Edinburgh: Lock nut removal?

[Davie]

Usual story, crappy lick nut tool has rounded off leaving two bolts stuck on the car. I've tried a bash in removal kit bug the bolts are either seized solid or have been whacked up far too tight so they've defeated me.

I've tried a couple of companies via Google but Edinburgh availability is lacking and I'm not sure a normal garage will get them off given I've spent 2hrs at it yesterday.

Begore I cut the wheels off with a Stihl saw, any thoughts or recommendations for somebody who can have a go locally?

[Deansfield]

Sorry to read if you’re predicament Davie
Would the following work ?
Euro carparts code 5387771521

Or Toolstation 6083D
Good luck

[Davie]

Cheers sir but I think it's going to be a Stihl saw job. My tame mechanic, a man who's ability with brute force is remarkable, has the Dynomec kit which basically entails a drift with sacrificial ends that you smash into the lock bolt, it takes the form of said lock nut and you either undo it with a bar or if it's a butch, then use the impact driver.

We used three tips (£8 a pop!) and the air hammer, a sledgehammer and lots of swearing but whilst the tool takes the form... theyre either in so tight or seized solid that as soon as you try to buzz them off, the tip just chews up. Tame mechanic thinks they're in so tight, there's little option.

We can't drill them and the design, ie a wide head plus thin slip ring slightly back means no reverse thread kit will work as access us very limited. We couldn't even get anything in to bash the slip ring off.

I tried a company via Google, good reviews but pretty limited availability and not cheap and to be honest, given how hard we tried, I have my doubts if these guys would manage. Hence, I think utter savagery may have to happen. I've done it begore, the trick is to slice into the face of the wheel at an angle so you cut in and take the head off the bolt. Ironically once I did that the remaining thread came out by hand.

[sunbeam alpine]

Can you get some heat on them? Works wonders.

[Davie]

We tried that but there was a limit as to how much before the alloy took a hit (couldn't risk making it undriveable) plus given the bolts are sunk down inside the alloy, can't get the induction heater on them.

[bigwheel]

You say you can't drill "them".
Drill through the end of the wheel stud with increasing sized drills until you bite into the threads etc.

New stud easily fitted.

[Davie]

Yes, there's two lock bolts on the car.... tried drilling them, even a Carlos Fandango drill bit barely touches them.

[Breadvan2]

Had this happen to my z3m coupe. Took the car to a local steel fabricator who spot welded a little piece of steel flat bar onto each locking nut. Had them all off in 10 minutes with a large adjustable spanner, no damage to the wheels whatsoever.

[bigwheel]

Breadvan2 said:

Had this happen to my z3m coupe. Took the car to a local steel fabricator who spot welded a little piece of steel flat bar onto each locking nut. Had them all off in 10 minutes with a large adjustable spanner, no damage to the wheels whatsoever.

Aha, so it's not a locking nut but a locking bolt.
If it's recessed in the wheel, drill a hole in the flat bar (or whatever) and weld it to the bolt face through the hole.
Or weld a big nut.
The welding will give it some heat.

Maybe?

Edited by bigwheel on Saturday 9th November 10:05

Edited by bigwheel on Saturday 9th November 10:05

[Glasgowrob]

nuts off,

https://www.facebook.com/NutsOffLockingWheelNutRem...

these seem to be the guys that the dealers all turn to when they are stuck

[Davie]

bigwheel said:

Aha, so it's not a locking nut but a locking bolt.
If it's recessed in the wheel, drill a hole in the flat bar (or whatever) and weld it to the bolt face through the hole.
Or weld a big nut.
The welding will give it some heat.

Maybe?

Edited by bigwheel on Saturday 9th November 10:05

Edited by bigwheel on Saturday 9th November 10:05

I'll try that first before getting savage. I think we may have to drill the bolt head first, get the chrome coating off then try a bolt and puddle weld in the centre and perhaps that, plus the heat of the welding may be enough.

Cheers for the suggestions / sympathy chaps!

