sheered studs

[benzburner]

hello all
i'm new to this forum and new to MB ownership.

i was trying to get the rear studs off of my '90 w124 200E and POW- sheered stud. next one... POW again. i wasn't using excessive force by any means.:sad:

i haven't taken off the wheels on this car before and i'm already in a spot of bother. has anyone had this experience who might give me an idea of what i'm in for?

the wheels are the flat disc type alloys, with really long tulip shaped studs and they are sheered right at the thinnest "collar" approx. 25mm in, so i can't get the wheel off.

 

[Bolide]

Sheared studs

They were probably done up very tight, have corroded in and you're using a breaker bar to remove them

Tyre places will use air tools that don't use torque to loosen / tighten - they use vibration. If you try & loosen a really tight bolt using torque often it will snap

I'd take it to a tyre place, tell them the problem and get them to take off the wheels using an air ratchet. Put them back on and tighten them yourself with a breaker bar. Use some Coppaslip on the threads and on the back of the wheel where it mates with the hub

The broken studs may be just hand tight. If they don't want to shift you could hammer an old socket over the end & use a ratchet or weld a bar to them to unwind them

If you're wondering if the rest will snap if you try again then, yes, I'm sure they will

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[television]

Normally shock is the best method of losening a tight bolt, just pulling on a wheel brace, will either bend it up, or as in this case, shear the head off the bolt. The only way to remove it will be by drilling out the broken stud, this is easier said than done, since the hole must be dead center. the hub cannot be taken off without taking the brake calliper as well, and this means disconnecting the brake fluid lines, this though I think will be the only way to do it. Is it a back or front wheel.

Malcolm

 

[benzburner]

it's the driver side rear.

when you say drill it out do you mean simply removing the bulk of the remaining stud that's stuck in the hub??? i am handy with drills because i use them quite a bit at work but not on cars.

what size bit should be used?

there is a lot of stud in the hub- is this retrievable without causing damage? i'm sorry about the dumb questions i haven't done this before.

 

[television]

This is not easy on the car as the drill has to be kept centered, this will limit the size of the hole that you can drill. Always start with a small drill, as it is easier to keep centered, then follow it up with a larger drill. This should enable you to use a drill larger than the stud, and this will take away all of the stud part. In the end you will have to drill right through the stud into the brake drum. the bolts are 12mm, tapping size 9.25mm, so you can try the final tapered part at 8mm, and hope that they shear off. if they will not come off, use a 12mm up to the flange on the drive shaft. but the chances of going free hand and central all that way almost nil, You may mess up the end of the drive shaft in the process.
A lousy job for sure. Remember small drills = high speed, large 9mm plus =slow.
You cant take off the rear hub and wheel without taking off the drive shaft in any case the would need a huge industrial pillar drill to clear the tyre.
I really do wish you good luck.

malcolm

 

[C220GJS]

Just to make it clear; as you say you have not had the wheels off before ; what you are dealing with are wheel bolts ,not studs. The bolts screw into the hub , they are not nuts which are screwed onto studs protruding through the wheel.
Sorry about your problem, hope you manage to get the rest out without more damage .
Geo.

 

[benzburner]

what's the worst case scenario here- making a dog's dinner of the hub and hitting the scrapyards or is there more to contend with than that??

i've had lousy enough luck with it so far, spluttering, new petrol tank, achy-breaky steering box, wiring from hell, bad shocks. i'm fairly exasperated because i've already decided to upgrade to maybe a '96 E230 and all i need is to fix what currently ails it to sell it with a clean conscience.

ps what's the deal with shocks are they the "insert" type? are they any harder to change if they are??

 

[television]

With shock, one puts the wheel brace onto the wheel nut and stamp on the brace, that's what is termed as shock. a tyre shop uses high impact guns, that is the best way. Like screws in wood tightening first sometimes works.

