Wheel stud spinning - cannot remove wheel

[bushwhacker]

Would it be any easier to drill the nut?

[vulcan bomber]

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?

Depends on the material... Steel is 59 degrees per flute or 118 degrees included.... A nut being either 60 or 120 included so yes, very good for something to work to.

[Peaklander]

Maybe get a can of cutting (spray) oil as well. That might help.

[vulcan bomber]

Maybe get a can of cutting (spray) oil as well. That might help.

Tap water works just as well..... My Vertical Borer at work has a coolant tank with 250ish litres of water soluble cutting oil in it.... only 4 to 6 % of which is oil... and thats mostly to sto everything going rusty.

[Peaklander]

Yes no doubt it works just as well. Sorry I missed your earlier comment.

[Reiny]

So, the tale of woe continues. I took a couple of hours off yesterday, bought new 6mm and 14mm drill bits and got to work by 4pm and didn't stop until 8. Progress? Hmmmmm, not really. I managed to drill to a depth of 50mm (measuring from the tip of the nut) with the 6mm drill bit. That should be as deep as the nut goes. Then I tried to use the 14mm drill bit but progress was very very slow. So I worked my way up slowly in 1mm incremenets up to 10mm, every now and then I reverted to the 14mm bit. Bits kept getting blunt. I tried my hand at sharpening them and I must say that I think I learned how to (mind you, they got blunt only a few minutes later). I used copious amounts of cutting oil and blew the swarf out every minute or so. What remains now is a relatively thin wall with a depth of 10mm, however at the rate I was going, I realised that it required at least 2 more hours and I was exhausted, hungry and didn't want to bother the neighbours. I'll continue tomorrow since I haven't got time today.

I think I'll try to drill a few holes in the wall of the nut and drive a chisel in, in the vain hope that it loosens its grip and a few good yanks on the wheel will bring it off. We'll see.

[Reiny]

Would it be any easier to drill the nut?

I'll resort to that later. Nuts are very deep though - 50mm.

[GW8IZR]

If you have a deep socket now you might get it to shift. All that heat from drilling and the material removed will have made it less stuck!

Push the tang of an old big file trough the hole in the back of the socket into the stud and hold it still with an adjustable spanner, then try to turn the socket on the nut with mole grips.

Use your judgement here, dont snap the tang off in the hole!

[dangerous doug]

Could you now not hammer in a cheap thin chisel put an adjustable on it to stop it spinning and undo the nut with a spanner?

[GW8IZR]

its in a recess (alloy wheel I think) so not sure a spanner will get on the nut. If its a steel wheel prob could have got a grinder on the nut anyway.

[Reiny]

its in a recess (alloy wheel I think) so not sure a spanner will get on the nut. If its a steel wheel prob could have got a grinder on the nut anyway.

Yep, that's the problem.

[TheRecklessEngineer]

Then I tried to use the 14mm drill bit but progress was very very slow. So I worked my way up slowly in 1mm incremenets up to 10mm, every now and then I reverted to the 14mm bit. Bits kept getting blunt.

It sounds like you're going too fast with the drill bit.

A 14mm drill bit into a pilot drilled hole shouldn't take more than a few mins to get ~50mm deep. Take a look at this: https://youtu.be/Z2fNS4nkP-c?t=2m01s Notice how slow the drill bit is rotating. If anything, you want to be going slower for 14mm. Lots of pressure, take it slow and the bit will just chew through the material.

I find a cordless drill on the 'slow' setting perfect for such things.

[d-9]

It sounds like you're going too fast with the drill bit.

I find a cordless drill on the 'slow' setting perfect for such things.

This ^^. Plus cutting oil and cobalt drill bits.

Dont apply too much pressure, just enough to hold the drill on the work piece, drill slowly, keep the bit cool with cutting oil. Too much speed or pressure and you will overheat and blunt the bit.

I've drilled 10mm holes in 12mm steel plate using a 10.8v battery drill before, no drama with the right bits and technique.

[Aragorn]

I've drilled holes in 10.9 grade bolts, and its not fun at all.

Way harder than drilling normal steel plate etc. I imagine the wheel studs are similar stuff.

I'd say you want lots of pressure, you want the drill to cut the steel rather than sort of scrape over the surface. Its one of the biggest issues using a handheld drill via a drill press, getting that pressure applied in a nice controlled fashion. With a drill press you've got a lever to apply the pressure with, rather than pushing directly with your body.

[d-9]

Really dont want lots of pressure, just 'enough'. With a sharp drill bit it wants just enough pressure to bite, you should get nice spirals of the metal you are cutting off it.

Any more pressure and you will increase the friction on the bit, increasing the temperature, which then will overheat the drill, cause it to soften and loose its edge, then you might as well be poking it with a cotton bud not a drill bit.

[mmgemini]

Slow and hard on the drill. That's how we drilled armoure plating

[muddy]

If you can drill the end of the but off You could perhaps get a 3/8 extension with a torx bit on and hammer it into the end of the stud and then slide a deep 1/2" or 3/4" 27mm socket over the extension, hold the extension with a bar and turn the socket with some stilsons.

Will.

[Reiny]

The saga continues. A further 3 hours of drilling yesterday resulted in..... NOTHING. The drill bits went through the wheel rim in a few places so I decided that the wheel was only good to be scrapped. I took an angle grinder to it, cut two deep slits, realized that I couldn't go in deep enough (stupid me decided to cut the thickest part of the rim, whereas the spokes could have done nicely - it's a freestyle alloy) and the grinder gave up on me. Needless to say I'm not a happy chappy. I'll buy a grinder this afternoon and have another go.

[Troll Hunter]

I don't understand how this topic has gone so sideways. In posts 9, 12 and 14 we were talking about drilling through the nut, a couple of small diameter holes, and then using a chisel to split the nut, and now we're talking about drilling out the whole bolt diameter! Where did we lose track of the objective - to separate the nut from the bolt? Usually a couple of small diameter holes are easier to drill than something considerably larger diameter.

Mike

[Reiny]

Saga has been closed. Nothing i tried worked. I first tried to drill through the whole stud. Then I tried to drill through the nut. I tried to chisel off the remains but to no avail. Then I realised that i had drilled through the shoulder of the wheel rim and thought that it would no longer be safe to use the rim. Freestyle rims are dirt cheap anyway so I resorted to an angle grinder and electric saw to chop the wheel off and slice the stud. I bought a replacement rim for 50 euros and a replacement spacer for 70 euros and that was the end of it.

[miketomcat]

Glad you got it sorted in the end.

Mike

[bushwhacker]

Good to know you got it sorted one way or the other.

[Diesel_90]

Are you tempted to remove all of you're spacers now?

[Reiny]

Not really. The reason is two-fold. First of all, tornado alloys look HORRID when they're in their original position. Secondly, turning circle is greatly reduced without them. I'll just be more careful in future.