Page 1 of 1

Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 09:51 pm
by Speedy88
Front only I'm afraid, no idea where I'd begin on the back :shock:

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

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.

Image

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

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)
Image

Re: Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 04:13 am
by CBA
don't you ruin the hub?

Re: Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 01:54 pm
by 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.

Image

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

Image

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!.

Image

Image

Image

replaced wheelstud, reversal of above step's to re- assemble!.
340pw

Re: Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 01:58 pm
by volvosneverdie
Good stuff yous guys. 8)

Re: Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 03:55 pm
by 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 sm11

Re: Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 03:57 pm
by 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

Re: Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 05:48 pm
by Speedy88
CBA wrote: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 sm11
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 :mrgreen:

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

Re: Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 06:51 pm
by Evoman
volvodspec wrote: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!

Re: Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 13 Jul 2011 04:13 pm
by 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!

Re: Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 13 Jul 2011 04:18 pm
by 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 :lol: 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 :roll: :wink: :wink:
[/Moody teenager]

Re: Guide to removing rounded off wheel nuts

Posted: 13 Jul 2011 04:24 pm
by L14MNP
Got ya! I never read it all as I'm a bit busy. That's what I get eh. :lol:

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