welding Question

Richard tea

Having a nightmare with the security nut on the cars alloy wheels. I replaced 3 of them but the 4th is broken. I have an old Aldi arc welder. Problem is I cant see how im going to use the ground clamp. The head came off the wheel stud. I basically just want to tac it back on to remove the bolt. Any suggestions regarding a ground point?

Stihl waters

Can you not get the clamp onto the body some how

Richard tea

Stihl waters wrote: »

Can you not get the clamp onto the body some how

Body of the car? yeah im sure I can. I just thought it had to be clamped onto the project im welding. I am aware of disconnecting the battery beforehand.

Wearb

Drill it and use a stud extractor.

Richard tea

Wearb wrote: »

Drill it and use a stud extractor.

Always ends in disaster for me. If the weld fails I'll try an extractor

DublinDilbert

Put clamp onto the wheel, will be the shortest path for the current.

Stihl waters

Richard tea wrote: »

Body of the car? yeah im sure I can. I just thought it had to be clamped onto the project im welding. I am aware of disconnecting the battery beforehand.

Shouldn't matter really as long as its connected to some part of the car

CoBo55

I don't think it's a great idea to have the earth clamp on the car body, the path back to earth is through a lot of rubber bushes. I'd try and clamp as close as I could to the wheel stub even at that I'd worry about damaging the wheel bearing with the current.

Frogeye

remove one of the other nuts , get a small steel plate with a hole in it to suit the bolt, bend it out towards you and then bolt it on to the wheel. Clamp your earth to the piece of steel.

Richard tea

Sorted. Thanks all for the help and info.

Calahonda52

Richard tea wrote: »

Sorted. Thanks all for the help and info.

how?

Richard tea

Calahonda52 wrote: »

how?

I glued the broken head in place. Grounded to the wheel and then welded the head back on. It only required a few tac's. Replaced it with a standard wheel stud.

mickward

Get yourself a longish bolt, put the earth clamp on the bolt head and hold the other end of the bolt against the damaged stud, Weld bolt to damaged stud, remove damaged stud using the bolt you welded to it and then replace the damaged stud with a new one.
Simples and the job is done!

Richard tea

mickward wrote: »

Get yourself a longish bolt, put the earth clamp on the bolt head and hold the other end of the bolt against the damaged stud, Weld bolt to damaged stud, remove damaged stud using the bolt you welded to it and then replace the damaged stud with a new one.
Simples and the job is done!

I have seen it done that way alright. Problem is I have zero experience welding. I do want to learn though.

The Continental Op

Out of interest what car was it and were they the factory fitted lock nuts?

Richard tea

The Continental Op wrote: »

Out of interest what car was it and were they the factory fitted lock nuts?

C4 Picasso. Yeah factory fitted. I would imagine an impact wrench was used on them before.

CoBo55

Richard tea wrote: »

C4 Picasso. Yeah factory fitted. I would imagine an impact wrench was used on them before.

Nothing unusual there, very frustrating when you're on the side of the road in the rain.

The Continental Op

CoBo55 wrote: »

Nothing unusual there, very frustrating when you're on the side of the road in the rain.

Just changed them all on my Ford Focus, the lock nuts surprising all came off very easily but the plain nuts had swollen and one was so tight I thought I was going to sheer the stud off.

CoBo55

The Continental Op wrote: »

Just changed them all on my Ford Focus, the lock nuts surprising all came off very easily but the plain nuts had swollen and one was so tight I thought I was going to sheer the stud off.

Between that and the alloy welding itself to the hub it's enough to make you do a Basil Fawlty on it. I kicked one off in sheer temper one dark and drizzly morning,I put the spare under the sill in case it came off the jack...