My daughter has been so focused on the engine, that now that she's gotten it together, we're looking at what will be required to re-assemble the suspension, and we have a problem.
The rear passenger side wheel has three lug nuts that we're unable to break free. We've essentially stripped the hex on two of them (totally rounded off), and the other one just won't budge. We were able to get two of them off after like 3 hours with an impact gun.
Right now, it's a long wheel axle, attached to a hub, with a lower control arm attached by a ball joint.
Obviously, I think I can get the axle off, and the control arm... but how in God's name can we get these three bolts off?
Do you think if I took the wheel + tire, with the rotor and hub assembly attached to it, I could take it to a tire place and have them remove it? (what exactly do they do)
Thoughts?
I'm considering at this point maybe buying a spare Fiero Hi-Tech wheel... but the tires are brand new (only a year old and put on before we bought the car).
My daughter has been so focused on the engine, that now that she's gotten it together, we're looking at what will be required to re-assemble the suspension, and we have a problem.
The rear passenger side wheel has three lug nuts that we're unable to break free. We've essentially stripped the hex on two of them (totally rounded off), and the other one just won't budge. We were able to get two of them off after like 3 hours with an impact gun.
Right now, it's a long wheel axle, attached to a hub, with a lower control arm attached by a ball joint.
Obviously, I think I can get the axle off, and the control arm... but how in God's name can we get these three bolts off?
Do you think if I took the wheel + tire, with the rotor and hub assembly attached to it, I could take it to a tire place and have them remove it? (what exactly do they do)
Thoughts?
I'm considering at this point maybe buying a spare Fiero Hi-Tech wheel... but the tires are brand new (only a year old and put on before we bought the car).
Thanks!
Penetrating oil would likely help, and for the one that isn't rounded off, a breaker bar will apply more torque then an impact, maybe have your daughter hold the head/socket square so it doesn't slip off while you give it a pull, for the rounded ones, what the tire shop I work at does, is we have a huge selection of sockets, we'll find the imperial size just a little smaller, or 18.5mm, and hammer it on really tight, break it loose (hopefully), then either toss the socket if it was old, or put it in a vise, and use a hammer and punch to remove the lugnut. An impact will provide more even torque to reduce the risk of stripping the stripped one more, but the breaker bar will apply more torque if the impact can't do anything. If it is truely rounded off, I think there are sockets similar to an easy out, that are threaded and you hammer on.
If all you want to save is the tire, without careing about the wheel, you would likely be able to remove it yourself, deflate it, jump on the sidewall to break the bead, use a few big flatheads to remove it, you can take it and the new wheel to a shop to get mounted and balanced.
The only problem with using a breaker bar is... well... the whole assembly is not attached to the car, haha... so there's nothing for me to get leverage with! So a breaker bar won't work.
But I think I'm going to have to drill... that hadn't occurred to me... so that's what I'm going to do.
Cliff, I wish I had thought of that before she took the cradle out, but we didn't think to even try to take the wheels off.
Ok, cradle is off the car and wheels attached? Not necessarily the way I approach things but ok. Penentrating oil, heat, and moderately hard impacts are your friend. Bolt outs aka EZ-OUT are part of the arsenal, lets just say round lock nuts were no match.
I would think you're going to have a helavuv time trying to drill the studs down while it's on its side. At least start with a centering punch to give the bit a place to set in, go slow ensure you use cutting fluid.
Ok, cradle is off the car and wheels attached? Not necessarily the way I approach things but ok. Penentrating oil, heat, and moderately hard impacts are your friend. Bolt outs aka EZ-OUT are part of the arsenal, lets just say round lock nuts were no match.
I would think you're going to have a helavuv time trying to drill the studs down while it's on its side. At least start with a centering punch to give the bit a place to set in, go slow ensure you use cutting fluid.
Good luck
"Ok, cradle is off the car and wheels attached?"
Cradle is off the car, and the wheel hubs are removed from the cradle. So it's literally just a rear steering knuckle with a wheel hub, rotor, and caliper... LOL.
So, I'm thinking the drilling shouldn't be so bad (though I'll probably go through a few bits). The nuts stuck out much further than the bolts from the wheel hub do. So the drill bit will fit perfectly in the lug nut hole and I can drill into the bolt without even having to do a punch.
SOAK IT overnight (like PB Blaster or Liquid Wretch) HEAT is the key and Hammer it (avoid air tools)
Always works to me!
⚠️ Heat can often will damage Alloy & Steel Wheels & more. Be Very Careful.
I Heat until way too touch like 200-250°F max, spray w/ pen oil, then let cool. Try to keep heat source on nuts not on bolt etc.
Some heat open the gap & forces air/moisture out then pulls the oil in as cools. But Too hot then many pen oils evaporate various lighter solvents/oils then won't work right to get parts loose.
If bad then repeat hour + later or even next day.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
The rear passenger side wheel has three lug nuts that we're unable to break free. We've essentially stripped the hex on two of them (totally rounded off), and the other one just won't budge. We were able to get two of them off after like 3 hours with an impact gun.
If it was my wheel, I'd reinstall the two "good" nuts (with lube on the threads so they'll come off again easily) and tighten them down to specs. This may or may not help, but my view is that with them clamping the wheel tightly, it takes some of the strain off the nuts that are stuck... and you can then proceed to try the various methods suggested to loosen them.
The only problem with using a breaker bar is... well... the whole assembly is not attached to the car, haha... so there's nothing for me to get leverage with! So a breaker bar won't work.
JUst wondering, can you get to the back of the axle where the lug studs go thruough the hub? If so, maybe you can grind off the back of the studs and drive them out from the back with a BFH and a drift pin. If the caliper is in the way, maybe you can rotate the wheel and hub to get clearance .
Ok gotcha. Harbor Freight has some lug nut removers, I'll admit I was impressed how they were able to bite into the lug with just a small 3# sledge. With a moderate 1/2" breaker bar it broke the keyed nuts loose that hadn't been moved in well over 10 years.
Squeezing the loosen lugs down as Patrick suggested is something I would try as well.
I don't know if there is a small scale induction coil available, they don't look hard to make but I'm not sure if you could get a small enough coil around the lug you'd be able to get some decent heat and have these off in no time.
So, I ended up getting these off... it was crazy. I had to buy a couple of metal cutting bits (my other drill bits dulled too quickly), and I basically drilled a pilot hole in the middle, and then drilled a much bigger hole. I did this for all three of them. TWO of them I was able to get the socket on there and break them off (with what little threads were left. The third one, I had to snap it off with a hammer and flat head. There was essentially nothing left of the bolt, so it eventually just popped off... saved the wheel and then was able to disconnect everything further.
I was also able to FINALLY get the socket off the axle too. The heat from the drilling must have loosened up the massive 29mm nut (or whatever size it is). I then beat it out of the hub and was able to take it out. The hub came apart, and the little ball bearing packs came out. I can't get the back of the hub off the steering knuckle, haha... but I'll give it a shot later tomorrow... or I'll just take it to the machine shop. I'm already taking the control arms to have new rubber bushings and shells pressed on. I have no pride... haha....
