Cracked locking wheel bolt..

[adam73bgt]

Hi all, I'm just looking for a bit of guidance on what to do with this..



All the wheel bolts on my car had been done up really tightly by whoever last had the wheels off so when I applied some torque to this locking bolt, its managed to crack part of the head off

Partly through frustration and partly through not wanting to mess it up any more, I decided to call it quits for the day

Any recommendations? Theres still a fair bit of the head left but with the bolt still needing quite a lot of torque to undo it, I don't want to risk chewing up the head of the bolt further

[welshpug]

do you have the locking bolt key for it?

if so, just crack on with a decent bar, apply pressure gently then ramp up the force, don't try and jump on it as it'll more than likely slip.


failing that, get a large nut welded to the end of it, or a remover tool.

[86corolla]

I had a saab 9.5 a while back ended up having to cut the wheel off.

Get a socket that's just a smige bigger the the wheel bolt not so it fits over the bolt.then beat the socket on needs to be a hard socket or it will split.and not a socket u wanna keep.btw. .
and get a decent breaker bar you generally get one shot...and try and break it loose take your time don't rush it...
apply some wd40 or the like more the merryer. .
don't try and heat the bolt or you will ruin the alloy only use heat as a last resort

[skylinedave]

Penetrant spray and leave it for 24 hrs ?

[adam73bgt]

Yeah I was using the locking key for it, I'll see if I can source a breaker bar or some pipe to go over the wheel wrench to give me some leverage

So far I've been standing on the wrench to get the bolts to come undone, being about 16 stone it usually only needs a slight bounce on the wrench to get them to loosen without having to go for a full blown jump

[adam73bgt]

I'll also douse it in penetrant while I'm waiting for some new locking bolts to arrive

[86corolla]

Mar 7, 2015 20:32:22 GMT adam73bgt said:

Yeah I was using the locking key for it, I'll see if I can source a breaker bar or some pipe to go over the wheel wrench to give me some leverage

So far I've been standing on the wrench to get the bolts to come undone, being about 16 stone it usually only needs a slight bounce on the wrench to get them to loosen without having to go for a full blown jump

have you tried giving it a sharp blow like stamp on the bar sort of thing

[chavinacav]

Defo get yourself a breaker bar and try with the lwn key. If that breaks or still no joy, do as 86corrolla says, worked that way for me 3 or 4 times in the past. just make sure you smack the socket on as far as you can before attempting to undo again

[adam73bgt]

Mar 7, 2015 20:34:51 GMT 86corolla said:

Mar 7, 2015 20:32:22 GMT adam73bgt said:

Yeah I was using the locking key for it, I'll see if I can source a breaker bar or some pipe to go over the wheel wrench to give me some leverage

So far I've been standing on the wrench to get the bolts to come undone, being about 16 stone it usually only needs a slight bounce on the wrench to get them to loosen without having to go for a full blown jump

have you tried giving it a sharp blow like stamp on the bar sort of thing

Haven't tried that yet just in case it shatters the rest of the head..

[86corolla]

Tru the socket or breaker bar with the key
if it shears then your in the poo lol

[quantum stop]

ive used this method before bear with me it works !! park the car say 12 " away from a soild wall put the socket n breaker bar in place now heres were it gets a bit un conventional place a bottle jack on the wall and pump it till your putting pressure on the breaker bar then you have sideways pressure turn the breaker bar increasing pressure it will come off first time without smashing the lock nut to bits hope you get what i mean andy

[Good Scrap]

I'd get a breaker bar on it and apply a constant force, as much as you dare, then get an assistant to belt the back of the bar with a lump hammer, the impact should help shock it free.

If you fail to get a good bite on the proper socket thrash a 12-point socket into the remains of the bolt, as mentioned above, you will probably trash the socket in the process but I've known it work quite well.

Can you get any of the other wheels off, if so do you know if they are close firing on the centre bore if not, another thing to try is taking out the other bolts and rocking the wheel while you try and undo the locking bolt.

Last resorts are drilling the head off of welding a nut onto the knackered bolt, the latter may well damage the wheel.

Brian

[adam73bgt]

Mar 7, 2015 21:42:48 GMT quantum stop said:

ive used this method before bear with me it works !! park the car say 12 " away from a soild wall put the socket n breaker bar in place now heres were it gets a bit un conventional place a bottle jack on the wall and pump it till your putting pressure on the breaker bar then you have sideways pressure turn the breaker bar increasing pressure it will come off first time without smashing the lock nut to bits hope you get what i mean andy

I think I get what you mean, using the jack to apply force onto the socket to make sure it doesn't slip?

Mar 7, 2015 21:46:37 GMT Good Scrap said:

Can you get any of the other wheels off, if so do you know if they are close firing on the centre bore if not, another thing to try is taking out the other bolts and rocking the wheel while you try and undo the locking bolt.

I have and they were pretty tight! Had to kick one of them several times from behind to get it to budge..

[quantum stop]

yep sideways force then apply anticlockwise pressure

[stealthstylz]

The super traveller method to use as a last resort is to take the other 4 bolts out then go for a drive. Take some bolts, a jack and wheelbrace with you. Usually after a few hundred yards itll be loose enough to remove easily, and there's plenty of notice that the wheel is about to drop off as itll vibrate.

[tdipd]

Make sure the locking nuts on the other wheels have been loosened before you continue with this broken one... Otherwise you may curse word your key then have to get the other wheels off the brutal way.


Edit. Oops just seen you said you got them off

[86corolla]

Try to tighten the other 3 bolts a small amount thst may relive some of the tension off the locker

[v8ian]

I have had great success with this method, with a short heave metal bar/drift, and a big hammer give several sharp hard blows to the head of the offending bolt, fit the locking key and TIGHTEN the offending bolt, sounds counter intuitive but it does work, now try undoing the nut, many years of being an engineer this has very often undone bolts that have frustrated other people,
Failing this, you have there are still options, a bit more aggressive, one is drill thru the centre of the bolt, you need to be careful here, but if you are confident, centre pop the middle of the bolt, and drill the bolt out with increasing size drills, a bit of engine oil on the drill will help immensely, might be an idea to have a "spotter" somebody who can watch and tell you if the drill is level so you don't wander off. the idea is to drill the head off, remove the wheel and allow access to the threaded section, which surprisingly should be looseish, these bolts are designed to lock on the taper seat,
Another option might be invest on one of these, I have a set of them cracking piece of kit, You might be able to find them cheaper elsewhere, I paid less than that for a set when in the US from Sears,http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Irwin-ViseGrip-Damaged-Nut-Bolt-Removal-5-16-19mm-/190329987489?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c508d21a1

[taurus]

Just to say - the above method has often worked for me. It's a bit scary I admit, but when all else has failed it usually works. A guy showed me the trick many moons ago and either it'll come off using that method or you really are into drilling it out territory.

[barty]

try a local tyre place they normally come across this problem and will have all the tools there, ususlly for the price of a drink too.
Might be worth a try and get thier advise before you make things worse