Wheel Bearing bolts

[cherrington17]

The 3 bolts that hold the wheel bearing/hub in place...

how do you get them free? (after being rusted in place for about 4 years)

I coated both sides in lube. let it sit for 20 mins. coated again.. let sit overnight... coated again this morning, let sit for 15 mins... then just went to give it a try.

won't budge. even after hammering for 20 minutes... nada. Not even a little.


What now?

[tomekbrek]

Coca-Cola and hammer.... i had same problem, coca-cola resolved it ;)

[cherrington17]

Coca-Cola and hammer.... i had same problem, coca-cola resolved it ;)

soaked...for how long?

soaked for 20 mins... 2 times. and hammered. won't budge still. I guess the only thing left is to use a torch... which i don't have.



hooray for the rust belt... making car impossible to work on, since... ever.

[Alerojester]

have you tried PB blaster and do you have an impact? those are two things that we used to get them off my wifes old sunfire

[heineck]

Yea cherry wat are u using just a reg ratchet? Use a breaker bar and an impact socket, or an impact wrench

[BlackJack]

won't budge. even after hammering for 20 minutes... nada. Not even a little.


What now?

Bring to me. BlackJack fix.

I told the last guy that I was sorry for tearing his entire front strut off.

[cherrington17]

no impact. :glare:

PB isn't working.

[colonel6632]

i used an impact. but a torch would work. even the little propane ones if you sat there long enough might work

[kwhauck]

i used a 4ft piece of pipe on mine, but another option, which I've done before......

cheap deap well socket weld a 1 foot piece of pipe, hold sockets on and hammer like hell the other end of the pipe....

[sfi3400]

you could do is get a v8 attach a rope to it and BAM

sif3400 is not responsible if you do this stupid stunt and is not liable for any injuries to you or your car:).

[cherrington17]

you could do is get a v8 attach a rope to it and BAM

sif3400 is not responsible if you do this stupid stunt and is not liable for any injuries to you or your car:).

attach a rope to what!? its a bolt in the wheel bearing... do you even know what the wheel bearings look like on this thing!?

[sfi3400]

yes i was jokeing, because mine have came right off before.

[AbHeLlRaZoR]

Try the coca cola trick then use a breaker bar or impact wrench like heineck said..

[Afugy]

Have you tried heat, don't heat the bolts them selfs but around the bolts. Propane torch should be able to do the trick.

[cherrington17]

don't have a torch. packed it all back up, and am planning to have a mechanic friend do it. has a lift, and more tools.

doing on a jackstand, w/o air tools just isn't cutting it.


i hate wny!

[colonel6632]

ya, i did it in the driveway the first time without air tools and stuff. took me like 3 hours (stopped for a few beers). did the other side in the shop with air tools, take me 20 minutes lol

[cherrington17]

ya, i did it in the driveway the first time without air tools and stuff. took me like 3 hours (stopped for a few beers). did the other side in the shop with air tools, take me 20 minutes lol

I did it on a friend's grand am... and taking my time... it took like... 2hrs(didn't know what i was doing, had to keep checking to make sure i was right)

and that was with basic tools, but his was still kinda new. This parking outside crap is making my suspension virtually unworkable. :glare: (for me)

[colonel6632]

agreed, i hate parking outside. and ya, i didn't know what i was doing either, and had to run around and find a 1/2 ratchet since i only had 3/8s ones, and i forgot to run the abs wire through, so i had to take it out again. and it took me a while to get the old bearing off the axle. now at the shop we have a universal puller set for semis, i just used one of those

[Ryan from Ohio]

You need a 6 point short socket and a 3/8 breaker bar and some muscle.

PB Blaster that baby up. Rotate the hub until you can see the end of the bolt. Take a punch and give it a few pops. Next put your socket w/breaker bar on and try to tighten it. Then simply loosen her up.

Sometimes tightening the bolt will help break it free.

heats not good with PB Blaster or WD40 though... boom boom

[colonel6632]

heat is ok with wd40 i believe

[cobrajeff92]

drive down to rochester and ill get them off at my shop for ya. hell we can do the wheel bearings right on the lift if you want. the offers there for ya if u want. wont take to long

[Weazel]

PB and impact worked on all my exhaust bolts, that was 160k miles of rust. Unfortunately, I don't have any other suggestions.10 foot breaker bar and a really fat friend?

[BlackJack]

Hold up chris. Sometimes this takes a multi-faceted approach. After soaking the crap out of it with PB from both sides of each bolt, you need to take a 5# or larger ball-peen hammer, and a punch, then tap the BOLT side, not the head-side. Put the breaker bar and socket on the head (of the bolt, not yours), and have a friend tap the back side of the bolt while you apply torque to the breaker bar. The simultaneous torque on the bolt with the hard tapping will likely jar the rust loose. Let me know if that doesn't work for you. You're gonna have to put the guns to it though, no half-effort on that torque bar.

[cherrington17]

Hold up chris. Sometimes this takes a multi-faceted approach. After soaking the crap out of it with PB from both sides of each bolt, you need to take a 5# or larger ball-peen hammer, and a punch, then tap the BOLT side, not the head-side. Put the breaker bar and socket on the head (of the bolt, not yours), and have a friend tap the back side of the bolt while you apply torque to the breaker bar. The simultaneous torque on the bolt with the hard tapping will likely jar the rust loose. Let me know if that doesn't work for you. You're gonna have to put the guns to it though, no half-effort on that torque bar.

its reassembled and will head to the shop (friend's shop). I'm not going to keep wasting my time, and getting insanely frustrated (in an unheated slush filled garage). Everytime i work on the car, I'm the only one around... so friends/family never help. (even if they are around... they don't help)

[BlackJack]

Everytime i work on the car, I'm the only one around... so friends/family never help. (even if they are around... they don't help)

Simple fix. Move here to Kansas. Not only will we fix it, but we will boost it in the process.

[cherrington17]

haha. you get a good chiro school out there AND stop tornadoes and you got yourself a deal.

[BlackJack]

I can teach you chiro.....oh wait.....that's where you FIX people's spine problems. NM....

and tornadoes run away in fear, but I can't teach you that one LOL

[cherrington17]

I can teach you chiro.....oh wait.....that's where you FIX people's spine problems. NM....

and tornadoes run away in fear, but I can't teach you that one LOL

i suppose if you taught me your spinal reconfiguring techniques, and I didn't have the upper body strength of 4 angry yetis... it might qualify as chiropractic, in Kansas...

[BlackJack]

There's a school in Kansas City MO. That's 2-2.5 hours from here.

[BlackJack]

besides. I think your priorities are out of whack. You want to learn to make stupid money, or do you want to boost your Alero? LOL

[cherrington17]

i want to learn to make stupid money, so i can pay you to boost the alero. win for everyone.

[AtomicX]

Im having the same issue getting them off.
I could only get on the driver side hub, the one closest to the engine bay.
I couldnt even get a socket and rachet on the top one, and the one closest to the door just keept slipping off. :(