And I didn`t need a cobalt drill either, just regular metal drills.

And yes, I replaced the LH studs with RH ones for the future.