The locking wheel bolts were rusted beyond saving on my project BMW. The only way to get the wheels off (the tyres all need changing) is to drill out the bolt heads.

I've drilled out the first of them, and got the wheel off successfully, however there is now so little of the locking wheel bolt left I have no idea how to get it out without damaging the threads.

Help!
Rescued attachment stud.jpg

heat it with a blow torch, or boiling water right out the kettle, hit it square on with a suitably large hammer, soak it in penetrating oil, then try one of those stud extractor things where you screw it in anticlockwise until it lock and hopefully starts to turn the bolt?

You could also try welding a nut onto it. This has the added advantage of heating it all up as well.

You can get a tap with a reversed, left hand thread. Drill a hole down what is left of the bolt screw in the tap, which is tapered, and it will tighten up and then hopefully turn the bolt out. Heat and plenty of oil on the bolt thread first though. Hope that helps.

Take the disc off, then you will have about 10mm of bolt to get hold of.

Soak in pentrating oil for about a week (regular applications) then weld a nut onto the end and unscrew it.

David

There seems to be enough sticking out to weld a bolt on to the stub.

There's really only about 1mm of real metal sticking out. The drill removed most of the real meat from the middle, although i only just broke through at the top of the thread.

If it comes down to it i'll just have to remove the brake disc , which will expose more of the thread - as the bolt screws into the hub.

I drilled 2 small holes down the stud quite close to each other then opened it up into one hole with care full 'milldrilling' and then just inserted a flat head blade on a impact driver.

Weld a nut on, you can plug/fill weld into the center of the nut, it doesnt matter if its messy, the heat will help loosen things off, and it will be relatively strong.

Did this recently with a wheel nut and it worked a treat.

do what the monkey says...job done

quote:

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Originally posted by irvined
Weld a nut on, you can plug/fill weld into the center of the nut, it doesnt matter if its messy, the heat will help loosen things off, and it will be relatively strong.

Did this recently with a wheel nut and it worked a treat.

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Weld a nut on has to be the only way. If its tight enought o sheer it will need heat.

Could have had the disc whipped off by the time you posted on here!

Caliper off, disc off, press or bash stud out.
Thats if its Ford Sierra hubs

He did say "on my project BMW "
And I think it's bolt, not stud.

[Edited on 4/6/09 by Macbeast]

yep, BMW E34 5 series, bolts. The internal spline drive was rusted so the key was just spinning in the end of the bolt so I had to drill through it to get the wheel off.

Lots of good ideas here, thanks!

I'll try welding a nut on first (finally something my little gasless MIG can do!) and if that fails i'll remove the caliper and disc and go from there.

Yup. Weld a nut on it. Always works for me!!

Weld something on to the end of the stud. The intense heat of tehe welding exercise will help break the he corrosion that is holding it tight and you also have something to grip.

Always let the the stud cool back to ambient temperature on its own before attempting to release it. If you try to turn it while it is still hot you have more chance of snapping it off again, similarly, if you force cool it with water, you are annealing (softening) the steel.

HTH