lrpman

Started taking the car apart and found a nasty surprise. (2) of the lug nuts are broken at the base with no way of getting a wrench on them. The wheel is scrap anyway so what is the best way to extract this mess.
Option one is the Sawzall and just cut the wheel off till you get down to the darn thing. Any less drastic Ideas? Is there a cutter to shave the lug not off the stud?
Picture shows the whole lug nut and the broken one in the hub.
Thanks, thought this was going to be a one day project then off to get the wheels aligned.

dr bob

George-

That looks like a whole lugnut on the ground. Is there another part of a nut in there on bolt? Looks like there's at least part of a hex end showing. Maybe a thinner-walled socket might get enough of it. The ends of most sockets are tapered some inside to 'lead' the socket onto a bolt or nut. For some similar projects I've ground the front lead taper off so the end of the sockket is tight right away with the shallow penetration. Sockets are relatively cheap to sacrifice for this.

If you end up with the hole saw trick, go slowly and inspect a lot on the way. You really don't want to cut into the wheel metal at all if you can avoid it.

Good luck! And report back with what works for you.

lrpman

My bad on the description. Look at the WHOLE lug the TAPERED piece is what is on the wheel still,, the HEX part is 100% gone.
The wheel is scrap, it is the one that got wiped out when the PO got hit in the parking lot and is NOT repairable in any way.
I have NO problem destroying the wheel just do not want to wipe out the stud or the hub.
Thanks for the reply. I am looking in Harbor Freight for a whole cutter or ? tool to cut away the rim and then I can put vise grips on and remove the wheel nut.
PS: the SHINY HEX is where the top part broke off and is NOT a hex surface to grab.

James Bailey

The holesaw that you chuck in a drill will do the job easily on a wheel that you do not need to save.

UncleMaz

Get a narrow metal chisel on it and beat it counter clockwise.

lrpman

OK, what type of whole saw, being pickey since I have a set of WOOD whole saws. Since I am going into Aluminum in the wheel can I use a Diamond saw from Harbor freight for cutting marble?
I have NOT found a metal whole saw set yet. I have looked on line at Sears and Harbor Freight.
Thank you.

UncleMaz

Find one around 3/4 inch (19mm about). That would probably work better than a chisel.

lrpman

That was alternate plan "B" since the wheel is so deep. Also thought about drilling the darn thing since it is also an alloy and not steel. Called the PO and the shop that mounted the tires and rims BROKE the lugs.

James Bailey

You can also use a small drill bit and make many holes in the alloy nut then breaking it up with a sharp punch. But the whole saw is pretty easy and it need not be a fancy one just one that slips over the stud.

jccw

The Porsche shop manual says to use a 17.5 mm diameter compass saw (which I assume is a hole saw). They also say that damage to the bolt cannot be avoided.

karl ruiter

As I recall I used one for wood. The nuts are magnesium and really soft. I think I used a 3/4". No harm was done to any rim.

dr bob

Get a real metal-cutting holesaw from Home Depot. They carry the Milwaukee saws IIRC. You'll need to take the pilot drill out obviously. You may want to take a measurement on the stud and transfer it with a caliper to get a saw that just fits over the stud/bolt. The teeth on the blade are 'set' both in and out. If you want to avoid damage to the stud, use a diamond bit in the Dremel to remove the inside of the in-set teeth on the saw so there's nothing to chew on the bolt threads as it spins.

James Bailey

Good point about the inward slanted teeth...

stolarzj

How JBWeld the part of the lug that came off and push it back on and let it dry for a day? Might be just enough to get it to turn off.

axis of evil

Is there any REAL good reason to have alloy nuts on a road car?