Stuck wheel nut removal

[CherryVimto]

I've got a locking wheel nut and a standard nut which have been put on so tight it is seeming impossible to remove them.

I have tried nut/bolt extractors on the standard nut and an 18mm socket on the locking nut. I have ruined my socket so that is no longer an option and see no point on trying another due to how tight the nut it is. I have also broken 2 locking nut keys.

I do not have access to a never emptying bank account nor expensive tools like welders. The car is in a garage in the middle of a housing estate with no electricity and the car does not have the necessary legal/road worthiness documentation to be driven on the road.

Now some people may want to turn away from this...

The last and only solution seems to be to remove the hub with the wheel attached and take it home. Then destroy the ABS ring so I can attempt to grind off the backs of the studs to knock them out.... unless anyone else can perform magic...?

Problems never seem to end!

 

[Frank]

[post]363299[/post]
Problems never seem to end!

On the plus side, at least that wheel is unlikely to get nicked when you're not around.

The only solution I could come up with was to get a wheel with the hub attached from a scrapyard/Ebay/Gumtree, etc, having first checked that the wheel comes off, and swap it for this one.

Yeah, it would cost, but so would welder hire, which would wreck the studs and probably the wheel as well, all adding to the cost.

 

[CherryVimto]

Hi Frank

I want the whole set of wheels off to eventually have refurbed and to keep as spares. I have a different set to put back on. I know a replacement hub is a cost but it's not a cost I need to worry about just yet. The cost of a hub will be nowhere near that of a set of wheels.

 

[SLEEMAN]

another option is I would take it to a garage that has an oxyacetylene torch and melt the nuts off, it will burn the alloys but shouldn't melt them

 

[CherryVimto]

[post]363302[/post] take it to a garage

[post]363299[/post]the car does not have the necessary legal/road worthiness documentation to be driven on the road

Not insured or MOT'd

k:

 

[Frank]

Hmm, I can see where this one's going - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox,_goose_and_bag_of_beans_puzzle

 

[zinc2000]

Lots of plus gas or similar then cold chisel and big hammer....surely that would shift it?
Its always worth belting them the other way first as well before trying to undo them

 

[SLEEMAN]

gas torch

 

[stuvy]

Find a mobile mechanic or a mobile welder and get them to weld a nut to it and the heat helps to get it undone. I have to do this all the time at work.

Iv never killed an ally wheel yet from doing this so apart from £50 to get some one to weld it the only other option is to hammer an old impact socket on and then crank it off

 

[Lord B]

I''d have thought it would be possible to get in behind remove hub, or even wishbone, hub and leg, then just see about getting another wheel (Looks like standard 9 spoke) and remove nuts with angle grinder or find someone to weld som.ething on for a tenner. Heat from welding will possibly loosen slightly.

Other options are locking wheel nut remover and impact gun
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laser-3291-Locking-Wheel-Remover-x/dp/B0012MB360

 

[CherryVimto]

[post]363312[/post]Other options are locking wheel nut remover and impact gun
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laser-3291-Locking-Wheel-Remover-x/dp/B0012MB360

Those nut removers are the same as the ones sold by Halfrauds which apparently aren't actualy the sizes stated.
The largest one is according to a lot of reviews, too big for the locking nut.

 

[Pkp]

Hmmm...

Is it possible to drill out the stud with a battery powered drill?

You will only need to drill to the depth of the nut, and if you start with a smallish drill, then work your way up till you reach the minor thread diameter, then the nut will come off. Clearly two studs will need to be replaced, but no dismantling, or welding.

I don't know the hardness of the stud, or the locking wheel nut, so you might need to buy a few drill bits. I have used this technique to remove sheared off exhaust manifold studs.

I am also aware that if you have lost the shiny cover on the nut, you need to come down a spanner size, and not use the standard size wheel spanner. When I torque up wheel nuts, I tend to set the torque wrench a little lower for the locking nut. Wheel nuts and threads should not be greased either.

Are you in Gosport ?

 

[CherryVimto]

Hi Pkp

I'm assuming the studs will be hardened to some degree. I've got a battery drill but the batteries are beyond their useful life and only last a few mins each.

I do have the silver cover which makes the nut 19mm but they are 18mm without. An 18mm socket initially rounded off the nut so I then knocked on a 17mm which also added further to the 'rounding' of the nut. I then followed it up with progressively smaller sockets and then as a last ditch attempt, ended up trying one of those nut extractors that bite tight with a reverse thread to remove seized nuts but that made the nut in to what you see above!

Yes, I'm in Gosport.

 

[Pkp]

I don't think you are going to get very far without some power, do you know anyone with a small portable generator that will drive a standard mains power drill? Or if your drill is 12V and batteries have had it, could you modify it to run off a car battery ?

Recalcitrant nuts can occasionally be removed by using a nut splitter, but of course, you cannot use on on a wheel nut in situ, so I still think that drilling either the stud, or the nut and splitting it with a chisel is your best bet without major dismantling.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on,

Pkp