Trailer -rusty wheel nuts

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tarik

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Hi everybody,


Recently bought a 4 wheel road trailer, I need to renew the brakes, but cannot get the wheels off, two of the wheels have rusty wheel nuts and despite gallons of WD40 etc they wont budge.

Would appreciate any advice as how to loosen them off.

Hate to think of the state of the brakes,

As always very many thanks for all replies


David



PS - Happy new year, fair winds to all,
 
Assuming they're just like car wheel nuts, I would put a wheel brace on at 9 o' clock, and jump on it. Alternatively, put a rigid pipe over the wheel brace to get more leverage. I've never know wheel nuts to round off or snap. Heat with a blowlamp then cool immediately with WD40, also helps.
 
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tarik said:
Hi everybody,


Recently bought a 4 wheel road trailer, I need to renew the brakes, but cannot get the wheels off, two of the wheels have rusty wheel nuts and despite gallons of WD40 etc they wont budge.

Would appreciate any advice as how to loosen them off.

Hate to think of the state of the brakes,

As always very many thanks for all replies


David



PS - Happy new year, fair winds to all,
Click to expand...

A good release oil, such as Plus Gas, instead of WD 40 would be a good start.

Heat will often release things.

Whacked 'em with a decent sized hammer?

If all the nuts on one side are proving difficult consider Norman's suggestion that they are LH

Using a good long extension on the wheel brace ? Its amazing how effective just a bit of extra leverage can be.
 
Just whizz the trailer down to your local tyre centre and ask them to get their windy gun on them. If the ludicrous torque most places tighten them up to is anything to go by, they should be able to undo just about anything.
 
Like others say, are they both on the same side? Could be left hand threads.

Otherwise, as said Plus Gas (or diesel fuel) a few times before really trying. A six sided socket and strong arm and possibly an extension pipe on that. Heat is good, but you will need a pretty fierce flame as there is all the hub, wheel and brake drum to steal the heat away.
You could just take the hub nut off and remove the wheel, brake drum and hub. This would allow you to lay it down flat and let the Plus Gas work it's way down the threads. Also would allow you to nip down to a local garage and let them use a bit of heat without having to take the whole trailer.
 
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Some years back I had the unfortunate experience of wheel nuts coming loose on my boat trailer. Of 5 nuts 2 were lost and 3 came loose damaging the wheel before I noticed the wobble. Going slow fortunately. From then on I have sort of encouraged the wheel nuts to rust on. I always do the bearings and brakes by removing the hub nut and removing the hub wheel and brake drum as one. (well I used to, no brakes now but that is because I only tow it 400 metres now).
Anyway it may be that the previous owner was able to do his maintenance this way and maybe OP can do the same. I did cut a slot in the wheel to align with the brake drum slot so that brakes could be adjusted with wheel on from the fron't. But that may be peculiar to the Oz made car brakes. good luck olewill
 
Had that problem before. Tried everything, as a last resort I had to eventually snap the studs then replace with new ones. Easy enough to replace.
 
Depending on the type of hub, sometimes you can remove the hub nut, then the whole hub and wheel. You can then gain access to the back end of the studs and either grind or drill off the rivet bit and knock them through. You will need new studs then.
 
If they aren't LH threads, +1 for your friendly local Tyre fitter.

I tried the long lever trick on a seized wheel nut once. As the 10' steel tube bent into a graceful arc, there was a loud bang as a professional quality socket broke in two, followed by a whizzing sound as one half went past my ear. I never did find the half that left through the window. The impact wrench at the garage had the nut off in a few minutes.
 
William_H said:
Some years back I had the unfortunate experience of wheel nuts coming loose on my boat trailer. Of 5 nuts 2 were lost and 3 came loose damaging the wheel before I noticed the wobble. Going slow fortunately. From then on I have sort of encouraged the wheel nuts to rust on. I always do the bearings and brakes by removing the hub nut and removing the hub wheel and brake drum as one. (well I used to, no brakes now but that is because I only tow it 400 metres now).
Anyway it may be that the previous owner was able to do his maintenance this way and maybe OP can do the same. I did cut a slot in the wheel to align with the brake drum slot so that brakes could be adjusted with wheel on from the fron't. But that may be peculiar to the Oz made car brakes. good luck olewill
Click to expand...

That would cause problems if you had a puncture and needed to replace the wheel.
 
Rigger Mortice said:
That would cause problems if you had a puncture and needed to replace the wheel.
Click to expand...

The trick is that if you carry a spare wheel, that you mount a stub axle on the winch post. The spare then carries a hub and replacement bearings. If you have decent tires then bearijng is more likely to be problem than flat tire anyway. olewill
 
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