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Opening Seized Nuts

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  • 05-05-2010 2:17pm
    #1
    PN14
    Registered Users Posts: 364 ✭✭


    Hi Guys,

    I was wondering have any of ye any methods for opening seized nuts.

    I have an old 10x6 tipper trailer at home that I was thinking of doing up however the nuts on the tyres are rusted on to the threads and can't be shifted. I've tried WD40 etc but to no avail.

    Have any of ye any other ways of removing nuts like this. I need to get the hubs off as the existing tyres are perished. I have been told the tyres and hubs on the trailer are no longer made and that they came from some bedford van from the sixties. Any one any idea where I could get tyres for these or alternative hubs and tyres that would fit?

    Thanks


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    #2
    Indubitable
    Registered Users Posts: 1,300 ✭✭✭Indubitable


    Angle grinder to the rescue?


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    #3
    reilig
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,401 ✭✭✭reilig


    You need to keep at it with the wd40. Spray it on every day for a week. It might loosen it. You could try heating it up with gas and it might free it out, but it can weaken the steel a lot - Is it just that you can't get enough pressure on the nuts to get them to move or have you already rung a few of them from too much pressure???? IF you have not got enough pressure then you need to be going for a larger wheel brace or socket and ratchet with a dummy bar for extra leverage :)


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    #4
    pakalasa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,552 ✭✭✭pakalasa


    Been there - done that!
    Very simple answer to this. Don't open the nuts. Just take of the hub cover and take the bearing apart. The wheel will come off then. You will still be able to get on a new tyre. You'll find the bearing propably still perfect.

    I was at the same crack as you, spent ages trying to open the nuts. Bought nut splitters, heated them, even tried to grind flats on them....and then one day, it dawned on me.


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    #5
    elius
    Registered Users Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭elius


    Heat also works rather well..


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    #6
    dunsandin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 879 ✭✭✭dunsandin


    Im with elius. If you have tried heat and it didnt work, just go to the heat shop and buy a bigger bag of it. If you heat a nut up hot enough, it will come off, either when it cools and with a socket, or while you are heating it and it drips onto the floor. Wd40 is for girls(or lads who have run out of heat):)


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    #7
    MrFoxman360
    Registered Users Posts: 576 ✭✭✭MrFoxman360


    PN14 wrote: »
    I was wondering have any of ye any methods for opening seized nuts

    Scaffolding pipe..... and lots of it !! :D

    ah no seriously, taking it off at the bearing is probably the best idea, but you would be amazed at what a little heat can do too.

    And your sure they are the conventional right hand threaded nuts, commercial axles have one side left hand thread as far as I am aware (somone else will clarify this... or prove me wrong:rolleyes:), especially older ones, I know that's what its like in my two trailers anyway

    If your buying new tyres, chances are that size is still available


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    #8
    blue5000
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,633 Mod ✭✭✭✭blue5000


    If the wheels are off an old truck is there any possibility that there are left hand threads on the studs? They open clockwise.
    Try a piece of pipe as an extension to a wheel brace, stand on it if you have to and bounce....;)

    If the seat's wet, sit on yer hat, a cool head is better than a wet ar5e.



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    #9
    snowman707
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,279 ✭✭✭snowman707


    most likely left hand thread,

    a large hammer and a VERY blunt chisel , 3 or 4 heavy wallops in the middle of each side of the nut if you can manage to access it, before you try with the socket will shift even the most stubborn nut.


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    #10
    LostCovey
    Registered Users Posts: 1,717 ✭✭✭LostCovey


    snowman707 wrote: »
    most likely left hand thread,

    a large hammer and a VERY blunt chisel , 3 or 4 heavy wallops in the middle of each side of the nut if you can manage to access it, before you try with the socket will shift even the most stubborn nut.
    Yeah but you will score the nut, and if it's an old trailer you miht have a hunt for a replacement.

    I would vote for heat.

    A blow lamp and a bucket of water. Hot-cold-hot-cold till it shifts....with the scaffolding pipe on the wheel brace of course!

    LostCovey


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    #11
    dunsandin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 879 ✭✭✭dunsandin


    A blow lamp is no good-just not hot enough. You need oxy-propane or oxy-acetylene to do the job.
    If you dont have proper bottles, a dab of weld in the correct spot with an(arc) welder turned up to the max. Use the thinnest rod available(2.5)This will not deposit metal, but will create an intense arc which you can use to heat anything, faster and easier than with bottles. You can also use this method(thin rod, welder at the max) to cut steel. It burns a lot of rods, but can get you out of bother. The technique is to strike an arc, then move the rod away from the metal enough that you have a long plasma arc being struck, this does not deposit metal, but transfers huge amounts of heat rapidly.


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    #12
    snowman707
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,279 ✭✭✭snowman707


    LostCovey wrote: »
    Yeah but you will score the nut, and if it's an old trailer you miht have a hunt for a replacement.

    I would vote for heat.

    A blow lamp and a bucket of water. Hot-cold-hot-cold till it shifts....with the scaffolding pipe on the wheel brace of course!

    LostCovey

    the nut will be ok have done it many times, learned the knack many years ago from an old timer, takes a bit of practice and patience, too much heat will cause more problems, but if it works for you fine.


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    #13
    blue5000
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,633 Mod ✭✭✭✭blue5000


    agreed, very handy for stuck bering shells too

    If the seat's wet, sit on yer hat, a cool head is better than a wet ar5e.



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    #14
    Tora Bora
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,258 ✭✭✭Tora Bora


    Forget WD40. It's good on normal domstic jobs. What you need is brake fluid. It's dynamite to penetrate into rust seized nuts and bolts.


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    #15
    PN14
    Registered Users Posts: 364 ✭✭PN14


    Thanks for all the replies guys. Plenty to be at for the weekend. Will def check the left hand thread. Probably go with taking off the hub at bearings as I don't have access to torch at home.


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    #16
    corkcomp
    Registered Users Posts: 5,114 ✭✭✭corkcomp


    heat them until they glow and then throw diesel onto them and more diesel after few mins when cooler .. it nearly always works


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    #17
    valtra2
    Registered Users Posts: 726 ✭✭✭valtra2


    if you trying to take off old studs there are atool for it, i had wheel brace with pipe on it and jumping on it and there were no stirr, but got a tool from local contractor for taking them of and took them of by turing the handle of the tool with one hand cannot think of the name of it will find out tommor but it will open them no matter how rusty they are


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    #18
    denis086
    Registered Users Posts: 146 ✭✭denis086


    valtra2 wrote: »
    if you trying to take off old studs there are atool for it, i had wheel brace with pipe on it and jumping on it and there were no stirr, but got a tool from local contractor for taking them of and took them of by turing the handle of the tool with one hand cannot think of the name of it will find out tommor but it will open them no matter how rusty they are
    i think i know what your on about they take inch sockets and theyre geared down really low the shaft only moves a fraction each turn and cos its so slow it doesnt shear the bolts usually theyre nick named a nutcracker because when they loosen the nut it gives a little crack great yoke just wouldnt use it to tighten anything or it would shear off the bolt they cost a couple of hundred but that was with a set of sockets to suit the box it comes with has no brand on it on it and the tool itself has no brand stamped on it but the sockets are rolson it beats gas or any other tool hands down plus it can be brought anywhere if the machine is stuck somewhere


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