HELP! Can't get wheel off!

Texas Tom

Texas Tom

Senior Member
Got a flat tire on right rear wheel first time out with my newly restored 1930 town sedan. Jacked up car and easily removed all lug nuts but one. With great effort, the last lug nut BARELY turned. Tried an impact wrench, and again it barely turned.

Seems the lug and the nut have somehow bonded, and the lug is spinning with the nut. I cannot make the nut come off, or spin back on so it's tight.

Problem is I can't get the rear wheel off to get at the offending lug from inside the drum. My conventional clam-style puller won't work when the wheel is on the drum because there's insufficient clearance inside that portion of the wheel.

I've taken the nut off the axle, turned it around, and beat on it to try to loosen the hub. No luck. I've done this with the brake adjusting pin backed all the way off, so the shoes are not holding the drum.

The drum, lug and lug nut are all brand new. The lugs were all properly seated when I assembled the brakes.

So, my friends, what sayeth ye? How can I get that #%$&@ wheel off?
 
Ouch. That's a tough one. You might try and get a dremel in there with a cutoff wheel and cut off the offending lug nut and stud? It would take a while but if the stud is spinning on the hub with the lug nut and you can't get at it to remove the hub from the axle that might be your only recourse. Hopefully someone else has dealt with this problem and has a better solution. I like to put a very small dab of anti seize on the lug nut threads to prevent such an occurrence.
 
did you fix the flat yet? these guys are likely going to tell you to drive carefully for a short distance on loosened wheel nuts to try to loosen the brake drum.
 
Here's a possible solution: Grind two parallel edges on the end of the lug so you can fit a 5/8" wrench onto it. Then use two wrenches to work the nut loose, perhaps after soaking in penetrating oil overnight. Then replace the ruined lug.
 
Jack it up and take off the opposite wheel.Screw on one of the old knock-off type pullers.Make sure it seats on the end of the axle,you don't want the pressure of the beating to be on the threads.Smack that side with a 7 pound hammer.Once it's off you can weld a nut to the inside of the stud head and turn it off or break it.I had to do a bunch of these over a few years ago for a guy that had them all freshly redone.Somebody here on Fordbarn advised him to tighten the lug nuts to 100 foot pounds.Every stud had Mae Wested,and some had galled so badly they had become one with the nuts.Those spun in the hubs.
 
montanafordman said:
Ouch. That's a tough one. You might try and get a dremel in there with a cutoff wheel and cut off the offending lug nut and stud? It would take a while but if the stud is spinning on the hub with the lug nut and you can't get at it to remove the hub from the axle that might be your only recourse. Hopefully someone else has dealt with this problem and has a better solution. I like to put a very small dab of anti seize on the lug nut threads to prevent such an occurrence.
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I had the same problem of not being able to get a nut off. I did use a dremel tool and cutoff wheel. It did work but did take some time. You also may have to replace the stud after you get the nut off. Do be carful not to cut you wheel using the cutoff wheel. Once you get a cut a ways into the nut, you may be able to drive a screw driver in the cut and split the nut so as to not mess up the stud. Good luck!
 
I used a die grinder and a sharp chisel. Split the nut right off.

You could just pull one side of the tire off then pull out the tube and patch it.
 
I had the same problem with the stud spinning in a rear drum. Drilled a couple of holes in the lug nut at an angle to miss the wheel. Then took a chisel and split the lug nut. By prying between the wheel and the drum I was able to turn the lug nut without turning the stud. Drilling did destroy the stud, but I didn't want to use it again anyway.
 
Steve Wastler said:
You say the lugs were new and seated correctly, were they swedged in with a 50 ton press as needed?

I posted this once before, but the old wheel thief trick of hitting the nut with a blast of freon and a swift crack with a hammer should shatter it. Works on wheel locks quite well.
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Very creative as I see it ! And very quick and not messy !
Good advice Steve !
Wayne
 
I'm with Keith True in post # 6 . The knock off wheel puller when correctly used with a heavy hammer has allways worked for me. When the knock off puller is bottomed against the end of the axle, it can't harm the threads. Beating on an axle nut will damage the axle threads because the pressure will be on the threads instead of the axle . once the hub, drum and wheel is removed, the lug stud can be welded to the hub and the lug nut can then be easily removed. Afterwards the lug stud can be reused or the weld can be ground off and the stud removed and replaced. I have had to use this method before with good results. It is likely that the wheel paint will get some damage.
 
I like Wick's idea about changing the flat in place - I have done this. Not easy (those dern FLAPS) but possible.

It still leaves the issue of getting the nut off.

I suppose a torch (gas hammer) is out of the question? (paint) I have used this to "wash" nuts off of studs - its really possible to do this and then "clean up" the stud by re-threading and have it still work.

A carbide burr can be used ALL around the outside to remove material and get back to the threads without a torch. This will take time but the nuts are not hard and it will give you a chance to lay there and work over your shoulder for half maybe three quarters of an hour. You might even take a little snooze and tell the wife it's taking longer than you thought.

A burr with a taper tip will allow you to work close to that painted wheel.

Joe K
 
I would also try as Keith said in #6.

If you want to loosen the hub, another method would be to fix the flat, reinstall all the lug nuts, loosen the AXLE nut, and drive a little distance.

Another method would be to drill right down the center of the stud until it can be knocked off. Chances are the stud threads are bad anyway since the nut turned so hard.
 
Like post#10 I prefer drilling tangent holes on opposite sides and across the end. Then finish with a chisel. For me better control than a cut off wheel. Did an article with pics in the Model A News a couple years ago on this.
 
If the torch was used, it would burn the paint but if you could get the lug nut red hot it would easily spin off with a lug wrench even with the lug stud slightly loose. I've used this method to remove old rusty wheels that I wanted to save when the old lug nuts were badly rusted. The easiest way to save the wheel paint would be fix the tire on the wheel, reinstall the lug nuts and just run it. I have installed model A tires on the wheels mostly by hand with the wheel mounted on the spare tire carrier. It should be just as easy with the wheel still on the hub.. I use a lot of go-jo hand cleaner as a lubricant when I do tires, it washes right off with water when you are done.
 
You guys know its illegal to dump "freon" and even modern refrigerant without chlorine. Not that you would get caught, but there is a multi thousand dollar fine. Of course, if you're in china, it's alright.
 
Chuck Sea/Tac said:
You guys know its illegal to dump "freon" and even modern refrigerant without chlorine. Not that you would get caught, but there is a multi thousand dollar fine. Of course, if you're in china, it's alright.
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14086.jpg
 
Mike V is correct. The no-dumping freon rule doesn't apply to R134. several companies make the equivalent of the CRC in the pic
 
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