Reiny Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 As title implies, one of my wheel studs is spinning together with the nut. i cannot remove the wheel in question. i managed to undo it by a few threads and that's it. The whole shebang started to spin. Any pointers? To make matters more complex it's a freestyle alloy wheel hence the nut is sunk deep into recess in the wheel rim (30mm spacers are fitted to the hub, if that makes any difference). I have tried drilling the nut but gave up shortly after. The only logical thing i can think of is chopping the wheel rim off with an angle grinder but i would like to avoid doing that if possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cackshifter Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 That's very awkward. So to confirm, this is a stud whose end is in a spacer? Ie they are the kind of spacers with their own studs pointing out in between the original ones - you bolt the spacer to the hub, and the wheel to the spacer? What are the spacers made of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lo-fi Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 If you can get an impact driver to it, you might have some luck. Just keep trying to nudge it back and forth and you may be able to get it free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landy-Novice Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 wonder if you can try and remove the complete hub, cut of all the backs off the wheelstuds to split hub from spacer that should them allow access to the back of the spnnig stud in the spacer?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 if you can get one use a air impact gun whilst holding the wheel hard against the nut with a crowbar... hadnthe same on my lorry and this was the only way. it takes ages but you will get there.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Jam the wheel nut, and drill the stud out, yes it will take a while.... Don't think any fix will be that quick. You could keep trying to drill the nut, then split it with a chisel, even a millimetre would be enough of an expansion to get it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cackshifter Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 I was thinking if the spacer was aluminium, you might get it to grip if you could get a freezer aerosol onto it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiny Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 All worthy suggestions chaps. Thanks. Spacers are aluminium with protruding wheel studs. I.e. the spacer bolts onto the hub using original land rover nuts. I have tried and impact wrench, applying pressure with a crowbar as qwaker suggested but to no avail. I'll try a bit more and take a 9 inch grinder to the rim if i fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwhacker Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Drilling a few holes in the wheel nut sounds like a plan. Then the air chisel I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat_pending Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Arc welder with a gouging rod and burn the stud out of the inside of the nut. A small gas cutting torch would do the same job but the flame is more of a problem than an electric arc. Let the air out of the tyre and cover everything in wet sacks, or old towels/blankets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddy Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Use it as an opportunity to improve on sharpening drill bits IMHO at least it will save your alloy. Will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 No question drill the nut and spilt it off the stud then replace both. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Souster Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Have you tried a good quality air or cordless impact gun? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Hunter Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 As above, drill and chisel is the way to go, and save your rim. A new bolt/stud and nut, and away you go. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GW8IZR Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 I suppose you wont know till its off but I suspect the soft alloy spacer is not going to take a new stud anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 I suppose you wont know till its off but I suspect the soft alloy spacer is not going to take a new stud anyway? Agreed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwhacker Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Hello. Please let us know if you are able to to remove the nut and of course how you did it. I'm still thinking drill holes and chisel. Enough holes should mean very little chiselling by hand or air. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiny Posted December 14, 2015 Author Share Posted December 14, 2015 Small update. I tried drilling through the stud yesterday. I had an hour to spare. My drill bits aren't in the best condition and yet I managed to eat through about 12mm of stud (only about 30mm to go). So the plan for this evening is buying a new set of drill bits and attacking it again. Will keep you posted. With regards to the spacer, I won't bother trying to get a stud fitted to it. I'll just buy a new spacer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 When you're drilling, run the drill very slowly! Most drilling failures are down to spinning it too fast. Assumong you are completely drilling out the stud and your drill bit is somewhere between 13 & 16mm, it doesn't want to be turning at more than a couple of hundred RPM - and apply as much pressure as you possibly can. It is worth learning to sharpen drill bits if you have a spare half hour (there's a post in the tech forum that some kind person wrote about it). Then at least if the drill does go blunt, 30 seconds later it can be sharp again! I've not bought any new drill bits in about 15 years - since I learned! Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiny Posted December 14, 2015 Author Share Posted December 14, 2015 Sharpening drills is a skill I need to learn. I followed the thread that you mentioned but I only managed to make my drill bits even duller! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Best bet is to drill as far as you can with about a 3mm drill to clear the center of the bigger drill you need to use to get the stud out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiny Posted December 14, 2015 Author Share Posted December 14, 2015 that's what I am trying to do. Start with a pilot hole and work my way up in 2mm increments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Don't bother with increments, you'll end up having the drill snatched out your hands, which is very painful. If you can get an assistant to spray something in the hole to help lube the drill and cool it that will help.... Water works fine. As it's been said you must lean on the drill as hard as you can to make it work but also keep the RPM around the 150-250 mark with a 12mm drill bit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous doug Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 I forget exactly the angle you grind them at but you can gauge it by holding holding 2 nuts side by side (flank to flank) and the open "v" created is roughly what you want. Then grind the trailing edge of each cutter to make way for the next one as the bit spins Have you previously been using impact tools to do the nuts up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantastic Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 At an event once a fella had spacers on and the bolts obviously had come loose. Going up a hill with a bit of wheel spin when the tyre found grip the spacer just disintegrated. I promised myself that day I'd never use spacers. But more to the point. It was a quick and effective way of removing a wheel.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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