[bigwheel]

Davie said:

I'll try that first before getting savage. I think we may have to drill the bolt head first, get the chrome coating off then try a bolt and puddle weld in the centre and perhaps that, plus the heat of the welding may be enough.

Cheers for the suggestions / sympathy chaps!

Any chance of a small grinder (Dremel type) or narrow-belt sander to get the chrome off?

Or, hammer and chisel !!!!!

[Davie]

bigwheel said:

Any chance of a small grinder (Dremel type) or narrow-belt sander to get the chrome off?

Or, hammer and chisel !!!!!

A picture tells a thousand words but that's what I'm faced with. The bolt is about an inch down inside the alloy, that darker outer ring is the slip ring and there's only about 2mm between it and the wall of the alloy.

Certainly taking the coating off with a Dremel or similar may help when it comes to welding a nut on but bar that, given how far inside the wheel they sit / how close to the wall of the bore, it's pretty much ruled out using a reverse thread socket or bashing the slip ring off.

I debated trying to match the pattern and get a new key but a) the bolts are shoeing some distortion too and b) they appear to be in mega tight so I'm pretty sure even a new key would just chew up begore the bolts come undone. We did bash in the Dynamic kit and got a really good interference fit to the pattern but soon the force needed to crack the bolts obviously exceeds the structural integrity of the tool as it just chews up.

Matey suggested taking all the standard wheel bolts out and do a few handbrake turns and see if the heads snap off... I'm not even sure he was joking either.

[sunbeam alpine]

Have you tried taking something which either fits inside or over the shaped bit, placing it against the bolt, and belting hell out of it? You can sometimes loosen up stuff this way.

[mgst170]

When faced with a similar issue on my wife’s X5 - bolts put in too tight and deep down inside the allow you could not get close to welding something on it.

I got 3x brass bushes made. Each the same diameter as the alloy hole for the bolt, but with increasing sized holes in the middle of the bush to fit ever larger drill bits in.

Remember it’s only a drill bit up to the width of the thread/shank you need - not the head. As this will break off once through to the shank.

The bushes also help protect your alloy and ensure the drill bit goes in centred to the bolt.

With some engineering shop quality drill bits, cutting compound and taking it slow, I had them off in about 2hrs.

[Davie]

Yup, tried a few things including battering the hell out of the head with an air hammer, driving around with the other four bolts loosened off, using the key with an impact driver and also using the swanky Dynomec lock nut kit but I suspect the issue is that they're in far too tight. The standard 18mm bolts took a 3ft power bar to crack them off. Total pain in the arse plus I'm driving around praying I don't get a puncture until I can next get to the garage and try welding a nut on and if that fails, cutting the wheels off.

[Order66]

Is that a mcgard bolt (pattern looks like it)? Are you sure it doesn't have spinning collar? If so you need a dremmel and a very thin diamond tipped pointy routing bit to remove the collar, then you hammer on a slightly too small socket then you need an impact gun with some serious impact torque - usually way beyond the what common air ones can provide - the battery ones these days are seriousy good, I've got one to remove center-lock nuts on my race car which requires some ridiculous torque.

[Davie]

Sorry, yes... as said, it does have a spinning collar / slip ring but it's only about 1mm proud of the bolt head if that makes sense and with it being so deep inside the alloy and so close to the wall of the bolt hole, it's proving impossible to get access to cut or bash it off. Round 2 on Wednesday, stand by!

[anonymous-user]

Glasgowrob said:

nuts off,

https://www.facebook.com/NutsOffLockingWheelNutRem...

these seem to be the guys that the dealers all turn to when they are stuck

Op, did you miss this post?

[Order66]

Davie said:

Sorry, yes... as said, it does have a spinning collar / slip ring but it's only about 1mm proud of the bolt head if that makes sense and with it being so deep inside the alloy and so close to the wall of the bolt hole, it's proving impossible to get access to cut or bash it off. Round 2 on Wednesday, stand by!

You need to get the collar off (or at least seized in place).

I used something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dremel-Wolfram-Structured...

cut at opposite sites and the collar should fall off - then bash on the socket