I've got two round wheel spacer lugs.

FranzVonHoffer · Jan 27, 2018

A Ford dealer installed these wheel spacers and now I want to take them off. The lugs were on so tight I suspect they must have put loctite on them I highly doubt the wheel stud would have held to the pressure I was having to apply to remove them. I was concerned enough about rounding the lugs I used a torch and applied intermittent heat to try and work them lose. I got movement on three of the five but didn't remove them so I could work on the remaining two with an even torque across the pattern.

In the process of working the remaining spacer lugs I rounded two of the lugs. Next step I pulled out the nut extractor but that just shaved the lug down to the nut bed.

So now I drilled down into the rounded lugs to peel away the remaining lug remnants but it's no use, there's too much contact area at the base of the spacer for me to remove it so I'm considering cutting them off.

Any other suggestions? That's going to be a very long process and I may end up having to cut the wheel studs and replacing those?

(your welcome to grind on me for having wheel spacers in the first place but that doesn't really solve my problem)

Fordever · Jan 27, 2018

FranzVonHoffer said:
A Ford dealer installed these wheel spacers and now I want to take them off. The lugs were on so tight I suspect they must have put loctite on them I highly doubt the wheel stud would have held to the pressure I was having to apply to remove them. I was concerned enough about rounding the lugs I used a torch and applied intermittent heat to try and work them lose. I got movement on three of the five but didn't remove them so I could work on the remaining two with an even torque across the pattern.

In the process of working the remaining spacer lugs I rounded two of the lugs. Next step I pulled out the nut extractor but that just shaved the lug down to the nut bed.

So now I drilled down into the rounded lugs to peel away the remaining lug remnants but it's no use, there's too much contact area at the base of the spacer for me to remove it so I'm considering cutting them off.

Any other suggestions? That's going to be a very long process and I may end up having to cut the wheel studs and replacing those?

(your welcome to grind on me for having wheel spacers in the first place but that doesn't really solve my problem)

I for one won't rag on ya...I have spacers and will keep them forever..

Just wondering of you contacted your dealer for some info on the install:shrug:

Any chance its the responsibility of the dealer? As they installed for you in the first place.:shrug:

sigintel · Jan 27, 2018

Pictures would really help here.
Really no big deal. You only want thru bolt spacers anyway which means long studs.
They likely used high temp locktite so propane torch or map gas needed. Then hit with stripped lug nut tool.
Or, $60 harbor freight electric hack saw and cut adapter and stud from side without ruining hub.

Can you get wheels back on?

Cobra Jet · Jan 27, 2018

Interesting thread - IIRC, there was another user who posted a little while back that he too also had major issues trying to remove the lugs from his wheel spacers... I don’t recall what he did as the end result.

I wonder if the problem is with a certain brand of spacer (or the hardware included with it)? I’ve used spacers in the past and never had issues removing the lugs.

cgreen5150 · Jan 28, 2018

Cobra Jet said:
Interesting thread - IIRC, there was another user who posted a little while back that he too also had major issues trying to remove the lugs from his wheel spacers... I don’t recall what he did as the end result.

I wonder if the problem is with a certain brand of spacer (or the hardware included with it)? I’ve used spacers in the past and never had issues removing the lugs.

That was probably me. My first go around is posted in the "wrenching on your S550" thread. Jus finished the last one (second one) today. This one I started by drilling through the nut and ended-up using a cut off wheel to cut through the spacer in a V pattern and prying it off. Still a pain in the ass, but not as time consuming as the last one.

FranzVonHoffer · Jan 29, 2018

cgreen5150 said:
That was probably me. My first go around is posted in the "wrenching on your S550" thread. Jus finished the last one (second one) today. This one I started by drilling through the nut and ended-up using a cut off wheel to cut through the spacer in a V pattern and prying it off. Still a pain in the ass, but not as time consuming as the last one.

That's probably where I'm going. Just cut them off. It occurred to me not long after I posted this that those spacers are aluminum so it probably won't be as labor intensive as I think.

cgreen5150 · Jan 29, 2018

FranzVonHoffer said:
That's probably where I'm going. Just cut them off. It occurred to me not long after I posted this that those spacers are aluminum so it probably won't be as labor intensive as I think.

Definitely the quickest way. I tried an air chisel on the nut at first and probably made it worse. I had to drill the nut and spacer at that point. The second one I just used the cutoff tool and saved some time. Good luck on it.

By the way, your spacers, are they Eibach or a different manufacturer?

FranzVonHoffer · Jan 29, 2018

cgreen5150 said:
Definitely the quickest way. I tried an air chisel on the nut at first and probably made it worse. I had to drill the nut and spacer at that point. The second one I just used the cutoff tool and saved some time. Good lick on it.

By the way, your spacers, are they Eibach or a different manufacturer?

Eibach.

Cobra Jet · Jan 29, 2018

Fellas,

Is it possible that the problem is being caused by the fact that there are (2) dissimilar metals making contact with each other (let alone the forces of vehicle weight and proper torque specs)? IIRC, aluminum and steel next to or mated to each other can cause higher corrosion issues (galvanization) and the possibility of binding issues as you are both experiencing.

