My dad and I both have 2 wheel drive HD's with the aluminum rims. When rotating my tires the last time, the ream rims were stuck really bad on the hub. After a can of PB Blaster, a large rubber mallet, and about 2 hours, I finally got them off. Now my dad is having the same problem. Is there an easier way to get these aluminum rims unfused from the hub? Have heard of people loosing the lugs nuts a little then driving around to break that fuse, but seems to me that could damage the studs or even the rims.


Any help? THANKS!! http://dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Ermm.gif

Mine are not near as tight as yours when I take 'em off. I just give 'em a kick on the tire and it breaks loose. Obviously if you have to take a mallet and 2 hours of your time to break it loose, a simple kick isn't going to help you. I don't think I would feel comfortable loosining the lugs and taking a short drive around the block to break the rim fuse. Sorry I can't be any more help.


Bob

Mine aren't that hard to get off but I'm changing them all the time anyway.


On the semis w/ hub pilot rims i use a sledge hammer and smack the side of the tire a few times to break them loose.


I'd try the same thing, could leave a couple nuts on so the tire doesn't go flying.

When you get them off, put some neverseize or something on there so the dont get stuck the next time. At work we just leave one lug nut on (loose) the hit the back side of the tire with a 10lb plastic/rubber mallet.

This is a rather interesting topic, he was my problem on Feb 3rd. At 2:45 am. while driving to work and about 45 miles on the road, I hear a big baam! Then a severe vibration and shaking! DS rear tire goes flat, stopped in the road as no place to pull over and attempted to change the flat, can't get the damn thing off, nothing to hit the tire/rim with other than my boot heel. That PYO is not comming off - period. gather up spare, jack, and put lug nuts back on and limp 3 miles to a township garage and abandon truck for a taxi ride. I came back later in the day with a sledge and a block of yellow popular wood and it took 4 big whacks to break it loose. Changed tire and went home. Tire dealer is sending the Firestone steeltex in for a warranty claim as only 12000 miles on it and it appears to be a side wall failure.


The underhood light reel/trouble light that I bought from Eric/dmaxalliTech sure was nice for light out there in the dark. At least I could see what I was doing real well.


Engineer Bill

Loosening the lugs and taking a short (very short) drive making a hard turn or two should do it.

Same thing this weekend when I rotated the sneakers. Took a few kicks of the size 12 to get the rears off the "hub". Just put some neverseez on the bolts and smeared on the hub and mating surface. Hope that helps.


MN

Just a thought, putting "Neversieze" on the hub is OK, putting any lubricant on the bolts or nuts is not advisable. It causes you to overtorque and stretch the bolts. The siezing is caused by the reaction of the aluminum and steel contact and corrosion.

I've done the "Loosen each lug about 1/4 turn and step on it" with my last truck with steel wheels, and that un-freezes them. I always use Anti-Sieze on studs to prevent frozen lugs.


If the tires already flat, you're SOL. I wouldn't want to beat on rim, and surely not drive it around.


Best bet is to rotate every 6-8K miles, and keep'm free.

I second what aketay said:


"Just a thought, putting "Neversieze" on the hub is OK, putting any lubricant on the bolts or nuts is not advisable. It causes you to overtorque and stretch the bolts."


I have seen the results of this before as a friend of mine had called me to help him out when his tire had came off and he didn't have any lugnuts left. It didn't help the rear quatrer panel either.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cry.gif


You can coat the back side of the rim and the axle hub, just make sure to keep it off the studs.


Fran

Just my $.02 regarding lube on the studs… I agree with aketay and 04wanabemax. I used to lube the studs routinely myself until I leaned from a Mechanical Engineer that the lube allows the nut to be over torqued. Torque for our lug nuts is speced at 140ft-lbs so if you do decide to lube them, back off the torque to 130ft-lbs and periodically check for tightness. Personally I only put anti-seize on the hub now. Besides it appears that both the studs and lugnuts on our trucks have some type of coating that prevents galling and rust. The old steel type was a different story – they definitely would rust.


http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Geek.gifEdited by: jbplock

Bill:


Yep. Unless otherwise specified, torque sepecifications are for DRY bolts/nuts. The friction losses of the thread interface are considered in the torque specification. Cadmium plated bolts many times will have a slightly lower torque specification because of the lubricity provided by the plating. The most accurate way to determine proper torque is generally considered to be bolt stretch, but that isn't practical many times.