Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

[Speedy88]

Front only I'm afraid, no idea where I'd begin on the back

Time taken: 1 hour
Difficulty: Medium/depends how strong you are

Jack your car up and turn offending wheel so you can get easier access to the rear of the hub.

Remove the calliper by undoing all 6 bolts at the rear - 2 11mm, 2 17mm and 2 13mm. You probably won't be able to get the calliper out yet.

Jimmy off the dust cap on the hub and undo the 24mm hub nut. The wheel should now slide off with the calliper pieces, with persuasion it should all come to bits.

Roll your wheel onto it's face and undo the disk brake (might need a lump hammer to break the rust seal).

*Start to grind down the bolt from the back of the hub until you start to see the zig-zag shape of the splines showing.



Get a dowel/driver (not a screwdriver) and hammer out the bolt from the rear side like so.


Go back to * if this doesn't work yet, you might need to take a bit more of that off.

Eventually you will get it out. I've included a picture below so you can see the construction (and my mangled wheel nut)

[CBA]

don't you ruin the hub?

[dubweiser666]

Yeah!, i understand it and it is very common for these wheel stud's to become damaged or threaded on a 300, someone should post up here how to do the rear wheel's as i've still no idea.

IF the wheel nut is damaged / like welded on to the wheel stud then i guess you would have no choice but to do that!!. although i think by the look of them they would still work fine after you have grinded / removed the wheel stud from the hub and replaced with another wheel stud.

It is the same process to replace the front wheel stud's, except with a strong steady whack with a heavy lump hammer or such like the wheel stud can be removed through the back of the hub. (best if the hub is held in a vice to avoid any accident)

Once you have stripped the brake pad's and caliper's from the from strut.



you can remove the hub by removing the grease cap, and that big nut in the middle.
then the hub can be removed.



the wheel stud's can be removed from a strong whack right on the top of the wheel stud, we used a heavy lump - hammer!.







replaced wheelstud, reversal of above step's to re- assemble!.

[volvosneverdie]

Good stuff yous guys.

[CBA]

I think its uber dangerous..

The hub is weakened.
The hub is put out of balance.
The new stud wont fit perfectly flat against the grinded back of the hub because of the method of cutting (imprecise angle grinder) so will be subject to some lateral tension/compression.
Heat cycles and vibrations will cause rapid fatigue!

Unless you grind the rest of the hub in the same way to balance it out, and reseat the stud properly by cutting out a flat recess like it originally sat in you're asking for surprises.


This would be much better done with a drill (or dremel) in my humble opinion

[volvodspec]

and what if the nut rounds off while the rim is still on it.. if you run 13" rims you can't get the caliper off either.

best thing to do is prevent the nuts from rounding off.
- the first time you take the nuts off, put a little cuppergrease to the thread for the next time.
- use properly fitting tools only (original V300 nuts are 19mm of 3/4 size)
- only use a 6-sided sockets for fitting
- never use a airgun/airtools/powertools for tightening

[Speedy88]

I think its uber dangerous..

The hub is weakened.
The hub is put out of balance.
The new stud wont fit perfectly flat against the grinded back of the hub because of the method of cutting (imprecise angle grinder) so will be subject to some lateral tension/compression.
Heat cycles and vibrations will cause rapid fatigue!

Unless you grind the rest of the hub in the same way to balance it out, and reseat the stud properly by cutting out a flat recess like it originally sat in you're asking for surprises.


This would be much better done with a drill (or dremel) in my humble opinion

The hub was scrapped, I had no other choice other than cutting the wheel.
This is 100x faster than drilling. It took me a freaking hour from wheel off to back on.
New hub cost me £8

Nice guide there dub, it really is piss easy to hammer them out with a bit of force.

[Evoman]

and what if the nut rounds off while the rim is still on it.. if you run 13" rims you can't get the caliper off either.

best thing to do is prevent the nuts from rounding off.
- the first time you take the nuts off, put a little cuppergrease to the thread for the next time.
- use properly fitting tools only (original V300 nuts are 19mm of 3/4 size)
- only use a 6-sided sockets for fitting
- never use a airgun/airtools/powertools for tightening

Yes prevention is better than cure!

[L14MNP]

18mm multisided socket and a hammer will get most rounded V300 nuts off ime.

If that fails then a set of Irwin bolt grips will do it in 30 seconds. No need to dismantle the brakes or replace studs etc. You don't even have to remove the wheel.


Dunno if I have missed something from Speedys guide, but it seems a little excessive and time consuming!

[Speedy88]

I think you missed the pickle I got myself into initially Liam. This is very much a last resort - I couldn't get irwins to grip as the cups are too deep. I hammered on a 19 hex, 18, 17 and then I have a perfectly smooth nut I even welded on a longer bolt which didn't help, it really was stuck fast!

This is a relatively pain free way of getting out of the naff sitation I was in. And it only took me an hour.

[Moody teenager]
I dunno, all I do is try and help future V3Mers and all I get is slate
[/Moody teenager]

[L14MNP]

Got ya! I never read it all as I'm a bit busy. That's what I get eh.

I thought something else must be going on to justify your actions.