Broken inner Budd nut with little to grab

[Red Diesel]

Any tips on getting a broken inner Budd nut off that is so close to the rim there's nothing to grab?

I got a few others off with my big pipe wrench but they had some meat to grab.

I thought I'll try drilling the flange of the nut away with a series of holes all the way around the circumference.

I'll try calling around and see if anyone has a Budd nut cutter. Check out this .cool patent.

I had visions of using a torch as a last resort but these videos scare the crap out of me!

http://youtu.be/jBUVzgCHHuA

http://youtu.be/pNZ4siYGkag

[OldHoods#1]

Scary videos for sufe. What do you think about breaking the bead, then stuffing in a couple of 2x4's to keep it from reseating. Then hit it with a torch or welder to heat it quick or maybe weld on a nut. Then Run & hide behind a tree!

[OldHoods#1]

Maybe safer. See if you can get a dremel tool in there w/ a cutting wheel and split it on 1 side. Then spin it out w/ a chisel.

[AaronF]

Been there, done that!

In the end there are 3 ways that have worked many times for me.

Weld an outer nut to what is left of the center nut, and see if you can spin the center nut off that way.

Drill the stud out completly (5/8 or 3/4") and replace the stud.

Torch JUST the stud out. Just be careful to not cut into the wheel. As long as you stay inside of the center nut when doing this you will be fine. Esspecially on aluminum wheels. You will be able to see when you burn through the stud.


Pain in the *** either way. I have spent way to many hours trying to remove the broken ones. Now I try welding a nut to it, if that doesn't work the blue tip wrench comes out.

[Red Diesel]

Triumph! Success! But most of all, got-'er-done!

I did air arc. I figured less heat that way.



And hell yeah I took off the tire but the wheel barely even got warm.

[black_dog106]

Congrats Red!

[Peach Grower]

Congrats!! We have the socket you use to get broken budds off, but it come up missing the other day...go figure.

I use a torch and cut straight down both sides being careful not to heat the lug to much... Then spray pb blaster in quick squirts on the lug...it will travel down into the threads. Then take a skinny flat punch and tap on the flats to cause it to spin...once it spins a big set of vice grips on the flats and tap with a hammer.

[Red Diesel]

Thought I was home free the other day... tightening up the last wheel's inner nuts and *crunch!* another inner broke and down even lower than the last one. There was 3 threads of the stud sticking out.

I had to take a small stone that fit my drill and grind down the inner threads of what had broke off, grind the edge to the contours of what was still on the stud and then welded it on with a stud puller rod. Thing turned of beeeeaaaa-utifully.

PITA all that extra work when you are just about done.

[AaronF]

Originally Posted by Red Diesel

Thought I was home free the other day... tightening up the last wheel's inner nuts and *crunch!* another inner broke and down even lower than the last one. There was 3 threads of the stud sticking out.

I had to take a small stone that fit my drill and grind down the inner threads of what had broke off, grind the edge to the contours of what was still on the stud and then welded it on with a stud puller rod. Thing turned of beeeeaaaa-utifully.

PITA all that extra work when you are just about done.

I hate it when that happens!

I am just swapping over to hub piloted one at a time as I can. I will be glad when I get them all swapped over.

[Red Diesel]

I assume these inners cracked due to becoming loose. These wheels were on a long time and I had never checked the torque since mounting them.

I will be checking these more often with my torque wrench in the future.