Was going to switch tires, from my swampers to some 3rd gen weeks with 285's on them and my passenger rear has a stud that is stripped from the inside, the nut somehow got cross threaded, locked up and after a while of spinning it it broke loose on the inside of wheel, now I have no idea how to get it off, any ideas? thought about trying a cut off wheel but not sure if I'd have enough room in there.

 

Do you have stock rims, or are they some sort of after market ones? You might be able to get away with torching it off.

 

can you use an easy out on it?

 

I think your best bet is going to be to drill out the threads on the nut. The stud is going to be hard, but with a sharp drill bit and plenty of lurbricant you'll be able to drill the threads off enough to snap the nut and stud off.

 

I have had to drill out the threads before it sounds like it is going to suck, but it isn't that bad. I started with a smaller bit and got bigger each time.

 

with a drill it will take alot of time and patience. prepare yourself.

 

I have cut them off with a torch, but you have to be fast and "good" to do it without damaging the wheel! I may have just been lucky! Can you rotate the wheel to see the back of the stud? Front or back wheel? That would be the best place to torch it off if you can get to it.

 

Okay, thanks for the replies, guess I"ll have to just go out there with lots of drill bits and something to keep them cool.

Just so I make sure I"m doing this right, the idea is to eventually end up with a bit as bit as the stud so it just breaks off right?

 

Yup! With a bit large enough, you'll get bigger than the stud's threads' and the nut's threads, and it'll fall off! ( Or if you get tired and cant wait, you can bust it off when it gets somewhat close! )

 

You could go to an auto parts store and get a nut buster looks like a bar with a hole in one to go around the nut. Though the other end is drilled and tapped for a bolt that pushes a hardened chisel that as the name says busts the nut. You should be able to get it on the lug nut I've used them in some tight spaces with a air ratchet. Also these were structual steel bolts which are harder than lug nuts. Hope this helps!

 

This would be the better option. Drilling out a stud is going to be a long process. Hope you're good at sharpening bits. Personally, failing getting the nut splitter, I'd get a zip cut and zip the nut and stud. You can either cut it down the center of the stud/nut, and take a chisel and split the nut that way, or if you have a small cut off, come at it from the side and cut the stud and nut as close to the wheel as you can, and take a good drift and hammer and smack the stud until it pops out the back. If it is stripped, there won't be enough material to hold whats left of the nut on there and should come off relatively easy.

You can also remove the wheel/hub assembly. You could drill the back of the stud out, or take a grinding disc and grind the head of the stud off. Just pull the axle shaft, use a 2-9/16" socket to take off the nut, and pull the whole works. It's gonna be heavy though.

 

Rather than drill the stud, it might be easier to drill progressively larger holes in the nut next to the stud. Do this on each side of the stud until the nut is weak enough that you can split it with a chisel. The chisel would come in the same as the drill did, alongside the stud, and just spread the nut till it would come off.

Now that the stud is turning, if I read it correctly, I wonder if the new stud will hold properly in the hole. Try lock tight if you have any doubts or you may have to split the new one too.

If you do decide to torch it a plasma cutter would be less of a problem with excess heat.


John