Any news? I’ve potentially got 12 of these to drill out shortly....
Help! Locking wheel bolt issue
- Thread starter Paynewright
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- locking wheel bolt
I’ve tried with a punch, trying to improve the grip of the locking nut tool but still no luck.
good luck @Paynewright with your bolts
good luck @Paynewright with your bolts
Next thing I’d try is JB welding the lock key on. The set is compromised so being replaced.
After that - drill! You’ll get to 10mm and then it should shear off with the little grip left with the key.
One assumption - you have the other 4 normal bolts fully torqued up??
Also, are you applying as much pressure as possible into the socket as you apply rotational force ie pushing the key into the bolt?
Sorry if teaching you to suck eggs!
After that - drill! You’ll get to 10mm and then it should shear off with the little grip left with the key.
One assumption - you have the other 4 normal bolts fully torqued up??
Also, are you applying as much pressure as possible into the socket as you apply rotational force ie pushing the key into the bolt?
Sorry if teaching you to suck eggs!
@CaliChris If it was me, i'd just give up mate and get a pro to remove the bolt. The problem is, one slip with a hammer or punch and you are going to trash a wheel that might end up costing as much to refurb than just getting a pro to remove the bolt in the first place.
@Paynewright that takes me back to my days as a mechanic in Oadby and I know just how difficult removing bolts that rusty can be, even with some major heat, so good luck with that.
@Paynewright that takes me back to my days as a mechanic in Oadby and I know just how difficult removing bolts that rusty can be, even with some major heat, so good luck with that.
Thanks, I have given up and yes I have slipped a couple of times and caught the wheel.
Will be taking it to a local garage today hopefully they will sort it. Just so frustrating! What should have been a simple job. Also the fact the Cali is only just a year old and the wheels can only have been off the once - when the dealership fitted sport line springs for me 6 months ago. Thanks to everyone for their input, much appreciated.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you come to remove those - the nuts and studs will come out as one piece. Are they going into an alloy head?
If it was me, the final attempt would be to hammer the 12 point socket on and then using a stick welder, weld the socket onto the locking wheel nut through the centre of the socket. This gets lots of heat into the bolt and also physically joins to socket to the bolt.Thanks, I have given up and yes I have slipped a couple of times and caught the wheel.
Will be taking it to a local garage today hopefully they will sort it. Just so frustrating! What should have been a simple job. Also the fact the Cali is only just a year old and the wheels can only have been off the once - when the dealership fitted sport line springs for me 6 months ago. Thanks to everyone for their input, much appreciated.
@CaliChris ....just looked on Halfords web page ....have a look at Laser Locking Wheel Nut Remover
I've got those - they are good for getting the rotating collar off but completely the wrong size for the remaining part of the bolt.
I like your optimism, unfortunatly 996’s are not know for ease of fixing removal from the engine - I’m expecting a fight. I have procured one of these in readiness for battle...
Thanks, but as mentioned these do not fit once the collar is removed. I did look into getting these but eventually found the sizes and it was clear they would not fit.
All sorted now though. Went to a local garage and he sorted it for me within minutes
this afernoon. Best £10 I’ve spent for a while. That included a new bolt!
Didn't realise it was a 996 - they have bolts fitting the exhaust manifold so the bolt heads will probably have crumbled away. Can you retrofit studs and brass nuts from a proper air cooled 911?
Just had a 2 hour fight with the dreaded VW locking ‘cheese’ bolts. Picked my brand new van up yesterday and covered all of 40 miles. Still got my old T5.1 on the drive with my big wheels on it. After tea I thought I’d swap the wheels over as it would only take me half an hour. . . Yeh right! I tried every trick in the book, in the end after sheer perseverance, brute force, a mates help and A LOT of foul language I got the suckers off. If I’d have had a puncture at roadside with only standard issue kit there is no way I’d have got them off.
Not sure if taking them back to VW is going to achieve anything?
If anybody is due to collect a new van it’s definitely recommended you ask for different bolts, better yet take your own and get them fitted before you drive off into the sunset. It will save you a great deal of hassle!
Not sure if taking them back to VW is going to achieve anything?
If anybody is due to collect a new van it’s definitely recommended you ask for different bolts, better yet take your own and get them fitted before you drive off into the sunset. It will save you a great deal of hassle!
This is the reason I use Coppaslip or now Nickelslip on all my vehicle wheel nuts/bolts, the scenario where I'm unable to get a wheel off when I need to never arises , and before anyone claims that that is dangerous and I'll die in a blazing fireball when all my wheels fall off, in over 35 years of motoring, that's never happened, not had a single bolt or nut come loose on any vehicle I've ever owned, but I've never needed anything more than a hand tool to get them off.
I’ve freed seized wheel bolts using heat but if you want to preserve the wheel paint it definitely requires a heat shield.
I’ve used an old baking tray, cut a hole with a hole saw to screw in an old bicycle stem. Any steel sheet and tube of the required size will do the job.
Place the tube over the seized bolt and the sheet will protect the rest of the wheel, a welding or other thick glove to hold the heat shield is recommended.
Dump the standard VW wheel bolt wrench as it does not provide a good angle for applying torque, pack a 6 sided socket, sliding T bar, 4” extension and a suitable extension tube.
if you want to avoid seized bolts minimise the number of times the wheels are on and off and avoid impact wrenches at all times, the extra couple of minutes It takes won’t be a great loss!
I’ve used an old baking tray, cut a hole with a hole saw to screw in an old bicycle stem. Any steel sheet and tube of the required size will do the job.
Place the tube over the seized bolt and the sheet will protect the rest of the wheel, a welding or other thick glove to hold the heat shield is recommended.
Dump the standard VW wheel bolt wrench as it does not provide a good angle for applying torque, pack a 6 sided socket, sliding T bar, 4” extension and a suitable extension tube.
if you want to avoid seized bolts minimise the number of times the wheels are on and off and avoid impact wrenches at all times, the extra couple of minutes It takes won’t be a great loss!
You might have been using an angle grinder to trim your toe nails for 35 years too but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. On topic though, for anyone thinking about lubricating wheel bolt threads, you've got to be careful when you change the co-efficient of friction on your fasteners as if you use the same torque setting you will have greatly increased the clamp load between the wheel and the hub (probably not a bad thing for wheels) but you're also getting closer to the limit of the elastic range of the bolt so don't go crazy tightening them up and stay within the elastic range of the bolt. I find applications that use wheel nuts rather than bolts work better with some anti seize on the threads and I reduce the torque by about 30% to keep within the same tensile range (well, slightly above as wheel nut torque figures are quite conservative); for bolts my preference is to run a die down the threads to clean them up as necessary and make sure there's no galling on the shoulders (not an issue for our rotating collared bolts).
I had no idea you could buy this jig, I was going to suggest you make the same using the new manifold as a pattern. Good luck, I’d be using cobalt drills.
I managed to bypass all the blurb to the part where he confirmed reducing the torque by 30% and noted he was using a nut example too.
