Stubborn Wheel Nuts.

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iandromiskin
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Stubborn Wheel Nuts.

Post by iandromiskin »

I have quite a few stubborn wheel nuts that I need to remove from a car, but they are locked on solid despite the use of an air wrench thing. I've sprayed them with a lot of WD40 and will leave it for a day or two before trying again, but does anyone have any suggestions as to what, or what not, to do next ??? (P.S. I don't have the ability to heat up the nuts in case someone was going to suggest it)
Gertie, 1962 Saloon, Milly, 1969 Traveller (ex APL 971H) and now KAS 1958 4 Door Saloon.
[img]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t28/iandromiskin/DSC_0051-1.jpg[/img][img]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t28/iandromiskin/Picture112.jpg[/img][img]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t28/iandromiskin/Picture366.jpg[/img]

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ASL642
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Re: Stubborn Wheel Nuts.

Post by ASL642 »

Try Plusgas - stronger than WD40. Leave it to soak for a day or so.

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ian.mcdougall
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Re: Stubborn Wheel Nuts.

Post by ian.mcdougall »

Put all wheel nuts back on and work on the stubborn ones first use a breaker bar as unless you have a good air pressure or an expensive air wrench (is it the impact type air wrench) it will not be a success. You can use soldering torch to get some heat to the nuts but may damage paint on wheels with heat.If all else fails drill off nuts and replace studs. Replace studs any way as they are probably stretched
Ian

iandromiskin
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Re: Stubborn Wheel Nuts.

Post by iandromiskin »

Ok ..... Good news and bad news....

The good news is that I managed to get all of the wheel nuts loose about half an hour ago,but the bad news is that i rounded one of them in the process so what started of life as an 18mm hexangonal nut is now an 17.5mm round nut :evil: So the next a question is how on earth do I remove it from the wheel ???
Gertie, 1962 Saloon, Milly, 1969 Traveller (ex APL 971H) and now KAS 1958 4 Door Saloon.
[img]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t28/iandromiskin/DSC_0051-1.jpg[/img][img]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t28/iandromiskin/Picture112.jpg[/img][img]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t28/iandromiskin/Picture366.jpg[/img]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnDuQIOtYcc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuhsoEd1GhQ
PSL184
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Re: Stubborn Wheel Nuts.

Post by PSL184 »

Use a nut splitter as its scrap now anyway....
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bmcecosse
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Re: Stubborn Wheel Nuts.

Post by bmcecosse »

Stillson wrench. Of course - it wasn't an 18mm nut anyway to start with! Could try an 11/16 AF socket on it.
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chickenjohn
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Re: Stubborn Wheel Nuts.

Post by chickenjohn »

iandromiskin wrote:Ok ..... Good news and bad news....

The good news is that I managed to get all of the wheel nuts loose about half an hour ago,but the bad news is that i rounded one of them in the process so what started of life as an 18mm hexangonal nut is now an 17.5mm round nut :evil: So the next a question is how on earth do I remove it from the wheel ???
Get some Whitworth sockets as the wheel nuts are close to 18mm, but not quite, it is actually 3/8 Whitworth. Use of the proper sized Whitworth tools rather than getting by with a mix of metric and AF is my top tip for avoiding rounded nuts on your Minor!! You can good quality 2nd hand Whitworth tools cheaply from Ebay or car boot/ autojumbles.

In addition to the above, one of my favourite nut undoing tips is to use an Irwin bolt grip http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... t-grip-set , these reverse spiral flute tools grip even rounded off nuts and bolts and undo them. Saved me a lot of bother over the years.
Cheers John - all comments IMHO
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(check out the East Kent branch website http://www.ekmm.co.uk )
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