Removing wheels-

[Twentyover]

Acccckkk!

I'm trying to remove aluminum wheels from an old explorer. It appears the wheels are locked onto the brake drums/ wheel studs. I've tried shhoting some penetrating oll, but the wheels remain locked in place

Any hints on how to strip the wheels off the axle? Trying to reuse both....

[BonzoHansen]

assuming the car is safely off the ground - a BFH.

[wellis77]

I used a massive dead blow hammer to get some aluminum wheels off my brothers car. What a pain...

[kp.touring]

Loosen the lugs (don't remove the lugs), them lower the jack! The weight of the car should break the wheel loose. Jack the car back up and remove the wheel. Much easier and safer than the hammer, you don't have worry about knocking the car off a jack stand.

Kevin

[Ron L]

I used to work at a tire store a thousand moons ago. Our trick for rusted wheels was to raise the tire slightly off the ground, loosen the lugs, sit on your butt and stomp the s%@$ out of the sidewall (not rim - you want the leverage) with the bottom of your boot. Lowering the car didn't always work because sometimes the wheel-to-hub fit is very tight and that'll hold the car up on its own.

[E.rodz]

I have a way that is way funner. find a parking lot that is big and empty enough to play. crack the lugs slightly looseon one wheel at a time then just get on the gas and put some side load on it you can make some smoke to add to the affect if desired.you will feel and hear the wheel break loose.tighten back up and try this again until all wheels are free.this is only a 5 min. job . i have had some rusty steel wheels lock on and this is the only way that worked after beating on them with a sledg hammer for an hr. and still not breaking them loose.we went with plan b.

[Twentyover]

Perhaps a bit more detail is in order. The rear axle is attached to the frame. no body, engine, or transmission, just front and rear suspension.

When the body was on and engine in (but not running) I removed the lug nuts and was rocking the body side to side, grabbing the tire and jerking it.

Butt kicking the tires does give me an idea. i'll remove the nuts again, and use a piece of 2x2 square tubing to try to pry the rim loose.

It's raining right now, i'll get back to you

[67goatman455]

what we did when i worked at a tire shop was to lossen the lug nuts up quite a ways, use a deadblow (rubber) and hit the backside of the rim. maximum force with no damage :) if needed we would rotate the tire while hitting it.

[Kenova]

I did the front brakes on my Dad's Ford truck recently and had the same problem. We tried pulling, pushing, and hammering (didn't want to cave in the aluminum wheels) to no avail. As a last resort I put a propane torch to the wheel where it meets the hub centre. I was surprised it worked.
When it was time to put them back on I had to chip a small amount of corroded aluminum off of the hubs before the wheels would seat properly.

Ken

[tonykim]

I had the same trouble on my wife's bmw. I tried all kinds of penetrating oil and bfh's, bouncing the car off the ground with lugs off, etc. I purchased some penetrating fluid at Lowe's called Blaster (it has a yellow cap). sprayed it on everything and let it sit overnight, next day came out and 3 out of 4 popped off with only light pressure and the 4th with one tap from a mallet.

[brans72]

called PB Blaster then a BFH.

[Twentyover]

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
Archimedes circa 250 BC

"Give me a 6' stick of 2" square tubing and a frame rail to lever off of, and I'll break that darned corrosion stuck wheel loose.”
Me, circa just after lunch when it stopped raining



And I did



Thanks all for the input