It’s also been said on a few forums that an all aluminum radiator should never come in direct contact with a vehicle’s steel or (other metal) radiator core support unless the radiator is properly grounded or has rubber isolaters separating the 2 metals.

Google aluminum vs steel dissimilar metals

FranzVonHoffer · Jan 29, 2018

Cobra Jet said:
Fellas,

Is it possible that the problem is being caused by the fact that there are (2) dissimilar metals making contact with each other (let alone the forces of vehicle weight and proper torque specs)? IIRC, aluminum and steel next to or mated to each other can cause higher corrosion issues (galvanization) and the possibility of binding issues as you are both experiencing.

It’s also been said on a few forums that an all aluminum radiator should never come in direct contact with a vehicle’s steel or (other metal) radiator core support unless the radiator is properly grounded or has rubber isolaters separating the 2 metals.

Google aluminum vs steel dissimilar metals

I ain't even gotten to the part where I separate the spacer from the hub. I'm still on the stuck nut part of the problem. But you did hit upon something that should probably be addressed with some permetex like we used to have to do with the BMW wheels.

cgreen5150 · Jan 30, 2018

Cobra Jet said:
Fellas,

Is it possible that the problem is being caused by the fact that there are (2) dissimilar metals making contact with each other (let alone the forces of vehicle weight and proper torque specs)? IIRC, aluminum and steel next to or mated to each other can cause higher corrosion issues (galvanization) and the possibility of binding issues as you are both experiencing.

It’s also been said on a few forums that an all aluminum radiator should never come in direct contact with a vehicle’s steel or (other metal) radiator core support unless the radiator is properly grounded or has rubber isolaters separating the 2 metals.

Google aluminum vs steel dissimilar metals

In my case, and I think the OP's as well, the normal open end acorn lug nut that comes with the Eibach spacer was stuck on the original Ford wheel stud. The stud that is in the spacer broke and I was taking off the spacer to fix the broken stud. The lug nut holding the spacer on would not budge. First one did not round off, but I couldn't get it to move with a 3' breaker bar, heat or an impact. The second one rounded of the nut.

To be clear, the spacer was not stuck on the rotor surface.

Both of these problems were with Eibach spacers though. Very interesting...:shrug:

FranzVonHoffer · Feb 5, 2018

Did the deed this weekend. For the record. The torch was the wrong tool to apply heat in this scenario. I used a heat gun and heated each lug up to 150˚F then the remaining lugs came off relatively easy. I even managed to remove the second rounded nut that I couldn't get off last weekend. After that I cut around the remaining wheel stud with a hand cutter. If anyone ever has to do this life will be much easier if you cut the two studs on either side of the rounded nut so the hand cutter can get a better cutting depth. When you start seeing sparks your through. Once the spacer was free I tapped the whole section loose and spun it off the stud in one piece.

Now the funny part, once I got into this project I gave up on pulling all the spacers. I bought an extra pair and just replaced the one that had the snapped stud. Then I put a medium loctite on the threads and put a drop on the wheel stud so anyone coming behind me will know their on with a substance. 150 ft/lbs then stitched it back up.

A whopping 90 minutes out of my Sunday morning from jack to drop.

IMG_9885 by Erick, on Flickr

FranzVonHoffer · Feb 11, 2018

My initial pass at drilling the nut off damaged the stud so I replaced it this weekend. In case you're wondering you have to take the hub completely off to replace a broken wheel stud. It's not especially difficult but the whole deal is made easier by resolving yourself to removing the wheel hub ahead of time then hammering out the damaged stud. I don't have a trick to installing it.. just grabbed a spare 3/4 extension then hammered on it like an ape.

IMG_0068 by Erick, on Flickr

ManBearPig · Feb 17, 2018

What do you suspect caused the stud in the spacer to break in the first place? Over torquing? Dumb luck? Poor quality?

I run spacers but in the back of my mind I don't like it. Always been worried something like this may happen.

FranzVonHoffer · Feb 17, 2018

ManBearPig said:
What do you suspect caused the stud in the spacer to break in the first place? Over torquing? Dumb luck? Poor quality?

I run spacers but in the back of my mind I don't like it. Always been worried something like this may happen.

I don't know what happened to the spacer stud. I was just washing the car looked down and it was gone. Could be several things, I'd just had a tire repair done on that tire... I live in not so good part of town and vehicle thefts are quite common. It's possible somebody a tech over tighted it and tried to cover his tracks or a theif tried to steel my wheels and broke it off.

The real problem was not detecting the presence of loctite on the wheel stud and rounding out two of the nuts on the spacer mount. Once I got head on them they came off fine. I usually drop a dab of loctite on the end of the stud or on the nut to indicate I've used it but not everyone does that.

As for the Eibach spacers, they seem to be of fine quality.

I've got two round wheel spacer lugs.

FranzVonHoffer

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