help! wheel rusted in place.

help! wheel rusted in place.

Author
Discussion

pimping

Original Poster:

759 posts

176 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
tried the jack up, jack down. chock of wood behind wheel but need a larger hammer for hitting it with. kicked it. going to wait till i am in work tomorrow and get the properly big hammers out.

just thought there might be some trick to it.

cheers all!

Petrolhead_Rich

4,659 posts

194 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
pimping said:
tried the jack up, jack down. chock of wood behind wheel but need a larger hammer for hitting it with. kicked it. going to wait till i am in work tomorrow and get the properly big hammers out.

just thought there might be some trick to it.

cheers all!
Have you tried moving it as per the above suggestions, the bigger the hammer the more damage you will do if you miss, drop it down and move it back 3', jab on the brakes and forwards again and it will be free, no damage, no hammers, no waiting, no borrowing works tools etc...

pimping

Original Poster:

759 posts

176 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
ah bit worried about the 'loosen nuts and move three feet' one just in case. won't it do damage to the threads on the bolts?

TheLurker

1,373 posts

198 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
pimping said:
ah bit worried about the 'loosen nuts and move three feet' one just in case. won't it do damage to the threads on the bolts?
Will be fine. Just undoo them one (or half) turn, not the whole way out. I always got told that if you then drive round in a circle (slowly) it will come undone.

QuackHandle

3,100 posts

189 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
pimping said:
ah bit worried about the 'loosen nuts and move three feet' one just in case. won't it do damage to the threads on the bolts?
That's what I was thinking too, I've had this happen before and like other people have said a big hammer works a treat.

odyssey2200

18,650 posts

211 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
The worst one I ever had was on a Ford Excursion.

I had to use a scissor jack between the wheel(protected with wa bit of wood) and the car and use the jack to force the two apart.

All of the above methods will work just make sure not to hit your rim directly and grease the inside of the wheel face when you re fit it.

When you have done this wheel, do the rest too.
You wouldn't want to be doing this at the roadside/hard shoulder if you got a flat!

steve2

1,775 posts

220 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
jujst sell the car, far easier smile

anonymous-user

56 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
john_p said:
I consider tyre fitters to be the experts at this, and have only ever observed two approaches:

1. lie under the car and kick the hell out of it with big boots on

I'm sure you can see the common theme here.
A recipe for a flat fitter if the jack goes confused

got to be the dumbest thing ever. Reminds me of tipper drivers who work under the body without a prop yikes



Petrolhead_Rich

4,659 posts

194 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
TheLurker said:
pimping said:
ah bit worried about the 'loosen nuts and move three feet' one just in case. won't it do damage to the threads on the bolts?
Will be fine. Just undoo them one (or half) turn, not the whole way out. I always got told that if you then drive round in a circle (slowly) it will come undone.
This ^^^

There will be a loud bang as it frees itself but it will only at worst be in contact with the end 2mm of the thread on the stud, plus for only a couple of feet, the weight of the car will still be supported by the hub center so it's only rotational force being put on the studs.

Ive done it on a few cars and never any visible damage to the thread, certainly less than wacking the tyre/wheel with a hammer (even with wood) and way less damage than when you clip the wood, pushing the hammer into the bodywork....

the nuts only need be 1/4 of a turn slack, just enough to allow a slight bit of movement to crack the wheel off!

pimping

Original Poster:

759 posts

176 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
will report back tomorrow when i get another chance at it!

J4CKO

41,761 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
Plusgas is better than WD40 for that kind of thing, mixed metals can be a pig to separate, aluminium bike seatpost in steel frame being my personal worst.

Dont know if this ais a daft suggestion, but release the buts a couple of turns and move it backwards and forwards where safe to do so, at low speed and brake hard, am thinking the wheel is clamped on to the hub via the corrosion, releasing the nuts will probably mean the weight of the car is then all on the rusty bit if the nuts arent fully in as they pull in and centre it, so possibly it will separate and drop a couple of mm ?

JonnyFive

29,404 posts

191 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
I was worried first time I saw this, smashing it with a rubber mallet.. All 4 hadn't been off for ages and were rusted on big time.

6 monthly my wheels are off and greased behind them.

TheLurker

1,373 posts

198 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
Petrolhead_Rich said:
TheLurker said:
pimping said:
ah bit worried about the 'loosen nuts and move three feet' one just in case. won't it do damage to the threads on the bolts?
Will be fine. Just undoo them one (or half) turn, not the whole way out. I always got told that if you then drive round in a circle (slowly) it will come undone.
This ^^^

There will be a loud bang as it frees itself but it will only at worst be in contact with the end 2mm of the thread on the stud, plus for only a couple of feet, the weight of the car will still be supported by the hub center so it's only rotational force being put on the studs.

Ive done it on a few cars and never any visible damage to the thread, certainly less than wacking the tyre/wheel with a hammer (even with wood) and way less damage than when you clip the wood, pushing the hammer into the bodywork....

the nuts only need be 1/4 of a turn slack, just enough to allow a slight bit of movement to crack the wheel off!
The weight of the car should be on the hub, not the studs/bolts, so no damage done. Obviously dont do a 500 mile trip like that though...

Larry Dickman

3,762 posts

220 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
If slackening the nuts & driving back & forth doesn't work or if for what ever reason you want to try again with the hammer, don't just hit it in one place, hit it & spin the wheel 180 degrees, hit it & spin it 180 degrees back where you hit it the first time, keep doing it like that. Once it moves a bit spin the wheel 90 degrees between hits. It's not an exact science & you'll see what I mean when it starts to move.

rb5230

11,657 posts

174 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
Petrolhead_Rich said:
1) wheel falls off and hits you in the shin
2) slip and fall
3) slip and kick car bodywork
4) stub toe on car bodywork
5) car falls off jack

rusted wheels and brakes are a common problem and easily solved by driving a couple of meters with the wheel nuts slackened, hammers, wood, kicking etc will end in damage, injury or just have no effect!
After being a tyre fitter for a year, doing 5 days a week and a lot of cars every day i can honestly say none of these things ever happened to me.

I would kick the wheel off and it has NEVER resulted in damage, injury or not having an effect.

jbi

12,682 posts

206 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
kick the bugger until it breaks free

had this problem with my land rover and resorted to wellying the crap out of it until it eventually fell off.

Don't be afraid of breaking something... your foot is softer than the axle.

Rich1973

1,202 posts

179 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
I had just this problem on a cold and dark M5 southbound last thursday. Tried pulling it with no joy, tried kicking it lots still no joy. Used the emergency phone and the HA arrived with a long crow bar - no joy. Bloke then suggested moving it with loosened nuts and it took literally about a foot of forward movement before i heard a pop and felt a slight jolt. Massive relief and will be remembering that technique.
Try it OP it will work.
Oh and massive praise to the two guys from the HA - they were excellent.

Richard

Dr Doofenshmirtz

15,309 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
Just boot the tyre with the sole of your foot in a kind of Kung Fu stylee...what are you - a Man or a Mouse?

JonnyFive

29,404 posts

191 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
Sounds suprising HA suggested that.. Must be against their rules.. Just shows there are a few out there that are good!

rossyIIa

290 posts

207 months

Wednesday 5th January 2011
quotequote all
Poor a can of coke over the rusted area, it eats through everything. Just make sure you hose it all off after.