For GEO these bolt are now discontiued they are about 75mm long with a thin shank in the center, its the hex head that has sheared off leaving a thin shank leading down to the taper head, holding on the wheel, you cant get to it as you are limited by the hole in the wheel, heat cant be applied either.

Malcolm

 

[turnipsock]

you could try a stud extactor. This involves drilling a small hole in the remaining part of the stud and screwing what is effectivly a left handed tap. I have never had much success with these though.

Drilling out the stud is hard work and hard on drill bits. You have to get it as central as possible and work your way through the drill sizes. When you get near to the correct size you will find the remaining part of the stud will ome out easily.

It's also worth trying something like lusoil penitrating fluid and letting this work itself in.

 

[Bolide]

Hold on! If the wheel comes off and the sheared bolts are proud of the hub they'll come out pretty easily

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[turnipsock]

the wheels are the flat disc type alloys, with really long tulip shaped studs and they are sheered right at the thinnest "collar" approx. 25mm in, so i can't get the wheel off.

I would agree, but benzburner has already said he can't get the wheel off.

I'm not totally sure what the current status is, a picture might help.

 

[television]

Hold on! If the wheel comes off and the sheared bolts are proud of the hub they'll come out pretty easily

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

Nick, I will put up a photo Sunday eve of these bolts, they are 75mm long with the taper and thread one end, with a thinshaft leading to the hex nut on the end, its the nut bit that has broken off leaving the thin shaft with the taper and threaded bit still tight in the drive shaft.

malcolm

 

[benzburner]

these bolts they are 75mm long with the taper and thread one end, with a thinshaft leading to the hex nut on the end, its the nut bit that has broken off leaving the thin shaft with the taper and threaded bit still tight in the drive shaft.

malcolm

exactly right.
sorry for lack of photos, i'm having technical difficulties. i'll have one up by this evening. thanks folks

 

[Craneboy]

wheel studs

Hi, i had a similar problem last year on my 300 SL (1989) i put the car into a indipendant garage, who advised me that one stud was too tight and could not budge it, in the end the wheel was cut off and i had to find another rim, i since have fitted a brand new set of the 95mm wheel studs with the collar half way down, with copperslip on the threads and properly torqued up. Good Luck

 

[johnnycapone]

Plusgas is also a very good lubricant to free off the studs. If the wheel is off and the studs are protruding then you could try a pair of stillsons to get the remainder out. But as mentioned before shocking the studs is the best way.
hope this helps
John

 

[television]

This is the bolt, One thought, if a tube or box spannner was slid over the end, would you get enough leverage to bend off the shank, the last piece would be easy to drill out

 

[Bolide]

If the bolt has snapped leaving the bevelled bit still in the wheel you're in trouble. You'd have to drill the bevelled bit off to save the wheel

If the hex head, shank & bevelled bit has broken off on both then, as I said before, I'd get the rest of the bolts removed with an air ratchet, weld a bar on the bolt stubs and unwind them

Sounds like a job for your local indie

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[johnnycapone]

Hope you have luck getting the stud out.
But just a reminder that when putting new studs back in, be sure to lubricate the threads and all other mating surfaces.
Regards
John

 

[turnipsock]

I see what you mean now.

You might get one of these on the remaining bolt...

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/sea/searchresults.jsp?_dyncharset=UTF-8&howMany=5&searchText=96028-81&x=7&y=9

You might be lucky, but if the original bolts were tight enough to shear I think you might have problems.

It seems a daft bit of design, what if you had a pucture and a bolt sheared? It also seems that the bolts are longer, and heavier, than required.

 

[television]

I see what you mean now.

You might get one of these on the remaining bolt...

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/sea/searchresults.jsp?_dyncharset=UTF-8&howMany=5&searchText=96028-81&x=7&y=9

You might be lucky, but if the original bolts were tight enough to shear I think you might have problems.

It seems a daft bit of design, what if you had a pucture and a bolt sheared? It also seems that the bolts are longer, and heavier, than required.

These bolts were discontiued late 1999.

Malcolm