Front wheelnuts seized

[sportscar]

Hi , the front wheelnuts have seized on the right hand front wheel of my 1750 gt
The other day i managed to get one removed,is this a common problem with these cars as i remember a while ago removing without a problem to check the brakes.
I have tried with a rattle gun to remove them but no luck.cheers

[Beatle]

Are you sure the ones you are attempting to remove aren't LH thread?

[sportscar]

Hi no because i have removed them before

[Andrew Bose]

Try a product like Wurths' Rost Off Ice (a similar product of another brand may do)  as it uses temperature change to crack the seized parts. If you have trouble getting it use Penetrene from Bursons Repco etc. and let it soak in for a couple of hours, tap it with a large technical adjustment tool (heavy hammer) as this helps it creep in between the surfaces, I tend to go back every couple of hours and give it another tap or two. Do not swing a small hammer as this is not as good, also use a single hex socket and a long breaker bar to multiply the force you input, a piece of pipe over the end of it helps too.
When you put it back together use an appropriate lubricant e.g. copper grease or "Bel Ray six in one"from a motorcycle shop as it need to withstand high temperature, clean the threads and replace the copper grease/six in one after cleaning the threads every time it is not smooth and easy to spin the nuts with your fingers.

Hope it works for you.
Andrew

[Beatle]

Where are you located Sportscar?  And congrats on your 100th post.

If the car is cold, try the penetrating spray plus apply some gentle heat from a hair dryer, then breaker bar/rattle gun.  Alternatively, high heat directly onto the nut using a small solder torch.

Alloy or steel wheels?  Are they factory wheelnuts?

[Mick A]

Hi there,

If the nuts are open top and you can see the stud, penetrating spray might help.

If they are the dome capped ones, getting heat into the nut to expand it is the best way to go if you want to preserve the thread on the stud.
Having done this before, I suggest carefully using a welder or blowtorch. Be sure you cover your wheels and bodywork if you choose to do it this way.

Cheers.

[colcol]

If you can't get a welder or oxy actelene torch, try a paint removing heat gun, and spray the threads with Penetrene or WD 40, before you loosen the nuts by going anti clockwise, try going clockwise to see if you can tweak the threads a bit and give the flat on the hex a tap with a medium hammer to shock the thread, don't try and do it in 5 minutes, you may need a couple of days for the penetrant oil to soak in, and as a last resort, do as Andrew says use the spray on freeze, i tried removing some frozen bolts of a power steering, and went to buy some new ones from an ENZED place and they said they would have a go at removing them with some spray freeze, and i said they were frozen solid and they sprayed it on.....and they loosened the bolts, first time i ever saw it, good stuff, Colin.

[Mick A]

Why freeze spray?

You need to remove a nut from a stud.

In which case you need to expand the nut, you need heat to do this.

The nut will absorb most of the freeze spray and not pass it on to the stud, rendering the entire exercise pointless.

Am I making sense to anyone else here?

[Beatle]

Making sense Choderboy, but I have seen freezing work when it seemed counter-intuitive (using nitrogen).  I assume it worked not because of any gap in the thread clearance caused by expanding the nut or shrinking the bolt, rather the minute movement imparted between the two is enough to break the friction hold of the threads allowing them to be removed with hand tools.

We were inside an aircraft fuel tank so using flames or heating elements wasn't an option.

But........  a small gas-fired soldering torch is probably the cheaper option (freeze spray is expensive stuff), and the tool will have many other uses long after that can of spray is depleted. 

One should never miss an opportunity to add to the toolbox   

[Mick A]

Very interesting!

Yes always good to have an excuse for needing to buy more tools!

[Andrew Bose]

Hi Choderboy,
the freeeze idea is that the different materials have different expansion rates (I believe engineers call it coefficent of linear expansion when they measure it) due to different thickness material etc. I have used this product for many years and find it awesome. I assume it is the same principle as heating but uses cooling. I too thought it was crap but since I tried it I have kept a can in the shed as it lubricates too which helps when unscrewing seized threads. Where I work  it is used on things like bus wheel nuts which are tensioned to around 600n then seize to make life challenging.


Here is a link I googled see what you think.

http://www.wurth.co.uk/data/productdocuments/070186.pdf

Andrew

[colcol]

The minute you can move the stud/nut/bolt then you may break the cold weld between the 2 threads, it doesn't matter if you use heat cold or tapping with a hammer, a slight movement is all you need, remember too when you get it loose run a tap through the nut and a dienut over the stud/bolt, as the threads will have a bit of rust/cold weld and pickup on them, don't forget to use a bit of anti seize grease on the newly fixed up threads, Colin.

[Midda Samid]

not sure of the rattle gun you are using, but cheaper ones have a pretty low torque output.. breaker bar will apply much more load especially if you can extend it with a suitable piece of pipe.. only 20 minutes ago I had 6 capped wheelnuts on my Pajero too tight to crack.. I used a cross brace and a pipe on each side.. made a gawd awful cracking grinding noise when they let go, but they let go.

depending on how dry the threads are when reassembling, I use a very light dab of lube oil on the threads to assist the next time a wheel comes off.. if you have it, then antiseize compound will avoid it happening again..if your nuts have washers under them(like stepped magwheel nuts), then some lube on the faces of those help too..

[Beatle]

Sportscar... Any luck?

[Barry Edmunds]

Whoever said that you need an excuse to buy/acquire more tools. No such thing as an oversupply of any tool or piece of equipment. Only thing worse than an over supply of tools is lack of room to store (or show) them.
Barry