Spinning stud on rear wheel

M

Mabel1930

Junior Member
Hello all,
I’ve got a rear wheel lugnut that is just spinning when I try to remove it- seems the stud has separated from the drum. Does anyone have a suggestion for best course to follow to remedy this and get the wheel off? Seems to me I could remove the hubcap, loosen the brake adjustment wedge, and get to the main axle nut to remove wheel and rotor as one? but thought I’d consult here for folks with experience with this problem.
Thanks so much!
Mark
 
You will have a hard time removing the wheel and drum as a unit on the rear wheels. The tapered axle shaft into the rear hub is not easy to separate.

Try wedging something like a pry bar between the wheel and the lug nut as you turn the nut to loosen it. Sometimes that will jam the head of the lug into the back side of the hub and stop it from spinning.

If that does not work, look at splitting the lug nut or cutting the lug nut in half with a Dremel with a cut off wheel (finish the job with a chisel). Not easy to work in there.

Good luck.
 
Have done this many times over the years because I did not have a puller:
Remove the hubcap.
Remove the cotter pin in the axle nut.
Loosen the axle nut one turn.
Install the cotter pin.
Drive the car around the block a couple times. Right drum - right turn. Left.....
The drum will come off without damage to hub or axle.
 
Jim/TX/GA said:
You will have a hard time removing the wheel and drum as a unit on the rear wheels. The tapered axle shaft into the rear hub is not easy to separate.

Try wedging something like a pry bar between the wheel and the lug nut as you turn the nut to loosen it. Sometimes that will jam the head of the lug into the back side of the hub and stop it from spinning.

If that does not work, look at splitting the lug nut or cutting the lug nut in half with a Dremel with a cut off wheel (finish the job with a chisel). Not easy to work in there.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I also used the Dremel tool. It worked great. But watch so you do not cut your rim.
 
Wrote an article on this for the Model A News a few years ago. Cut off wheels are hard to manipulate especially if you don't want to cut the wheel. I used a drill motor and bit. Drilled 3/16" holes adjacent to each other along one side of the lug nut and then the same on the opposite side. Finished with a chisel. Another method I was told (never tried) was to use a impact wrench. The faster movement in short trigger pulls was jerking it off the stud threads little by little.
 
Have done this many times over the years because I did not have a puller:
Remove the hubcap.
Remove the cotter pin in the axle nut.
Loosen the axle nut one turn.
Install the cotter pin.
Drive the car around the block a couple times. Right drum - right turn. Left.....
The drum will come off without damage to hub or axle.
Click to expand...

My brother tried that trick on a '39 Ford one time, drove the car for a month before the hub came loose. Luckily it came loose on his way home one day.
 
Find someone with a three jaw puller that has arms that accept bolts. I made one with an old hub and an old puller.
 
Just an update in case it proves helpful to anyone with this problem. I got the stud off by the following method; began by drilling holes across the top of the lugnut and then then connecting them as to sever a channel across the top of the nut. Then with a dremel I used a small cutting wheel to cut the sides as much as possible. With that completed, I drilled into the side of the nut all the way through from top (parallel to the ground) as best I could before putting a nut splitter tool on the lugnut and breaking it with a torque wrench. That successfully broke the lugnut in half and allowed removal of the wheel. All told it took about 4 hours.
Thanks everyone for the input!
 
Had the same problem.. took my Dremel grinder and cut a slot in the end of the stud which was wide enough for a bladed screwdriver.... then held the stud motionless while I unscrewed the nut.... Easy !!!
 
What I did was loosen all the other nuts and then dropped the car off the jack so that all the weight was on the spinning stud -this locked it enough for me to remove the nut
 
This site is worth more than a set of encyclopedias! I am having my morning coffee and browsing the new posts as I do every morning. Since my memory is NOT what it used to be I save the URL of many of the great tips in an excel file with a small note describing the tip. Thanks to everyone for the great ideas! Jim
 
Karl said:
What I did was loosen all the other nuts and then dropped the car off the jack so that all the weight was on the spinning stud -this locked it enough for me to remove the nut
Click to expand...

Simplicity is brilliance. That's simply brilliant!
 
Karl said:
What I did was loosen all the other nuts and then dropped the car off the jack so that all the weight was on the spinning stud -this locked it enough for me to remove the nut
Click to expand...


Answer of the day!


Joe K
 
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