Wheels/Tyres: Broken Locking Wheel Nut

[ianu]

Probably know as one of those 'oh no!' moments.
Today as I attempted to remove one of the wheels - with the Locking Wheel Nut adapter in place and socket bar attached - as I turned it anti clockwise to undo it - the head of the nut with the keyway in it sheared off and came away leaving the stud still attached to the hub....
The stud has what looks like a small torx style head on it that might be possible to get some purchase on - but nothing I had in my toolbox (torx and socket) will get enough grip on it.
The collar piece that has sheared off has a radial crack in it which then failed completely by the look of it.
Does anyone have any experience of getting the rest of the stud out - is it a dealer job to get the right tool that can fit the stud head that is exposed - or should an experienced indy garage be able to tackle this without wrecking the wheel and hub ?
Having already had all the other 3 wheels off - I very carefully went round and removed all the other locking nuts and replaced with standard studs - just in case ..

Any guidance - much appreciated.

Cheers
Ian.

[Rockhopper]

Had the same thing happen to me a few years back, although the head on mine completely sheared off. I tried all sorts, even the welding trick with a nut - to no avail. Had to get a mechanic friend to drill it out in the end - not pretty. He went through several drill bits and my alloy came slightly worse off in the end with all the effort (bolt hole needed refurbishing).

My cars now never have locking wheel nuts...

[Clan]

if the hardened cap has come off leaving a splined hole its not so bad you need to drill a small pilot hole the hole is cone shaped so will self centre your drill then with a powerful mains drill at SLOW speed gradualy open up the hole with bigger drills If you get to 12 or 13mm that will be fine , with the other bolts out position the drilled bolt at the top with the car on a lift and with a strong long lever lever the bottom of the wheel outwards with the lever against the wheel rim at the bottom (block of wood ) and the suspension arm .. It will be fairly easy then to shear off the bolt head and the wheel will come off .

[ianu]

Thanks Gents - had a closer look at this this evening and the tip of the stud left in the wheel is actually the centre of the bit that fits into the 'socket key'. ie if you think of the socket as an odd shape pastry cutter that fits into a same shape keyway on the face of the stud - the bit I've got left is the bit that fits inside the 'pastry cutter' - it's no more than 5mm and it's rounded most of its corners.

Although the 'socket' (cutter) will grip whats left - there is no way I can keep it from lifting off when you try and turn it.

I think it's going to be a challenge with some drill bits to try and weeken whats left enough to shear the top off - a friend has offered the use of some bolt extractors which will still require drilling it.
Some creative use of Araldite has got me thinking though.....
I'll keep you posted - currently it's booked into the garage next week for them to have a go - but I'll keep trying too.

Cheers
Ian

[roys v]

This happened to me today on my V70 I went in to get four new tyres and the guy said the garage must have over tightened the locking nut. After hours of trying with an air chisel, they got it off, by using a large socket, hitting it with a hammer, tapping away while another guy applied pressure on the torque wrench. It came off but now they have to do the other three in the same way. No locking nuts for me from now on.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by ianu

Thanks Gents - had a closer look at this this evening and the tip of the stud left in the wheel is actually the centre of the bit that fits into the 'socket key'. ie if you think of the socket as an odd shape pastry cutter that fits into a same shape keyway on the face of the stud - the bit I've got left is the bit that fits inside the 'pastry cutter' - it's no more than 5mm and it's rounded most of its corners.

Although the 'socket' (cutter) will grip whats left - there is no way I can keep it from lifting off when you try and turn it.

I think it's going to be a challenge with some drill bits to try and weeken whats left enough to shear the top off - a friend has offered the use of some bolt extractors which will still require drilling it.
Some creative use of Araldite has got me thinking though.....
I'll keep you posted - currently it's booked into the garage next week for them to have a go - but I'll keep trying too.

Cheers
Ian

Get a 18 mm deep cranked ring spanner and get it welded to the top of whats left of the bolt .. then wiggle the spanner sideways , that is in and out towards and away from the wheel , the movement will be small to start with then it will get more and more and the splined hardened cap will come off .. you can then attack the soft bolt with a series of good sharp drills and a 1000w mains drill , final size should be 13 mm then take off the other 4 bolts , and lever the wheel off from underneath , ( car safely supported) this will shear the head off and allow you to unscrew the remaining stub ...

[bullseal]

Same happened to me, a good mate of mine welded a half inch drive socket extention onto the stud and with the help of a long bar manged to loosen. Slight burn to the alloy, but hey, it saved me some pain and money

[ianu]

Originally Posted by bullseal

Same happened to me, a good mate of mine welded a half inch drive socket extention onto the stud and with the help of a long bar manged to loosen. Slight burn to the alloy, but hey, it saved me some pain and money

All my efforts failed - thanks for all the advice - I tried everything that I had access to try and get a grip on it - including a horizontal bottle jack against the garage wall to try and keep the socket from twisting off..!!
Booked into the garage today and they ended up having to weld a nut to it to get any grip on it. Not the easiest one they've had to remove - but deep respect - they didn't mark the alloy at all.

[kirklac]

Many thanks to IanU for mentioning his attempt to free his locking wheel bolt using the bottle jack against the wall to provide a horizontal load on the wheel bolt. My 2005 V70 wheels have the standard issue Volvo locking wheel bolts (with the wonky pasty cutter recess) but whilst trying to get a wheel off this afternoon I found that the bolt head had become damaged so that the key just kept slipping off.

IanU's postgot me thinking and by using a screw jack against the garage wall to load up the bolt horizontally as much as I reasonably could and using a decent socket not the wheel wrench I managed to loosen the bolt. Huge relief!
Three thoughts as a result of this:
1) if the head is just damaged like mine was try the bottle jack technique straight away, if you don't and the key keeps slipping off the damage to the bolt head will get worse and eventually no amount of horizontal pressure will help
2) make sure the load is applied to the bolt as near to horizontal as possible to minimise the chance of the key slipping out
3) throw away the standard Volvo issue locking wheel bolts!
Thanks guys

[ianu]

..terrific - glad it helped Kirklac..