Removing frozen Fuchs wheel nut, AKA what I did this weekend ....

[Haasman]

Having never taken the front wheels off the 914-6 (limited miles driven since owned) prior to driving down to the Monterey Historic Races I thought it a good idea to adjust the front wheel bearings.

Both left and right fronts were slightly loose. Right-front wheel nuts were disturbingly tight, as in way beyond 93 ft. lbs. WAY BEYOND. The PO was a very fastidious person and I found this surprising to say the least. I managed to carefully remove the alloy nuts, adjust, put back together and then went to work on the left-front. Four out of the five were also insanely tight, but the fifth ..... twisted! I have heard of how much a nightmare this is and frankly I didn't want to know/learn first-handedly .....

So, naturally I searched this forum, Pelican's etc looking for repair methodologies. I wrote to Harvey Weidman. Harvey reminded me that the wheel stud and cap were basically expendable but I must use all caution to not drill into the wheel, let alone the "ball-cap" area where the alloy cap meets the wheel or my deep sixes were, well, deep-sixed.

First, I taped the entire area around the wheel lug nut to protect. I taped it again. And realizing that any slip would ruin my almost perfect wheels, I put down another layer of tape, somewhat loose and almost fluff if you will, all in the name of protection.

I initially used a deep soft-socket in my attempt to remove the wheel nut. This immediately failed and twisted the insert out of the larger outer socket. Deciding much more robust approach needed I hammer on a deep 19mm on to the twisted nut. I succeeded only in creating more damage but didn't budge the nut at all.

Several suggestions were tried including using a Bolt Grip.



I started with the 19mm-3/4" and that promptly twisted off the outer end of the alloy cap. I moved to the next smaller sized and that left a razor sharp twisted brillo pad of a wheel nut ...

Harvey had suggested that if necessary, drilling a series of very small holes steeply angled into the wheel stud. Utmost caution would be required. Hit the stud, not the wheel. I used a metal punch to start.



and more holes .....



Finally the nut was opening enough so that I could VERY carefully use a chisel. OK, this is where I was getting really worried.



Additionally I also started drilling directly into the wheel stud. The hope was to NOT hit the wheel but with graduated drill bit sizes to cut enough wheel stud material away to have the remaining nut removed easily ....

I also very cautiously I used my Dremel with a cut-off disk to remove as much of the outer wheel stud and remaining lug nut. I braced myself against tire, I held the Dremel as close to the end next to the wheel and as far out as I could to be able to catch any bite and or kickback and thus hoping to protect the wheel.



I had to use small verses the larger wheels so that I could get as close to the nut and down into the V of the wheel spoke with contact .... I went through two cut-off disks ....

TBC

[Haasman]

I cut off the out wheel nut and stud. It took a long while. Sometimes the cutting wheel wanted to grab, each time I paused and look for signs of damage ..... so far so good. I then remembered two additional "tools" that I could use. I had purchased a Dewalt Pilot Point drill bit set and I had some CRC Freeze-Off.



Drilling slowly with graduated bit sizes, always lubing the bit with oil and drilling very slowly the wheel nut was starting to collapse!

Then, using a VERY carefully placed punch and after a big spray the CRC I started tapping and the remains of the wheel nut ....it started to turn!



Slowly with many repeated actions I got it off! Wow, this had spanned most of Saturday and Sunday.


The wheel ball-socket was fine! (YIPPEE). The wheel did get one small hit to its surface but looks to be repairable at some future wheel restoration. The one white spec is the hit, the others are residual grease and debris.


I have ordered a new wheel stud and look forward to replacing it and properly torquing the wheels.

Why did this happen? I am unsure. It is my guess after closly looking at all of the wheel studs that possibly the PO put white lithium grease on them to protect them? Also there was [I]some[I] evidence of the use Anti-Sieze, but not a lot. No matter what the lubricant, the wheels were torqued (my guess) around 180-210 ft. lbs...... maybe more. Strange, very strange.

I will sleep well tonight.

Thanks for reading.

Haasman

[edmayo]

I doubt they were overtorqued, but rather installed dry and the nut seized to the stud. Were the other nuts that came off dry? or were there traces of antiseize on the threads? I'll bet they were all dry.

[Haasman]

Remarkably they all had traces of Anti-Sieze towards the end of the wheel studs, but a white grease all the way up to the hub on the threads.

Haasman

[classic]

OMG, that was one stuck lug.... Well done on removing it.

[Harvey Weidman]

Good job.
Now we can see how important it is to use the correct method for mounting Fuchs wheels on the car. Proper torque, antisieze and clean surfaces.
BTW we get about one wheel a week that needs a lug socket repaired from bad frozen nut removal methods.
Patience and precision pays off.
H

[sithot]

Wurth, CRC or whatever. Never dry! Here's a table as to why.

[Richy]

Here's a little secret for the seized lug nuts . Use a hole saw without the center bit that has an inner diameter that matches the stud . Cut until you barely hit the wheel , done! Use the center bit to start .

[curtisaa]

Haasman :

Start to finish time ?? I had the same thing happen to me a few months ago, and did the exact steps you took.

[Haasman]

Curt- Unsure of total time but let's say it was four hours on Saturday and three on Sunday. Its a bit of a blur because I replaced the damaged wheel stud and also checked all the other wheels and lug nuts (15 more). I also really took my time. Harvey had me so convinced that I could do it and NOT damage the wheel.

How long did it take you?

Haasman