wheel nut help!!

[GarethM]

i had taken my front wheel off to paint my calipers.

painted my calipers then put the wheel back on, i was tightening the wheel nuts when one of them severed off inside the hub. it is in far enough to hold the wheel with some thread sticking out.

but how do i get it out when i want to take the wheel off again?

drilling?

 

[Sami]

unless you can grip the end of the screw with mole grips and try and undo it?

Otherwise youd have to drill it afaik which would strip the thread and then really youd be looking at a new hub which is about 10 quid from a scrappy and takes maybe hour tops to fit...

 

[steveV6]

Two other options other than the above:

1/ Use a drill just slightly smaller than the root radius of the thread, drill the bulk of the metal out, and the use the exact size tap and re-tap the thread, this will clear out the rest of the metal.

2/ Use an extraction tap. This envolves drilling an under size hole, and the winding the extraction tap in. The extraction tap is basically a left hand tapered thread, so as you wind it in it "bites" an because its left hand, as you carry on winding in the bolt start to come out, or at least thats the theroy.

 

[Storm_Force]

Another thing to try, if you have a welder to hand. Keep welding small welds on the broken nut allow to cool and repeat until the weld is big enough to grab with a pair of mole grips etc.

 

[GarethM]

ok cheers guys ill see what i can do

 

[GarethM]

have tried drilling it but to no avail.

stevev6 - where do i get an extraction tap from?

 

[Chris1.4RT]

Happened to me.

Though obvious now, didnt occur to me at the time to take wheel off and put mole grips on the remaining bit sticking out.

Got it out with the help of Red16 off here.

 

[GarethM]

i had a look at it yesterday and there isnt any of the bolt sticking out?

doesnt look good!!!

 

[edde]

You should be able to drill into it at an angle and pull it out.

If its realy stuck spray it with WD40 etc to help lubricate it then drill a line down the remains of the bolt and stick a screwdriver on it.

New hubs are only cheap from breakers though if you give up.

 

[Harry_manback]

Quote: Originally posted by steveV6 on 09 July 2005


2/ Use an extraction tap. This envolves drilling an under size hole, and the winding the extraction tap in. The extraction tap is basically a left hand tapered thread, so as you wind it in it "bites" an because its left hand, as you carry on winding in the bolt start to come out, or at least thats the theroy.





we call them easy-outs at work. trying to get 40 year old bolts out of things, should be a piece of, really.

 

[edde]

Ive driven my car on only 3 bolts in the past. However Im not sure why but the bolts worked themselves loose in a few miles (not sure if I didnt tighten them fully though)

 

[GarethM]

yeah ive been running on 3 bolts for the past few days

dont know whether its me being paranoid but it feels unstable

i check the bolt often to see if they are loose but they are ok.

 

[GarethM]

what drill bit shall i use?

i tried drilling with an electric drill but didnt seem, to make much headway.

plus i dont want to damage the thread on the hud when drilling down at an angle

 

[Harry_manback]

id use maybe 3M pilot hole then maybe widen the top out as much as poss, im guessing this is gonna be up 7-8 mm?????? easy outs usually come in packs so theres gonna be a choise, if i were u id drill the holes to fit the easy outs!!! then if 1 breaks u can make it bigger and try again!

 

[Fred@BTM]

use a centre punch and a hammer, hit it at an angle, and itll spin out